Rental Scam In Cha Am, Beware!

[JAFO]

I hope the mods will let this stay as I think it is important so others foreigners do not get scammed.

I pondered whether or not I wanted to post this but I felt(as did my GF) that it was important and the right thing to do..

I will try and keep it objective but I may drift..I apologize in advance

The house in question is located almost exactly half way between Cha am and Hua Hin on the beach side. The address is 918/3 Chaiyoen rd, Phetburi 76120. Here is the picture of the property

Oct 2011: When we rented the place we did a walk through and listed things we saw wrong with the place before renting it. The owner said "No problem, we will fix them before you move in". We paid them their cleaning deposit 30K baht to secure it and agreed on a 1 year rental agreement and said we would move in a few weeks. So we rented a truck and 3 weeks later called and said we were on our way. When we arrived he had not fixed anything. My GF asked why, His sneaky wife said "Oh we will do it now". So we went on their word and weeks past and nothing. We reminded them of the rental agreement and that they said they would fix it. Never happened.

Nov 2011. The place has a pool and he had complained the previous Farang renter let it go green and it was a mess to clean. Being I had 2 houses with pools in the US keeping up a pool is an easy deal. So he filled the pool and off we went. He had a chlorinator and timer and all seemed in order. Well after about a month I was struggling to keep the pool from turning green. I was analyzing the water and there was no chlorine. I called the owner and asked him to show me the system. He sent his son who is a clueless clown. He could not answer any of my questions. So out of boredom I spent a few hours and followed the plumbing. It is all wrong. The water skims the top but does not pull water from the bottom so the chlorinator only generates enough chlorine to keep the first 3” of water proper while the other 7 feet is just sitting stagnate. The only way to keep the pool suitable is "shocking" the pool. Its is plumbed completely wrong and if it was right, the chlorinator is inadequate and you would have to run the pump 10 hrs a day to keep it stable.

Dec 2011, We kept noticing a sewer smell in both bathrooms. I did some digging around and found he added a bathroom to the house and the drains sit lower then the sewer out to the street thus it backs up and sit, only way is flush the toilet about 5 times to get it cleared.

Jan 2012 About 3 months into the rental he started calling us and asking if we wanted to buy the place. His price 3.5mil bht. I told him I was not interested in buying anything at this time. He offered he would finance us. I declined (there are simply way to many things wrong with the house). The the sneaky bastard sent a lady over to ask if the house was for sale as she pretended to have an interested party. I said "Call the owners". She asked if I was going to buy. I said "No, I am a renter". I never heard from the owner then I put it all together. The <deleted> was scamming us to buy it by trying to fear us of losing his little dream castle.

Feb 2012 An AC unit head was not blowing cold air. I called the owner and he said I need to fix it because I am using it. We argued a bit and I succumbed to it as it was warm. Also about this time the guy behind us decided to take up chicken farming and the shit smell was horrific when the wind turned. I also mentioned we had critters living in the roof(I suspect rats as slowly each light was burning out and they must have been eating the wiring)

March 2012: By now the pool is an all out chore to sustain. I called the owner over and over and he would not come out. I had my GF call to tell them they are not holding up their end of the rental agreement. They would not return calls. Near the end of March we called them and said we wanted to meet with them about the house. I left it opened ended figuring they would be stupid enough to come thinking I wanted to buy it. They both came:mid:. I sat them down with my GF and said I want out of the agreement. I cited the house is not what they said it was, they have done nothing to fix the problems they agreed too and it appears they are actively trying to sell it and I do not want to be hit with a 30 day move out deal. I also cited that while out of his control the chicken farm is not what I signed up for. They were pissed but said OK. We said we would be out by April 30th.

At this time I decided that I wanted to move back to the US and the plan was not only to move out but pack to return(They did not know this). We called the owners and told them to please come by on April 23rd. I said we will have the place cleaned and ready. He said OK. My GF called to confirm on the 17th and she said that her husband was out of town and would not be back until Apr 24(Convenient huh?) So my GF said well she could come by, The lady said "Oh its my husbands dealing not mine and I cannot"(convenient again). My GF called again on Friday and no answer, she kept calling and calling. So I am livid now as I know the game they are playing. I know the entire time they were not going to give me my deposit back. On the day I was moving a neighbor farang came by and saw we were moving. He asked if we got screwed by the owners. I laughed and said "Yeah". He said "you are not the only one, they did it my friend who was here before you" So this is why I think it is important to warn others. In the end we did not clean the place at all, in fact we stopped watering the bushes and they all started to die. The pool was a green algae bath, and both bathrooms had backed up with shit and smelled horrifically. We also took all the keys because they had the goddamn gall to text my GF and ask us to leave the keys in the mail box.

Outside the scamming practices of the owners here is a list of everything wrong with the property.

1) There are large cracks in every wall in every room and all along the roof lines

2) The roof leaks in the kitchen and back rooms

3) Both Ac units are old and need to be replaced.

4) All the screens are ripped and worn out

5) The pool is plumbed all wrong and needs to be torn up and fixed and the Jacuzzi does not work

6) The water pump by the 2 side tanks does not operate automatically, it needs to be manually run

7) Routinely the city shuts off the water for hours so you are manually running the pump

8) There are rats in the roof living

9) The neighbors behind is raising chickens and it smells bad

10) The MB bathroom is plumbed below the sewer line thus backing up

11) All the outlets in the house all need to be replaced as when you plug anything in the push into from the fascia mount.

12) The paint is peeling off all the walls and pillars by the front door.

He will promise to fix all of these things, and will not. Do not trust these people. My lesson cost me 30K baht. Do not let it be a 3.5million baht mistake.

[wana]

If one were a vindictive soul ,you could get someone to torch the place for few hundred baht once you are safely back in america .....

[nattydread]

how much was the monthly rental?

[soi41]

how much was the monthly rental?

My guess would be 10k/month. Why did you stay in a dump like that for 18 months ?

[wana]

how much was the monthly rental?

My guess would be 10k/month. Why did you stay in a dump like that for 18 months ?

he was probably stuck in a contract ,and of course if you only have a backpack ,its easy to move to the next place

if you move your family into a home ,its another matter entirely

[Darrel]

1) There are large cracks in every wall in every room and all along the roof lines

2) The roof leaks in the kitchen and back rooms

3) Both Ac units are old and need to be replaced.

4) All the screens are ripped and worn out

5) The pool is plumbed all wrong and needs to be torn up and fixed and the Jacuzzi does not work

6) The water pump by the 2 side tanks does not operate automatically, it needs to be manually run

7) Routinely the city shuts off the water for hours so you are manually running the pump

8) There are rats in the roof living

9) The neighbors behind is raising chickens and it smells bad

10) The MB bathroom is plumbed below the sewer line thus backing up

11) All the outlets in the house all need to be replaced as when you plug anything in the push into from the fascia mount.

12) The paint is peeling off all the walls and pillars by the front door.

1,2,5,6,10,11,12 : standard poor construction that affects many Thai properties.

3,4,8 : standard poor maintenance that affects many Thai properties.

7,9 : standard Thai neighbourhood problems.

Nothing new here at all.

Deposit not refunded : standard landlord theft that affects many rentals. You should have paid a much lower deposit, or assumed that it would be lost and not paid your final month(s) rent. And you should have ensured that all the obvious problems (like the lack of gas in the aircon) were fixed before you gave them any money. Many people in Thailand (both Thais and Farangs) are just cheap crooks with no morals at all and you have to accept that and act accordingly.

Your story has happened a million times before and will happen a million times again. And as you say, you can be thankful that you rented and didnt buy.

[vtjforyou]

Interesting, thank you !

[barefoot1988]

seems like a bunch of pure breed <deleted>.

since you are returning anyway . . i would have done some graffiti on every single walls, destroy nearly everything using hammer including ac, pump, bed frames, toilet bowl and basin, tables, shelves, cupboard etc

[bendix]

how much was the monthly rental?

My guess would be 10k/month. Why did you stay in a dump like that for 18 months ?

He didnt stay in it for 18months. He stayed in it for six months.

And I'm struggling to see where the scam is? How has anyone been scammed? OK, the OP has some issues about maintenance and hasn't yet got his deposit back but you never get your deposit back the day you move - it always takes a couple of months because the deposit is meant to cover not only any damage (and the OP is admitting to purposely letting plants die) and outstanding bills which the owner doesn't want to get stuck with like power and water etc.

Only when those are assessed is the deposit due back minus anything pending.

In fact, if the OP signed a 12 month lease and is moving out after 6 months why should they expect to be treated like kings?

[JAFO]

Bendix,

The scam was they promised to fix everything prior to us moving in and did not. They took my deposit. We scheduled a walk through on the day we were moving out and they shunted us and had no intention of returning the deposit. The owners refused to come and fix what they promised. The biggest scam was the game they played trying to use a Thai friend to make it appear like they had a buyer when it was nothing more then a tactic to get us to buy. They are desperately trying to get out from underneath the house. They said that they would not try and sell during our rental period then they tried an end around. I wanted out of the contract as the agreement was he would fix the issues(Which he did not do) and not try and sell the house(which he tried to do). He breached the signed contract.

He agreed to let us out and said he would come see us off and then played further games by avoiding us and never came. And btw in TL every place I have rented they hand back the deposit the day you leave, not 2 to 3 weeks after. I have rented 6 places in TL from Condo's to houses. This is my first event. I consider myself lucky.

To the others, I thought about the pay back is a bitch idea but thought why do it and be a schmuck like him. I am doing my part to warn others of this property. There are no full disclosures here in Thailand and would hate to see a Farang buy the place and get hosed. I wrote the 30K baht deposit off the day I handed it over.

All I am saying is beware.

[bendix]

It is not a scam to not do the repairs they are required to do. It is simply bad landlording.

It is not a scam to offer the house to you to sell, which you politely declined as is your right. You have no evidence that anyone else coming to want to buy the house has anything to do with the landlord. Given there is a large sign saying For Sale and Rent on the gate, it was probably just a casual passer-by.

And so far it is not a scam that they haven't returned the deposit. Most rental contracts will stipulate when and if the deposit will be refunded. That is usually after an inspection has been made and AFTER trailing utilities bills which you are liable for but are no longer around to pay have been assessed.

How hard is that to work out?

[Soutpeel]

In fact, if the OP signed a 12 month lease and is moving out after 6 months why should they expect to be treated like kings?

Hardly a "scam"

and if the contract was broken by the tenant...good luck getting your deposit back, where the 10 items you have identifed detailed as clauses in the contract and the owner acknowleged repair as a condition of contract in writing ?

Bad landlord definitely...you get slumlords like this all over the world

[bendix]

This. It's a straightforward dispute between landlord and tenant, and as the tenant has decided to end the contract early, they have suddenly lost important leverage.

Furthermore, my posting explicit details about the house on a public forum and making it easy to identify the people involved, I suspect the tenant is flirting with falling foul of the law themselves.

[JurgenG]

1) There are large cracks in every wall in every room and all along the roof lines

2) The roof leaks in the kitchen and back rooms

3) Both Ac units are old and need to be replaced.

4) All the screens are ripped and worn out

5) The pool is plumbed all wrong and needs to be torn up and fixed and the Jacuzzi does not work

6) The water pump by the 2 side tanks does not operate automatically, it needs to be manually run

7) Routinely the city shuts off the water for hours so you are manually running the pump

8) There are rats in the roof living

9) The neighbors behind is raising chickens and it smells bad

10) The MB bathroom is plumbed below the sewer line thus backing up

11) All the outlets in the house all need to be replaced as when you plug anything in the push into from the fascia mount.

12) The paint is peeling off all the walls and pillars by the front door.

1,2,5,6,10,11,12 : standard poor construction that affects many Thai properties.

3,4,8 : standard poor maintenance that affects many Thai properties.

7,9 : standard Thai neighbourhood problems.

Nothing new here at all.

Deposit not refunded : standard landlord theft that affects many rentals. You should have paid a much lower deposit, or assumed that it would be lost and not paid your final month(s) rent. And you should have ensured that all the obvious problems (like the lack of gas in the aircon) were fixed before you gave them any money. Many people in Thailand (both Thais and Farangs) are just cheap crooks with no morals at all and you have to accept that and act accordingly.

Your story has happened a million times before and will happen a million times again. And as you say, you can be thankful that you rented and didnt buy.

Maybe.

But newbies are not aware of that. An informative post for new joiners.

[JurgenG]

Many people in Thailand (both Thais and Farangs) are just cheap crooks with no morals at all and you have to accept that and act accordingly.

I'm a landlord and agree with you.

There are, not many, but a few people who are going to rent your property and trash it with no intention to pay for the damages.

But I guess in this forum people are more likely to be tenants that landlord so it's fair to inform them about the practices of bad landlords.

[mjj]

Seems quite standard for here IMO. Annoying and wrong, but quite normal.

[NanLaew]

^^^^ No worries, a Mod will be along shortly (just as soon as they have finished closely monitoring for teacher bashing) to lock this one and expunge it of any libelous bits.

[JurgenG]

^^^^ No worries, a Mod will be along shortly (just as soon as they have finished closely monitoring for teacher bashing) to lock this one and expunge it of any libelous bits.

Bashing teachers ? Where ?

I really hate teachers, traumatism from childhood.

[moe666]

seems like a bunch of pure breed <deleted>.

since you are returning anyway . . i would have done some graffiti on every single walls, destroy nearly everything using hammer including ac, pump, bed frames, toilet bowl and basin, tables, shelves, cupboard etc

And Mr. barefoot could find himself in a lot of trouble. Lets say you leave and a few years later decide to come back waiting for you on arrival could be an arrest warrant as happened to a couple of Ozzie boys a few years ago who got side ways with a landlord