I Paid For It, But Does It Belong To Me?

[artvarkk]

I paid to have a rental bungalow built, next to the house I rent, on the same property. Same landlord. I am ready to move and walk away from both the house I am renting as well as the bungalow. I equipped the bungalow with air conditioning, water heater for shower, ceiling lights, curtains etc.

My question is, can I take the attached items from the bungalow when I leave, or will the Thai landlord protest? I purchased all of it, and the landlord will have to replace these items if he chooses to. I have all the receipts for the items that I want to take with me as proof that I paid for it.

What are my rights in this case?

[DLock]

You can take everything you put there.

Just make sure you leave it as it was when you rented the property and there is nothing the Landlord can do.

...however that does not mean he won't try.

[tinfoilhat]

its yours, and yes the landlord would obviously prefer you leave the stuff behind, it really depends on what kind of a person they are whether or not they protest.

[lovelomsak]

Donot know if you can or not sorry. But where I am anything you put in a rental be it air conditioning,hot water heater etc,you can take with you when you leave but not sure about every where in Thailand. Ask the neighbours.

[jimbeam1]

I would be very careful. What you do have is the right to a Lawyer. As this has cost you so much already, If I were you I would spend that little bit more. Remember this is not your own Country. Even if you are in the right, You can still be wrong?

jb1

[Morakot]

I paid to have a rental bungalow built

That's rather confusing. It's normally like this:

• If you have paid for a bungalow than that is your property and you can "take" the entire thing with you when you leave.
  
• If you are renting it, than when leaving you can't take anything.
  

Why you are renting your own property, I don't understand. Do yo mean you rent the ground where the building is on.

Edited September 21, 2012 by Morakot

[rgs2001uk]

"I paid to have a rental bungalow built"

Would sure love to see your planning permission for that.

Best you come to some sort of amicable agreement with your landlord.

He may well bulldoze the building and give you the bill for doing so, all because you chose to erect an illegal building on his property.

[WebBangkok]

Yes. He can also tell you remove the bungalow too. But I doubt he will. Unless he is cashed up amd doesnt like you

[chiangmaikelly]

I moved. Talked to the landlord and we agreed on a price and he sold the AC I put in to the next tenant and he gave me the money.

[Soutpeel]

As a serious question, what did you agree to with the land lord before you built the bungalow ?..as by rights if you didnt have permission to build this, he could ask you to demolish the whole thing at your cost, before you leave, surely you had some sort of written agreement in place

Edited September 21, 2012 by Soutpeel

[artvarkk]

The bungalow structure will stay as is. No hard feelings or disagreements from either myself or my landlord (yet). I just would like to gather opinions from those who have knowledge of this type of situation before I even discuss it with the landlord.

Our agreement is that I pay for construction and pay a minimal rent, but when I am ready to leave, the structure is handed back to the land owner. I am only interested in taking a few 'attached' items with me... that I paid for: A/C unit, water heater, hanging lights and curtains.

Thank you all for your replies!

[Trembly]

You're entitled to take all of those other items with you, of course, but why don't you instead ask the landlord if he would like to make you an offer for the A/C and water heater? It would save you the job of uninstalling and transporting them and it would save him the job of putting new ones in or clearing up the messy looking marks on the building that their absence would leave.

[yermanee]

The bungalow structure will stay as is. No hard feelings or disagreements from either myself or my landlord (yet). I just would like to gather opinions from those who have knowledge of this type of situation before I even discuss it with the landlord.

Our agreement is that I pay for construction and pay a minimal rent, but when I am ready to leave, the structure is handed back to the land owner. I am only interested in taking a few 'attached' items with me... that I paid for: A/C unit, water heater, hanging lights and curtains.

Thank you all for your replies!

Speak first with the landlord. Maybe he's interested of buying the things from you. If not, as someone said if you take them out, you have to restore the bungalow to its original state, i.e. plug all the holes and repaint the walls.

Yermanee

[tinfoilhat]

You're entitled to take all of those other items with you, of course, but why don't you instead ask the landlord if he would like to make you an offer for the A/C and water heater? It would save you the job of uninstalling and transporting them and it would save him the job of putting new ones in or clearing up the messy looking marks on the building that their absence would leave.

my suggestion exactly.

to the person who suggested a lawyer, and those who remark the landlord could bulldoze the place, this sort of thing happens regularly on Koh phangan, especially around Chaloklum.

Quite often a landowner is willing to let a proven tenant build, or will even build a house to a tenants specs if they agree to a certain period of time and rent usually upfront. It is a pretty brilliant strategy all said, much better than overarching with bank loans and risking everything after a couple years of rioting and airport closures cut occupancy to the point they cant service their loans.

it is generally win win/ the landowner either gets a place built free, or one built that is sure to appeal to a foreign/western sensibility, therefore a place that will have higher demand and pay for itself either way.

I know of a couple of very progressive families on the island who have excellent relationships with their tenants. As an example a friend of min has a bar that is quit well established as a local of sorts for the divers and long term residents. The owner received an offer for several rai of the family land from a Bangkok family. She agreed with the purchaser, with my friend, and all her other tenants, that she would rebuild their houses on another plot of land she owned nearby, lock stock and barrel at no cost to them and was negotiating with the purchaser for a long enough waiting period to get the new construction done.

Unfortunately (or fortunately) the deal fell through, but the point was she valued her long term tenants enough that she is willing to go the extra mile for them, As a result her properties are booked out as fast as she can build them.

She allowed another friend of mine to design his own house and footed the bill for its construction. the only agreement in place is that he oversee the building, and stay 4 years at the same rent he was paying for his current place. he too fitted air and hot water.

It would be a very cynical and greedy individual who allowed a tenant to build and kicked up a stink over the AC and hot water when they had already gotten a bungalow out of the deal.

It is likely they would be willing to pay save the hassle of buying and fitting a new set, or, as someone else suggested, pass the cost on to an incoming tenant. I have done that before with a rental house i upgraded in Bkk, the incoming tenant gave me 80k for hot water 2 ac, hob, oven, large fridge worth about 160k new.

[kennedy]

Simple answer- YES, I have done it twice.

[FredLee]

The bungalow structure will stay as is. No hard feelings or disagreements from either myself or my landlord (yet). I just would like to gather opinions from those who have knowledge of this type of situation before I even discuss it with the landlord.

Our agreement is that I pay for construction and pay a minimal rent, but when I am ready to leave, the structure is handed back to the land owner. I am only interested in taking a few 'attached' items with me... that I paid for: A/C unit, water heater, hanging lights and curtains.

Thank you all for your replies!

This is almost an exact situation my wife faced, except she was the landlord. Her nephew wanted to build a house on her property, and pay a minimal rent for 5 years, that would go towards the purchase price if he decided to buy. She had the contract drawn up that if he moved the house would remain and belong to her. After two years he quit paying rent. She went to the police to have him evicted. The police came to observe him moving out. She had to give permission for everything that was taken from the house, including the dishes, television, and other personal items. I don't know what the actual law is, and it may have been because he was evicted rather than leaving voluntarily, but the police would not let him take anything from the house without her consent. So it looks like the best bet is like some others have suggested, and work it out with the landlord without getting the authorities involved.

[RKASA]

This is where a contract is written before you build - lease hold improvements are a complete section of a rental agreement. Without it in writing it is some what up to you to work out but owning the property is 9/10 of the law. He could require you remove and restore the property completely or take what he wants - it is completely up to him without a contract. If you want the a/c etc remove it without bring it up and repair the holes. Take the curtains etc. leave fixtures such as lighting and taps so the building retains usefulness without great cost - otherwise you might piss them off.