Renting

[dogpoo]

We have been renting a property for over 1 yr, the roof has pretty much leaked the whole time, the landlord is now saying, they will repair it this last time( they are incapable of repairing it, all they do when they come is put loads of mastik where they think the leak is, they say it will be our responsibility from now on!! can they do what they like? Is our only option to leave and find somewhere else?

[BlackPuddingBertha]

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[aussiebebe]

Your options are either to pay yourself or leave as others have noted - it's your call depending on how much you want or need to stay in the property. I rented a few houses in Thailand before I bought a condo and in my experience leaks are common due to the way the heat expands the steel frame under the roof tiles and then this contracts in the evening. I remember the first leak in a rented house, it was terrible. I'd pulled my elliptical exercise machine into the center of the living room ready for the following morning. When I woke up, of all the places, the roof had leaked right over where I'd put my machine, talk about fate, at least it wasn't the TV, but still. I got a Thai friend to come and fix it (you can get cans of spray foam from Home Mart).

Just in general, when renting the uninsulated roof made the heat unbearable - it was like living in an oven. The home had a suspended ceiling and I put rolls of fiberglass insulation up there but it wasn't great. I could sometimes even hear rats or mice running across the ceiling. I looked into getting PU Sprayfoam but it was so expensive, like 700b/m2, that it's just not worth it when you're renting. If you love the house and want to stay long term, you might broach the idea with the landlord, like going halves on the cost. Spray foam stops leaks and makes the roof space heat up slower so it can lower electricity bills if you use roll insulation and install an extraction fan in the roof space. Too expensive to make it worthwhile for a tenant, though.

[akampa]

did you not get a contract with the owner most basic have " if in the course of normal use any equipment should malfunction or require repairing,other than damage caused by the tenant,the landlord must accept responsibility and pay the cost of repairing immediately"

[Phronesis]

I had the EXACT same problem last year.

Leave...

[dogpoo]

We have a rental agreement which is all in Thai, the owners will at some point be coming to the house with yet another man who will attempt to repair the leak, they have all been clueless so far, a couple of men have looked, scratched there head in bewilderment and left never to be seen again, when the owners do show up I will get the gf to ask them about future roof problems, if they say it is our responsibility then we will find somewhere else, it's not bad, we had a leak in the bathroom which they fixed after many attempts, we now have a leak in the bedroom which is not bad but annoying! apart from these 2 things the house is good!

[breadbin]

If you're not happy leave, the maintenance is not your responsibility. Plenty, and I mean 1000's if other places to rent.

[cheeryble]

Actually repairs carefully done with mastic and especially mastic tape, can last an awful long time. It softens with heat and will give......useful attributes. Tar used to be used in ships.

Your landlord is obviously is bringing the first Somchai he can find.

If there is not a sound and cleanable base to apply a repair the Somchai should say so, recommend some replacement, and not do a bodge job.

(Last year.......in my rented house......I made my own tape to repair a gutter with tiny little rust holes by cleaning and painting on thin mastic then with strips of canvas pressed in with a brush then liberally painted with more thin mastic. I am quite certain it will last for years. It was cheap, took an hour or two, and saved a whole new gutter system which was part of a kitchen I had added to the house myself [still paying original rent from 9 years ago]

Commercial mastic tape is strong and has a reflective layer on top. I have used it many times and it can also last for many years. A hairdryer is useful to get it softened and stuck down properly.)

Edited March 28, 2013 by cheeryble

[isawasnake]

They can not fix anything. It really does get old.