And so the exodus of quality expats begins. This time it's personal

[giddyup]

My village has decided to install remote operated electric gates at the entrance to the village rather than continue paying for security that spends half the day (10pm to 6am) asleep and the rest of the time allowing anyone in without question, whether they live in the village or not.

I'm wondering what problems have been encountered with remote gates, ie, what happens with a power outage, how do people like the postman, garbage collectors etc gain access?

[i claudius]

We have them on our street ,there is a gate at the side that lets postmen ect in ,the familly at the end closest to the gate open it for the dustmen ,there is a sign on it to phone who you wish to see for them to open it if you want to drive in ,that is why it is there mainly ,not for security but to stop anyone driving in , guards are a waste of money ,ours just slept the day away.

[giddyup]

We have them on our street ,there is a gate at the side that lets postmen ect in ,the familly at the end closest to the gate open it for the dustmen ,there is a sign on it to phone who you wish to see for them to open it if you want to drive in ,that is why it is there mainly ,not for security but to stop anyone driving in , guards are a waste of money ,ours just slept the day away.

Does the postman have his own key to open the small gate and who lets the dustman, guys who read the electric/water meters etc if no one is at home at the house closest to the gate? I agree that security is a waste of money, we've put up with their slackness for 4 years but no one seems to want to get rid of them.

[Torrens54]

Wouldn't want to be the poor guy closest to the gate, having to open and close it for the Postman, the Garbo, assorted Delivery people. Somehow can't see this situation being viable.

We have excellent gate keepers and a very secure village. We were abroad for a few years, left the house un attended and full of our stuff. Never had even an attempted burglary.

[Phil Conners]

We have such a gate, a complete waste of money. It cost around 70,000 baht and after 3 years they couldn't provide spare parts so when it broke again we had to spend another 70,000 on a new gate. We have now agreed that next time it breaks it will be replaced by an old-fashioned manual iron gate. We still have security operating it so not the same situation as yours. Can't see how you'd let in post, garbage, visitors, etc without security.

Don't agree security is useless, I think it depends on you (the village) and how you deal with them. We used a company for the first years and they were indeed useless, but once we hired our own staff, give them a decent salary, treat them as part of the village, take care of them when we have parties, i.e. bring them some food and drinks (soft) they feel they are part of "the family" and do a very good job. Well worth the money, but of course it also depend on the size of the village. Our village has an annual budget of 1,2MB and about half of that goes to security.

[neilbla]

In my place they wanted to put in these types of gates. We did some reasearch and found that under Tort law in Thailand you have the right of free access to your property at anytime of the day. The project owner consulted with their lawyers and they agreed with us so no such gates have been installed. These gates would cause lots of problems and in the event of power failure (happens a lot here) it would be difficult for the property owners. My advice is to fight it do not have them.

[Guderian]

Lots of condos have these gates operated by a key card system and they seem to work quite well most of the time, but they also all have security guards working 24 hours a day. If the power goes out they simply raise the gate to provide access until the juice comes back on. I wouldn't see them as a replacement for security guards but as an adjunct to them. If the security guard falls asleep on duty the gate doesn't, so you still have controlled access. Also, we have separate entry and exit gates in this village and so to provide an efficient service we really need two or even three (to allow for pee breaks and so on) security staff manning the manually-operated gates we have at the moment. At the moment we only have one guy, so the exit gate is left open and if the guard needs a comfort break then so is the entry one. With automatic gates you probably can run a secure and efficient service with just one guard.

[Guderian]

We did some reasearch and found that under Tort law in Thailand you have the right of free access to your property at anytime of the day. The project owner consulted with their lawyers and they agreed with us so no such gates have been installed.

That's interesting, anyone else care to comment? The HOA in this village is new so they are still learning the ropes. After years of nobody having to pay any monthly fees they are struggling to get everyone to contribute, I think around 30% of the homes are still refusing to pay up each month. It's been suggested that in extremis they can prevent residents entering the village if they haven't paid their dues as the village owns the common areas including all the roads and so the committee can stop people driving on them to get to their homes if they have a reason to, such as non-payment of the maintenance fees. Any comments on that, would it be legal?

[giddyup]

Thanks for the responses and advice. I'm beginning to see that the electric gates may be a waste of money. The idea of hiring our own security sounds like a good idea and considerably cheaper than using a company.

[giddyup]

We did some reasearch and found that under Tort law in Thailand you have the right of free access to your property at anytime of the day. The project owner consulted with their lawyers and they agreed with us so no such gates have been installed.

That's interesting, anyone else care to comment? The HOA in this village is new so they are still learning the ropes. After years of nobody having to pay any monthly fees they are struggling to get everyone to contribute, I think around 30% of the homes are still refusing to pay up each month. It's been suggested that in extremis they can prevent residents entering the village if they haven't paid their dues as the village owns the common areas including all the roads and so the committee can stop people driving on them to get to their homes if they have a reason to, such as non-payment of the maintenance fees. Any comments on that, would it be legal?

I'm in the exact same situation. Previously the maintenance was collected and controlled by the developers, but now that all the houses have been sold it's up to the residents to provide for their own security and maintenance. There is already a strong indication that some of the Thai owned houses are going to be difficult when it comes to paying, so the majority are in a dilemma as to how to force them to pay. There are rumblings that if one or two (or more) houses refuse to pay there will be a mass dropout which will see the entire village degenerate rapidly.

[i claudius]

We have them on our street ,there is a gate at the side that lets postmen ect in ,the familly at the end closest to the gate open it for the dustmen ,there is a sign on it to phone who you wish to see for them to open it if you want to drive in ,that is why it is there mainly ,not for security but to stop anyone driving in , guards are a waste of money ,ours just slept the day away.

Does the postman have his own key to open the small gate and who lets the dustman, guys who read the electric/water meters etc if no one is at home at the house closest to the gate? I agree that security is a waste of money, we've put up with their slackness for 4 years but no one seems to want to get rid of them.

The gate at the side does not lock so it is open for anyone on a motorbike or walking , as the dustmen only come once a week they open the electric gates and cover the infra red untill they have been ,as to the fact that someone said their gates were useless and the could not get parts ,ours have broken twice in 6 years ,both times the company came and repaired them at a very low cost ,but then they are a reputable company . Electric gates do not keep out theives they are there to stop people driving in to your streets ,for this they work perfectly ,a burgelar has only been to our estate once ,he was last seen at the police station after he was chased by a neighbour who was shooting at him

[i claudius]

We did some reasearch and found that under Tort law in Thailand you have the right of free access to your property at anytime of the day. The project owner consulted with their lawyers and they agreed with us so no such gates have been installed.

That's interesting, anyone else care to comment? The HOA in this village is new so they are still learning the ropes. After years of nobody having to pay any monthly fees they are struggling to get everyone to contribute, I think around 30% of the homes are still refusing to pay up each month. It's been suggested that in extremis they can prevent residents entering the village if they haven't paid their dues as the village owns the common areas including all the roads and so the committee can stop people driving on them to get to their homes if they have a reason to, such as non-payment of the maintenance fees. Any comments on that, would it be legal?

I'm in the exact same situation. Previously the maintenance was collected and controlled by the developers, but now that all the houses have been sold it's up to the residents to provide for their own security and maintenance. There is already a strong indication that some of the Thai owned houses are going to be difficult when it comes to paying, so the majority are in a dilemma as to how to force them to pay. There are rumblings that if one or two (or more) houses refuse to pay there will be a mass dropout which will see the entire village degenerate rapidly.

Luckily ,90% of our residents are middle class Thais and pay without fail ,one apsent owner refused so he was not allowed a remote control ,when he comes to visit his house he is not allowed to bring his car in but must leave it out in the road ,as there are only 3 of us westerners all is left to the Thai owners and they seem quite a tough bunch when it comes to rules.

[Forkinhades]

In my place they wanted to put in these types of gates. We did some reasearch and found that under Tort law in Thailand you have the right of free access to your property at anytime of the day. The project owner consulted with their lawyers and they agreed with us so no such gates have been installed. These gates would cause lots of problems and in the event of power failure (happens a lot here) it would be difficult for the property owners. My advice is to fight it do not have them.

Interesting any links to that law

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Forkinhades]

BTW we have said gates on our estate, together with 2 guards.

Works well.

Anyone who doesn't pay doesn't get a card, and it's made difficult for them to get in.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[giddyup]

We did some reasearch and found that under Tort law in Thailand you have the right of free access to your property at anytime of the day. The project owner consulted with their lawyers and they agreed with us so no such gates have been installed.

That's interesting, anyone else care to comment? The HOA in this village is new so they are still learning the ropes. After years of nobody having to pay any monthly fees they are struggling to get everyone to contribute, I think around 30% of the homes are still refusing to pay up each month. It's been suggested that in extremis they can prevent residents entering the village if they haven't paid their dues as the village owns the common areas including all the roads and so the committee can stop people driving on them to get to their homes if they have a reason to, such as non-payment of the maintenance fees. Any comments on that, would it be legal?

I'm in the exact same situation. Previously the maintenance was collected and controlled by the developers, but now that all the houses have been sold it's up to the residents to provide for their own security and maintenance. There is already a strong indication that some of the Thai owned houses are going to be difficult when it comes to paying, so the majority are in a dilemma as to how to force them to pay. There are rumblings that if one or two (or more) houses refuse to pay there will be a mass dropout which will see the entire village degenerate rapidly.

Luckily ,90% of our residents are middle class Thais and pay without fail ,one apsent owner refused so he was not allowed a remote control ,when he comes to visit his house he is not allowed to bring his car in but must leave it out in the road ,as there are only 3 of us westerners all is left to the Thai owners and they seem quite a tough bunch when it comes to rules.

Funnily enough the Thais who refuse to pay in my village (only 39 houses) own the most expensive houses (5-6 mil baht) and drive the flashest cars. Go figure.

[Phil Conners]

We did some reasearch and found that under Tort law in Thailand you have the right of free access to your property at anytime of the day. The project owner consulted with their lawyers and they agreed with us so no such gates have been installed.

That's interesting, anyone else care to comment? The HOA in this village is new so they are still learning the ropes. After years of nobody having to pay any monthly fees they are struggling to get everyone to contribute, I think around 30% of the homes are still refusing to pay up each month. It's been suggested that in extremis they can prevent residents entering the village if they haven't paid their dues as the village owns the common areas including all the roads and so the committee can stop people driving on them to get to their homes if they have a reason to, such as non-payment of the maintenance fees. Any comments on that, would it be legal?

I'm in the exact same situation. Previously the maintenance was collected and controlled by the developers, but now that all the houses have been sold it's up to the residents to provide for their own security and maintenance. There is already a strong indication that some of the Thai owned houses are going to be difficult when it comes to paying, so the majority are in a dilemma as to how to force them to pay. There are rumblings that if one or two (or more) houses refuse to pay there will be a mass dropout which will see the entire village degenerate rapidly.

We have been advised by our legal council that if anyone doesn't pay their community fee (20,000 baht/house/year) we can disconnect water and electricy, and we can raise a barrier, for instance concrete, in front of their gate to make it difficult/impossible for them to enter/exit their property. We can not touch their property, i.e. for example lock their gate shut. Our village common areas are owned by the owners cooperation, the builder handed it over when the project was sold out. The village common area as such is private property so we can decide who has the use of it. We can also, for example, deny anyone motorized access to the village, for example if they don't obey the speed limits in the village.