Do I Get 30 Days To Opt Out Of 12 Month Rental Agreement?

[CecilEugene]

I am having electrical problems with my new home that I am renting. I have been in the house less than a month and have signed a 12 month lease. But there seems to be electrical problems. In essence the circuit breaker trips without warning and turns off everything in the whole house. This is happening more and more. The landlord is slow in responding. I am peeved and unhappy. What renters rights do I have? A friend says I can get out of my lease if less than 30 days. Is this true?

[Dante99]

It all depends on the words in the lease and their meaning under Thai law. The lease may say you are responsible for repairs in which case fix it yourself but I do not think that you will find a circuit breaker that gives a warning before it trips.

Perhaps the landlord is not slow in responding, his electrician may be busy. Perhaps you can get it fixed yourself at a small cost and inconvenience.

What your rights are is not much use unless you have some magic to get those rights enforced.

.

[TheVicar]

Good advice from Dante. Try to have the landlord fix it (send him a registered letter with your detailed complaints if he does not appear to want to do anything). If he does nothing, have an electrician first look at it and then quote you a price for fixing it. If small, do it yourself and maybe your landlord will even pay it for you. You can use him as a witness if all else fails. If the landlord is unwilling to fix it, you can than claim that the landlord fraudulently misrepresented the house as liveable when in fact it isn't. You have to build a "paper trail" through letters and writing and witnesses. Don't rely on anything oral. If all else doesn't work, leave (but you will lose your down payment). Good luck.

Edited December 4, 2012 by TheVicar

[worgeordie]

If you try to leave before your 12 months are up,and in some cases

after your lease term is up,you will never get your security deposit

back.

Your best bet is to keep hounding the landlord to repair it,failing that

hold back your rent until he does.

If the circuit breaker keeps tripping that could be a serious problem

for you,especially if you have water heaters in bathroom,its a short

somewhere in the system,you most likely will not have earth wires

very few Thai houses do,so it must be the Live wire touching the

Negative wire ,which could cause a fire,or an electrical shock to you.

We had the same problem in one of our rental houses,and got on

to it as soon as tenant reported it,as did not want anyone getting

electrocuted, couple hours later traced it to a pull light switch in

the bathroom the live wire had worn through the insulation and

was sometimes touching the metal framework of the ceiling,We

were lucky as its a lot harder to find an intermittent fault than

a complete failure.

So get on to your landlord ,he must fix it pronto as its dangerous,

If he will not fix that your prospects of getting any other problems

dealt with in the coming months are not good are they, how much

deposit is he holding?

Regads Worgeordie

[mesquite]

Some good suggestions. If you leave you will lose your deposit, but if you stay until the end of the lease, you will probably lose your deposit anyway because this is Thailand. Another problem with leaving is your next landlord may be worse.

Unfortunately any issue between a farang and a Thai almost always comes down to the farang being wrong.

[circusman]

My year lease states that the renter (me) pays for repairs. My fault for not reading every statement before signing.

However, the owner replaced a faulty toilet at her expense. Just took 2 months.

[worgeordie]

My year lease states that the renter (me) pays for repairs. My fault for not reading every statement before signing.

However, the owner replaced a faulty toilet at her expense. Just took 2 months.

Hi Circusman, do you realize what you have signed,saying you pay for repairs,

Wait till your lease ends, the landlord could repaint all of the house ,redo the floors,

ect ect all at your expense,most reasonable landlords expect some wear and tear

to the property after a year or two,but you have left your self open to all kinds of

problems by signing a lease like that.

Regards Worgeordie

[TheVicar]

Some good suggestions. If you leave you will lose your deposit, but if you stay until the end of the lease, you will probably lose your deposit anyway because this is Thailand. Another problem with leaving is your next landlord may be worse.

Unfortunately any issue between a farang and a Thai almost always comes down to the farang being wrong.

You're exactly right about the deposits. Many landlord's see this as akin to a gift that will never be returned. That's why when I talk to a landlord, I also emphasize the point about when will the deposit be returned by him/her and make sure that the written contract has a speedy payback of the deposit. If he/she smiles or looks blankly when you talk about return of the deposit, I move on.

If your are having such troubles and they cannot be fixed easily and your landlord doesn't budge, leave (and lose your deposit). If your landlord is unwilling to fix a major problem like this (and pay for it) you're probably better off elsewhere. CM has lots of rental opportunities. It's a renters market out there (maybe not at Christmas time but starting in February, for sure; there are also plenty of apartments/hotels/guesthouses that you can live in for a couple of months while looking for a better long-term place).

Edited December 5, 2012 by TheVicar

[Loaded]

Good advice from Dante. Try to have the landlord fix it (send him a registered letter with your detailed complaints if he does not appear to want to do anything). If he does nothing, have an electrician first look at it and then quote you a price for fixing it. If small, do it yourself and maybe your landlord will even pay it for you. You can use him as a witness if all else fails. If the landlord is unwilling to fix it, you can than claim that the landlord fraudulently misrepresented the house as liveable when in fact it isn't. You have to build a "paper trail" through letters and writing and witnesses. Don't rely on anything oral. If all else doesn't work, leave (but you will lose your down payment). Good luck.

There's no way you live in Thailand.

[ARISTIDE]

It's much easier to get an electrician to have a look at it even if it's in the lease agreement otherwise.

[mamborobert]

Is there any chance that you (with just moving in)are overloading the circuit in which case not the owners problem.

Have been to a few friends that had single phase houses with similar problems...Issue was that they had put in a washing machine, much bigger fridge, microwave etc (that previous tenants had not had)...often having a few running at once (plus aircon), then they turn on the TV or laptop and the circuit goes.

I have three phase simply to ensure that this does not happen.

Look also to see if circuit is burnt in which case it takes less and less to shut down till eventually nada.

Maybe look at that first if relevant to you.

I'm with Loaded on the paper trail/registered mail bit, totally waste and would either breed resentment by owner or make you a laughing stock.

I would go with get someone to fix and for the purposes of this exercise lets kid ourselves and call them an electrician.

Edited December 5, 2012 by mamborobert

[Rancid]

If you go you lose your bond, if the landlord threatens to sue it is just huff and puff. If really unhappy just go, lifes too short. There are decent landlords out there and of course the other kind, spin the wheel.