Ex-Landlord Threatening To Go To Police

[bifftastic]

If I were you I'd take copies of the receipts for the water pumps, 4,000 baht (surely you can come up with 1,000 each?) and apologise for destroying his sofa.

[PingManDan]

Pay the frigging 20K and be done with it, thats only 5k per head, why get into a court battle, just mai pen rai and be done with it

[samran]

What is the worst thing that could happen?

Well he could easily stash a bag of ice in the house. Say these dirty white boys just moved out, and he "found" this. Him and the cops could gave a wink-wink moment and there you go. The worst thing that could happen.

Why?

Because you 'tards tried to clean cat piss with vinegar, and now between 4 men you can't pool together 12k.

Would not advise being a snitch to the tax man. That is a road you do not want go down.

You must live in a different Thailand to the one I lived in, where sticking up for your rights will get you done for false drug busts, or, dobbing in a tax cheat will backfire.

Edited February 15, 2011 by samran

[mstribling]

What is the worst thing that could happen?

Well he could easily stash a bag of ice in the house. Say these dirty white boys just moved out, and he "found" this. Him and the cops could gave a wink-wink moment and there you go. The worst thing that could happen.

Why?

Because you 'tards tried to clean cat piss with vinegar, and now between 4 men you can't pool together 12k.

Would not advise being a snitch to the tax man. That is a road you do not want go down.

You must live in a different Thailand to the one I lived in, where sticking up for your rights will get you done for false drug busts, or, dobbing in a tax cheat will backfire.

Your right.

And by the way- Being a snitch will backfire everywhere not just Thailand. NOBODY trusts a snitch.

Edited February 16, 2011 by mstribling

[trisailer]

I agee that you should not have had to pay for the water pump but that issue should have been resolved at the time it occured and not left as a barganing chip at the end of the lease.

Most lease's provide that you cannot withhold the last months rent in order to recover your security deposit and the courts would likely take the same position. The court will require you to seek a reasonable settlement so why not attempt to do that now. Find someone to arbitrate the issue that you both agree to. Why would you want to cheat the owner out of his reasonable expences to repair/replace the couch? It seems to me that you should be concerning yourself finding a fair settlement.

Make an offer in writing to try to settle it and mention the pumps and what you think is reasonable and he can counter. What this does is make you an adult who is taking responsibility for yourself and trying to do the right thing. If he acts unreasonable than that will go against him if it winds up in court.

I have property that I rent and I am amazed at how filthy some people live and how irresponsibile they are at meeting their obligations. So far all of my renters have owned up to the damages they caused, some took more persuasion than others. I take agreements that I make with people personally and I hold people accountable no matter what the cost.

[ProThaiExpat]

Does your lease on the rental provide for "no pets". If there is no such clause, your argument is even stronger that pet piss is normal wear and tear and not compensable. On his side his your use of the security deposit to pay the last months rent, which is most definitely a breach of your lease terms, if there are any? Most courts, and we are talking small claims here, use an equitable approach, balancing all facts on both sides to come to an equitable decision. Pump issue does put landlord in bad light since he is the professional in the matter and should know his responsibilities.

My own experience in the one time I rented a condo here in Thailand was with a Dutch landlord that rented her condo out for six months every year while she was in Holland. The condo was "furnished" with Thai antiques, which in my view was just very old turn of the century junk she picked up in discard sales. In any case, I stored all of her furniture "junk" in the second bedroom and when my lease term was up, you guessed it, she sent me a bill for damages to her junk. Likewise, after paying the building cleaning lady to clean the apartment upon my departure, the landlord billed me for 4 people to clean all day after that. Then she waited until I was in the middle of my move, with the moving van just finished loading to hit me with her demands. A real professional landlady who knows how to bilk her tenants and probably goes through the same routine ever year.

Your landlords sounds like the same type. He probably been sucessful in the past furnishing his rentals with discard furniture and then bilking the tenants for "damage" and not maintaining the essentials for "quiet enjoyment" of the rentals by not keeping the pumps running.

You probably can't judge if he is litigious by nature, but there are many opportunities to settle with him along the route to the courthouse. I think being students up against a landlord with multiple rental units, most sympathies are on your side. His threat of using the police in a civil matter suggests he hasn't gone all the way with legal action and relies on threats and intimidation to collect every thing he can from his tenants.

When and if he files a complaint with a court, you will know if he can bring the case himself in small claims or relies on a lawyer, the latter is my guess. In small claims, court costs are minimal and you can represent yourself. Hopefully you have pictures of the couch in question, but he certainly will have to supply pictures to the court, where the judge can asses the age of the couch. Worst case scenario, you will have to pay for recovering the couch less what you payed for pumps plus the week worth of rent you payed while your unit had no water and the landlord showed his bad faith in not rendering the pumps to a fit condition. You may even get the total cost of the pumps you payed as an offset from the re-upholstery cost.

I would suggest stonewalling him until you receive a complaint, if he can find you to serve the papers!!!

[Darrel]

My rental is almost finished and my cat destroyed almost all of the couch, rental agreement has nothing in it about damages, so i will sue my landlord if he doesn't give me back 100% of it but this is because this idiot let people inside the house to "clean" while i was away and they stole 100k worth of perfume and made the house more dirty than it was.

on a last note, my guess is anyways you overpaid your rent as we almost all do.

Ah, the joys of being a worry-free renter instead of living in your own property.

I must remember this the next time someone here tells me how much better it is to rent than to buy.

[MrMakMak]

My rental is almost finished and my cat destroyed almost all of the couch, rental agreement has nothing in it about damages, so i will sue my landlord if he doesn't give me back 100% of it but this is because this idiot let people inside the house to "clean" while i was away and they stole 100k worth of perfume and made the house more dirty than it was.

on a last note, my guess is anyways you overpaid your rent as we almost all do.

Ah, the joys of being a worry-free renter instead of living in your own property.

I must remember this the next time someone here tells me how much better it is to rent than to buy.

Which is why i bought my house which is almost finished, 1month after i moved in here.

will live a good life for 6months in my brand new house, then we are moving out of this dam_n country and putting hell on anyone who will rent our house. (just kidding, 6months deposit should be able to get me some clean people while offering them very expensive furniture and interior design at a fair price)

[humbug]

i would just try and negotiate the price with the landlord, something like 4,000 baht to upholster the couch, thats 1000 baht from each of you

no way should you pay for a new couch, its crazy, and the landlord is just abusing this situation

if the landlord did some damage to your couch, guarenteed he would offer to upholster the couch himself for maybe less than 4k

4k sounds about all you need to pay for a 12k and old couch for upholstery

[ukrules]

6months deposit should be able to get me some clean people while offering them very expensive furniture and interior design at a fair price

You will wait a long time to rent this place out asking for a six months deposit, maybe years.

[MrMakMak]

6months deposit should be able to get me some clean people while offering them very expensive furniture and interior design at a fair price

You will wait a long time to rent this place out asking for a six months deposit, maybe years.

I doubt someone that isn't a teacher could not afford to dump a little 6months deposit on a 20-25k house that has the furniture of a 200k per month place? Cheaper to do this even if it takes a little time to find someone then having to replace 200k worth of furniture wall stains after someone dirty lives there for a year and runs away leaving me only 40k What stops them from taking my 100k tv and selling it right before going back to their country?

Obviously people who live in pastel houses with the standard 6000baht 32" tv, cheap tesco showers and thai kitchens wouldnt know what im talking about. Class has a price

[jimbeam1]

6months deposit should be able to get me some clean people while offering them very expensive furniture and interior design at a fair price

You will wait a long time to rent this place out asking for a six months deposit, maybe years.

I doubt someone that isn't a teacher could not afford to dump a little 6months deposit on a 20-25k house that has the furniture of a 200k per month place? Cheaper to do this even if it takes a little time to find someone then having to replace 200k worth of furniture wall stains after someone dirty lives there for a year and runs away leaving me only 40k What stops them from taking my 100k tv and selling it right before going back to their country?

Obviously people who live in pastel houses with the standard 6000baht 32" tv, cheap tesco showers and thai kitchens wouldnt know what im talking about. Class has a price

Oh dear, Me thinks that someone is in for a rude awakening. I let property in the UK. A word of advice. Magnolia and as little furniture as possible.

jb1

[Slip]

Why do you feel the need to denigrate teachers? As a teacher I could easily afford to 'dump a little deposit' such as you describe.

Problem being I wouldn't want an arsehol_e for a landlord.

[Ashmanator]

haha makmak, you obviously have no idea. Want to charge 6 months deposit, i would say no chance. I am involved in property and can honestly say this is unheard of. It sounds like you are very proud of your "non Pastel colours" and expensive electronics. You may be the only one that actually likes them, espiecially with those deposit demands. I am guessing that renting a 20k-25k rental, it must be a pretty small place anyway??

6months deposit should be able to get me some clean people while offering them very expensive furniture and interior design at a fair price

You will wait a long time to rent this place out asking for a six months deposit, maybe years.

I doubt someone that isn't a teacher could not afford to dump a little 6months deposit on a 20-25k house that has the furniture of a 200k per month place? Cheaper to do this even if it takes a little time to find someone then having to replace 200k worth of furniture wall stains after someone dirty lives there for a year and runs away leaving me only 40k What stops them from taking my 100k tv and selling it right before going back to their country?

Obviously people who live in pastel houses with the standard 6000baht 32" tv, cheap tesco showers and thai kitchens wouldnt know what im talking about. Class has a price

Oh dear, Me thinks that someone is in for a rude awakening. I let property in the UK. A word of advice. Magnolia and as little furniture as possible.

jb1

Edited February 18, 2011 by Ashmanator

[powderpuff]

Its just the principle of sticking it to this prick which is motivating us

This your core mistake.

Your f'ing cat destroyed his sofa.

Pass the hat ; collect 6000 baht. Offer it to him. If he refuses walk.

Methinks it's you that is the prick.

[mca]

What is the worst thing that could happen?

Well he could easily stash a bag of ice in the house. Say these dirty white boys just moved out, and he "found" this. Him and the cops could gave a wink-wink moment and there you go.

Wouldn't it melt?

[Farang0tang]

What is the worst thing that could happen?

Well he could easily stash a bag of ice in the house. Say these dirty white boys just moved out, and he "found" this. Him and the cops could gave a wink-wink moment and there you go.

Wouldn't it melt?

But, say they stash it on the sofa, maybe it will get rid of the cat piss.

and that "white chemical thing".

[bodunchar]

Look in the Thai dictionary for the word "depreciation".

I am willing to bet som tum and beer there is no such word.

So this you have to explain to your LL and pay him what the sofa is worth. Go ask a second hand furniture shop, tell them you have one for sale and how much they will pay you for it. They will give you a good idea and a fair market price.

[samran]

Look in the Thai dictionary for the word "depreciation".

I am willing to bet som tum and beer there is no such word.

So this you have to explain to your LL and pay him what the sofa is worth. Go ask a second hand furniture shop, tell them you have one for sale and how much they will pay you for it. They will give you a good idea and a fair market price.

eh?

ค่าเสื่อมราคา

You owe me a som tam and a beer. As well as $20 for starting up an old thread.

[moe666]

Probably better you come to some sort of agreement. There is a story somewhere on Thaivisa about a couple of Australian blokes who skipped out on some rent. After a few years they returned and where arrested on arrival as the landlord had filed a case aganist them. Cost a bit of money to get out of jail and guess what the landloard got his money.

I donot remember all of the details but it may be a good ideal to take care of thecouch.

[Richard4849]

Be a man and take responsibility for your actions.

[thaipod]

The cat urinated on the couch and you used vinegar and a white chemical . I would tell him that you will only agree to getting it cleaned as all landlords must allow for wear and tear.

I've been through this recently renting my condo and over the years you get a certain amount of damage of course depending on where the damage is on the couch.

My last tenent a young guy from Canada trashed the place exceeding the bond. I had put in a new mattress which had blood stains on it ,the new curtains were ripped down and damaged, the fridge was trashed also he had left the airconditioner on for 6 months without opening a window and everything had fungus on it .the list goes on

My wife asked him to pay the excess and buy a new fridge . he told her to get f***ked . She took photos then called called the police and treated to press charges he paid the next day with a new fridge .

We sold it 3 months later never going to be a land lord again

[Travel2003]

We are talking about 5 poor western students in Thailand, who can not afford scraping together let's say 3-4K each, then present it as a compromise?

And who in the first place started the entire dilemma by actually dammage the coach?

[IanForbes]

The cat urinated on the couch and you used vinegar and a white chemical . I would tell him that you will only agree to getting it cleaned as all landlords must allow for wear and tear.

I've been through this recently renting my condo and over the years you get a certain amount of damage of course depending on where the damage is on the couch.

My last tenent a young guy from Canada trashed the place exceeding the bond. I had put in a new mattress which had blood stains on it ,the new curtains were ripped down and damaged, the fridge was trashed also he had left the airconditioner on for 6 months without opening a window and everything had fungus on it .the list goes on

My wife asked him to pay the excess and buy a new fridge . he told her to get f***ked . She took photos then called called the police and treated to press charges he paid the next day with a new fridge .

We sold it 3 months later never going to be a land lord again

Yours is a very common story in Canada where the tenants have more rights than the landlord. I tried renting twice and was stung both times. Never again. However, a lot depends on the quality of the renter. You are better off charging more and getting a better class person. The amount of the damage deposit should reflect on the long term tenant.

[scorecard]

We used our deposit to pay for the last month's rent, so he's not holding any of our cash.

Do you reckon re-upholstering the couch would be a cheaper option, and if so, do you have any idea as to how could I find out how and where this be done?

Thanks, I really appreciate the replies!

Recovering can be very cheap, but depends of course on the fabric and where your located.

I had two X 2 seater sofas recovered (cheaper vinyl but looks like quite OK) about 12 months ago, cost 1,900Baht each including fabric and work, and the shop picked up and delivered for an extra 100Baht all up, but only about 2 kilometres from their shop.

If your in Bkk, the place I'm talking about in on Petchaburi road between Soi 7 and Phya Thai Road.

[scorecard]

The cat urinated on the couch and you used vinegar and a white chemical . I would tell him that you will only agree to getting it cleaned as all landlords must allow for wear and tear.

I've been through this recently renting my condo and over the years you get a certain amount of damage of course depending on where the damage is on the couch.

My last tenent a young guy from Canada trashed the place exceeding the bond. I had put in a new mattress which had blood stains on it ,the new curtains were ripped down and damaged, the fridge was trashed also he had left the airconditioner on for 6 months without opening a window and everything had fungus on it .the list goes on

My wife asked him to pay the excess and buy a new fridge . he told her to get f***ked . She took photos then called called the police and treated to press charges he paid the next day with a new fridge .

We sold it 3 months later never going to be a land lord again

Yours is a very common story in Canada where the tenants have more rights than the landlord. I tried renting twice and was stung both times. Never again. However, a lot depends on the quality of the renter. You are better off charging more and getting a better class person. The amount of the damage deposit should reflect on the long term tenant.

I know this story, bought an expensive house just off Jomtien beach, quality teak built-ins, quality beds, furniture, curtains, etc etc.

First tenant was farang who was supposedly a high profile / well known / highly credible financial advisor (so the agent claimed). He didn't move in, just the minor wife. She disappeared six months later. The damage to everything was beyond belief, cost me more than 300,000Baht to replace damaged teak built-ins, news beds and mattresses, sofas, curtains, dining suite, many tiles in the kitchen floor where she had been using a charcoal bucket cooker, washing machine kicked in, glass sliding doors on two shower cubicles smashed, grafiti everywhere, and more. Farang refused to acknowledge any responsibility.

Had the same thing happen in Melbourne Australia 20 years earlier, doors all kicked in and more.