We Are Being Flooded Out By Idiot Developers.

[Beetlejuice]

This is one of the pitfools to not having experience of buying real estate in Thailand and not seeking some good advice first.

A fact to remember is that in Thailand money overrules all other factors. including environments, planning permission required and the consideration of residents living in an area.

Always be cautious when buying real estate that has large masses of open land in the surrounding areas.

I know of cases where people have been lured into buying properties by they’re locations within a quite suburban neighbourhood, the main attractions being the scenic views, then after a couple years suddenly find themselves living within an industrial complex, with warehouses, factories and lorry parks as neighbors.

Under Thai law anyone can build a factory, warehouse or other types of projects with only 1 metre distance from the boundaries of a property.

I guess that as usual in these cases the OP has illegally made financial commitments into the property in his wife’s name, which means he has no say in the matter.

As the OP has said, the situation is going to worsen, perhaps to a point where the home becomes uninhabitable during the periods of flooding.

If this becomes intolerable, than the OP only has 2 options: either sell out cheap or stay and put up with all the inconvenience.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Beetlejuice

[kannot]

This is one of the pitfools to not having experience of buying real estate in Thailand and not seeking some good advice first.

A fact to remember is that in Thailand money overrules all other factors. including environments, planning permission required and the consideration of residents living in an area.

Always be cautious when buying real estate that has large masses of open land in the surrounding areas.

I know of cases where people have been lured into buying properties by they’re locations within a quite suburban neighbourhood, the main attractions being the scenic views, then after a couple years suddenly find themselves living within an industrial complex, with warehouses, factories and lorry parks as neighbors.

Under Thai law anyone can build a factory, warehouse or other types of projects with only 1 metre distance from the boundaries of a property.

I guess that as usual in these cases the OP has illegally made financial commitments into the property in his wife’s name, which means he has no say in the matter.

As the OP has said, the situation is going to worsen, perhaps to a point where the home becomes uninhabitable during the periods of flooding.

If this becomes intolerable, than the OP only has 2 options: either sell out cheap or stay and put up with all the inconvenience.

Better to buy a big piece of land like my wife did and build your house slap bang in the middle of it, avoids many problems later.

Also get a wall round it pronto as everyone thinks its communal property until then

[BillyBobThai]

First off I would try to sell, at a small loss if need be.

If you can not sell, I would install a good water proof wall around your property

and install a large pump to keep your side dry. This is one of 6 engines that will power

pumps in New Orleans, you could probably use a smaller one.

To gain access to the property and make a baht on the side, one of these would come in handy.

Best of luck.

Edited May 10, 2013 by BillyBobThai

[giddyup]

Never been flooded at the 30 th floor, and anyway the ground floor isn't also as the building is on a hill. Am I a genius ? It seems when I read others horror stories...

If you don't mind living in a high-rise rabbit warren. Some of us actually enjoy a yard and a garden.

[Thereisnoif]

Rent

[roamer]

Never been flooded at the 30 th floor, and anyway the ground floor isn't also as the building is on a hill. Am I a genius ? It seems when I read others horror stories...

Best not to be too smug. I've watched multiple condo developments go up in Bangkok without the needed sewage capacity being increased. Multiple turds smell just as bad on the 30th floor when they are swimming around your living room. Dread to think what will happen should these places ever start to rise above the very low occupancy rates they are at currently.

[robblok]

Never been flooded at the 30 th floor, and anyway the ground floor isn't also as the building is on a hill. Am I a genius ? It seems when I read others horror stories...

Best not to be too smug. I've watched multiple condo developments go up in Bangkok without the needed sewage capacity being increased. Multiple turds smell just as bad on the 30th floor when they are swimming around your living room. Dread to think what will happen should these places ever start to rise above the very low occupancy rates they are at currently.

Not to mention if the area around you is flooded and food and water can't reach your home the only advantage you have is that there is no damage but you still in a world of hurt.

[Fgis]

Never been flooded at the 30 th floor, and anyway the ground floor isn't also as the building is on a hill. Am I a genius ? It seems when I read others horror stories...

If you don't mind living in a high-rise rabbit warren. Some of us actually enjoy a yard and a garden.

So, enjoy your swimming pool also :-)

Mine is bigger, perfectly cleaned and I swim only when I want, not when the elements decide for me...

[giddyup]

Never been flooded at the 30 th floor, and anyway the ground floor isn't also as the building is on a hill. Am I a genius ? It seems when I read others horror stories...

If you don't mind living in a high-rise rabbit warren. Some of us actually enjoy a yard and a garden.

So, enjoy your swimming pool also :-)

Mine is bigger, perfectly cleaned and I swim only when I want, not when the elements decide for me...

Wait until the lifts are out of commission and you have to climb 30 floors with two bags of groceries. Edited May 11, 2013 by giddyup

[lazygourmet]

Never been flooded at the 30 th floor, and anyway the ground floor isn't also as the building is on a hill. Am I a genius ? It seems when I read others horror stories...

If you don't mind living in a high-rise rabbit warren. Some of us actually enjoy a yard and a garden.

So, enjoy your swimming pool also :-)

Mine is bigger, perfectly cleaned and I swim only when I want, not when the elements decide for me...

Ironically the swimming pool and clubhouse area was they only place inside our moo baan who remained "dry" during 2011 floods.

[Keith67]

What do you expect in a country that really thought that boats moored to bridges on the river in Bangkok could push the water faster out to the gulf to end the flooding

This country is run by idiots that can only think money number one

Hilarious, and funny you should mention that. My wife tells me now that the developer is a friend of Thaksin and is one of the Pheu Thai mob.

So the reason nobody stands up to it, is that they are afraid.

Not heard from the OP since this post..........maybe they are right to be affraid....

[farang000999]

OP appears to long for the UK nanny state!

[chrisinth]

Only last week (with the first proper rains of the season here) we had one of the Thai guys in the workshop (workshop manager) having to go home to sort out the flooding of his house.

Developers have built a new Moo Bann directly behind his and have land-filled to a higher level. It is the run-off that is causing the problem for him and the other residence of his current estate.

He is exploring the legal path at the minute, the lawyers quietly confident.

[i claudius]

A problem like this has built up around our way ,luckily for us we are on higher ground and can enter from the main sukhumvit road ,but the poor sods further away now get flooded out every time it rains ,and the road becomes impassable ,Thai way of thinking ,or not as most have no brain .

[boosta]

To me it's the buyers that have no brain, given the landscape here why would you ever invest in the flood plain? The motivations of the developers and sellers are pretty straightforward. . .

Not like topo maps don't exist here, and these days you'd also want to make sure you're well above sea level too.

Asking for relative quotes on flood cover from insurance companies will also give you a good idea without having to do the research yourself.

Edited June 17, 2013 by boosta

[Boxter]

Well I'm at the head waters of the Mun river (Chok Chai Korat) which flows right down to BKK. We've had some big storms and rains here the last couple of weeks, my road floods but I can still drive everywhere. You guys down stream get hit hard by the sounds of things. I feel for you. Get high!

[jpeg]

just think about existing residents, that's all....

herm, 'just think about existing residents' um, Here in LOSS, the locals could not give a flying fig for anyone other than themselves and their own profit/comfort when it comes to land and the usage thereof, enabled by the type of thinking already stated 'it's their land, they can do what they want'. I'm guessing this is because Thailand has developed from swathes of arable land in some parts to insane and sloppy development far too quickly sans a learning curve re sustainable development. Aided and abetted by the dimwits at the local OrBorJor who, with a little incentive, allow a five storey condo to be slung up between a couple of two storey houses and then left to rot as the 'developer' didn't do his sums and has run out of money leaving a hideous eyesore blocking the once nice mountain views.

There are others dotted about this once beautiful area. I propose they slap a demolition Order on the structures if work hasn't resumed within a year. i believe my Thai neighbours, whom this Godawful concrete skeleton affects, now, agree. They're beginning to see the application of zoning to be over and above the 'up to you' attitude prevalent when it effects them and their right to light, and an unspoiled view.

As to those posters bleating about buying over renting - how's your devalued currency affecting your ability to pay your landlord?

[kevvy]

i am building a village now , we had to put in drain holes every 25 meters both sides of the road and then had to have 1 metre drain pipes running for 500 meters outside of the village to the easement. this is only for 38 houses. being built 30 minutes from pattaya .

[Kudel]

i am building a village now , we had to put in drain holes every 25 meters both sides of the road and then had to have 1 metre drain pipes running for 500 meters outside of the village to the easement. this is only for 38 houses. being built 30 minutes from pattaya .

and in an other topic you are making fun with other posters on this website.

[klubex99]

Well I'm at the head waters of the Mun river (Chok Chai Korat) which flows right down to BKK. We've had some big storms and rains here the last couple of weeks, my road floods but I can still drive everywhere. You guys down stream get hit hard by the sounds of things. I feel for you. Get high!

Yeah, I am in Korat too. In Joho other side of the town. It has been bone dry here for weeks now, I heard the rain was bad other side of town though.

This evening it rained very hard for about 90 minutes. The road was about 6 inches deep, not so bad really, but I went over the street at the back of ours where they are building this new moo baan and it is so deep I can't get the car through it, OK for decent sized pickups. I can get in and out via another road which is a bit higher, but the neighbours over the back are not happy at all, and the 2 restaurants there are pretty much unable to trade at the moment, but the best saving grace is that the only way into this new development is via the road that they have created a flood in. So they won't be selling any of those houses.

That gives me a comforting feeling that the idiot building there will lose tens if not hundreds of millions. SOM NAM NA!

Edited July 6, 2013 by klubex99

[baboon]

I know I will be crucified by the TV resident financial experts, but I also see building, building and yet more building everywhere. Unless Thailand is preparing to double or triple the 64 million population already here and without improving the general infrastructure, god knows where they are headed...

[Scottythai]

Sell and buy in Chiang Mai.

[robblok]

Well I'm at the head waters of the Mun river (Chok Chai Korat) which flows right down to BKK. We've had some big storms and rains here the last couple of weeks, my road floods but I can still drive everywhere. You guys down stream get hit hard by the sounds of things. I feel for you. Get high!

Yeah, I am in Korat too. In Joho other side of the town. It has been bone dry here for weeks now, I heard the rain was bad other side of town though.

This evening it rained very hard for about 90 minutes. The road was about 6 inches deep, not so bad really, but I went over the street at the back of ours where they are building this new moo baan and it is so deep I can't get the car through it, OK for decent sized pickups. I can get in and out via another road which is a bit higher, but the neighbours over the back are not happy at all, and the 2 restaurants there are pretty much unable to trade at the moment, but the best saving grace is that the only way into this new development is via the road that they have created a flood in. So they won't be selling any of those houses.

That gives me a comforting feeling that the idiot building there will lose tens if not hundreds of millions. SOM NAM NA!

Do you really think they will tell people about the road being flooded they will sell it anyway and the buyers will find out too late.

[NoshowJones]

But it hasn't flooded yet. Wait til it does then you can say see I told you so.

The houses down the road from us, about 1KM also never used to flood, now they flood every time we get heavy rain, the people there have to keep a stock of sand bags. Even the market and local shops are starting to see so much water out the front that only built up pickups can navigate around.

This is causing widespread problems for a lot of decent people who can't afford to lose their homes, these people have lived there for a long time, and the new developments are causing havoc here.

You wouldn't care less about the other folk,if it wasn't,effecting you.

Classic case of (not in my back yard) common affliction in Farangland.

That's a bit harsh, how do you know the OP couldn't care less? I was very sympathetic to the people who were affected by the 2011 floods. I bet a lot of Farangs were.

[klubex99]

Well I'm at the head waters of the Mun river (Chok Chai Korat) which flows right down to BKK. We've had some big storms and rains here the last couple of weeks, my road floods but I can still drive everywhere. You guys down stream get hit hard by the sounds of things. I feel for you. Get high!

Yeah, I am in Korat too. In Joho other side of the town. It has been bone dry here for weeks now, I heard the rain was bad other side of town though.

This evening it rained very hard for about 90 minutes. The road was about 6 inches deep, not so bad really, but I went over the street at the back of ours where they are building this new moo baan and it is so deep I can't get the car through it, OK for decent sized pickups. I can get in and out via another road which is a bit higher, but the neighbours over the back are not happy at all, and the 2 restaurants there are pretty much unable to trade at the moment, but the best saving grace is that the only way into this new development is via the road that they have created a flood in. So they won't be selling any of those houses.

That gives me a comforting feeling that the idiot building there will lose tens if not hundreds of millions. SOM NAM NA!

Do you really think they will tell people about the road being flooded they will sell it anyway and the buyers will find out too late.

No they won't tell them, but if anything, they will take years and years to sell (if they ever do sell before they crumble to the ground), there is a huge amount of new build empty developments here. Hundreds of them, been sat empty for 3 years, so I am presuming that it will be common knowledge within a few rainy seasons. It already is common knowledge around here.

But anyway, my point is that they will not sell, with or without flooding. The area is flooding because of the development of homes that are just not needed. I have never seen such a disproportionate amount of development versus demand. Not even all the houses in our street are sold.

It doesn't stop at housing. There seems to be an addiction to building shop houses here as well. There must be hundreds of them sat empty just in 2 square KMs and still they are throwing them up. I can walk to about 10 mom and pop shops 300M of my house. They are as common as dogshit. None of them run from a shop house. they are sat empty. Nobody wants them, even for rent or for sale, there is no interest. When are these idiots going to realise, you don't build if you can't sell?

Edited July 7, 2013 by klubex99