Lowlife landlord not giving back my deposit

[Deaw]

Quick backstory here, and no names as I know the mods wouldn't like that;

Been going to Thailand for 12 high seasons now, spent this past one in Jomtien. Was planning to stay longer this time and was on a one-way ticket. I am 52 years old and retired.

On June 25th I got the awful news that my Ex-wife, and the mother of my 2 grown children, had tragically passed on. Only 48 years old.

Naturally my kids were devastated and I told them I'd be home asap, to Boston USA. I needed to tie up some loose ends before I left and also {I thought} maintain my apartment.

Booked a flight, got all my gear ready, and gave the rent money for July and my apartment keys to a mate from Scotland; he dutifully paid the 16K on the first of July, the day I arrived back in Boston, and also paid for my internet and electric and water to maintain my residency.

I called their office that day and spoke to the Thai office manager. She offered me sympathy, and agreed that my rent was paid and I told her I'd likely see her in August.

Once I got back here to the states I realized there was no way I could leave. My 22-year old daughter especially is really lost right now, her best friend in the world is gone. I can't, in good conscience, leave this area to go back there and anyway I wasn't getting anything done and being a beach bum gets old.

On July 20th I called the lady and told her my story. Since my lease had long expired {It ran November to May, then I was doing month-to-month}I figured it would be no issue getting my deposit back, which is 32,000 baht. Before the first of August my Scottish mate cleaned up the place, removed anything I had accumulated over the winter, turned in the keys and paid my remaining bills for electric and water, etc, which were minimal. Even with the cleaning fee [1000 baht] and any remaining incidentals, these people owe me 30K baht and now they are avoiding me and not replying to my emails or phone calls, etc..... extremely frustrating.

2 farangs run the place - I have written to both direcly and spoken to one on the phone, 8 days ago - and their attitude is probably "why should we pay that back, we will never see him again." Super nice guys.

If it was 5 or 10K baht, I'd let it slide; but 30K? That's almost a thousand U.S. and I could really use that! And, frankly, it's mine; the lease was long over and they are basically stealing my money at this point.

Is this common? Do I have any recourse, outside of hiring a lawyer which would likely eat up most of the 30K?

Any thoughts or help appreciated, Thanks

[mattk1]

Good luck Deaw, I really hate landlords who do this kind of crap!!

I've yet to have a single landlord pay back my deposit, both here and in the UK. And I always leave the place in good as new condition!

Edited September 2, 2014 by mattk1

[FireMedic]

Keeping deposits.....

[KittenKong]

Some people have had success by involving the consumer protection department (office in Pattaya) with this sort of cheap scam.

Why are there so many scammers involved in property here?

[KittenKong]

I've yet to have a single landlord pay back my deposit, ...... in the UK.

Deposits are ring-fenced in the UK so you should get your money.

[CWMcMurray]

Definately sucks, although to be honest, even if there was a way to take action on this... It is likely that the most you could get back is 1 month depending on your lease agreement

As understand that for month to month lease , need to still give 1 months notice

Although agree that for the other 15k, seems like they are just ripping you off

[Deaw]

Why are there so many scammers involved in property here?

Honestly, I was going to start a thread with a title similar to this, but I know a lot of the sponsors for this forum are real estate companies.

So that may not go over so well with the management here. But for sure, I noticed it this past year when I moved into the Pattaya/Jomtien area; seems as though many of the farangs who operate down there are short on scruples and large on greed.

Oddly enough, I spent 2006-2012 on Koh Phangan - of all places - and never had an issue; in fact, my last landlord down there was from Germany and was a really nice guy.

These guys......jeeesh, they have photos on their website of them accepting some kind of half-arse awards from the local chamber of commerce; I wonder if those chamber people would still be giving them awards if they knew they basically ripped off their customers?

[timewilltell]

Common practice in the Land of Scams by foreigners and Thais alike.

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[shirtless]

Here is a heads up, never pay 2 months rent deposit, the bigger the deposit usually the more reluctant the landlord is to repay it, I had the same problem when i rented an apartment in jomtien Paradise condo, from a short dumpy woman , never again Its almost laughable they charged you 1000bt cleaning fee , should be 200-400 bt your landlords are as crooked as a dogs hind leg.Good luckdont let them off easily as that just gives them a green light to do this again.

[kannot]

No its not common practice at all, Wife rents rooms and most of the time the full deposit is returned, what I do see often is people leaving rooms in a disgusting state and then moaning when full deposit isnt returned.

[Deaw]

Good luck dont let them off easily as that just gives them a green light to do this again.

As I said, I am retired; this is literally just the first step of many and I won't leave these guys alone until I get that money, I have plenty of time.

[shirtless]

Here is another good way to get their attention, tell them you need them you need to file these payments with the tax office you can put money on it they are not paying tax.

[Gsxrnz]

I've rented four different houses from Thais in Jomtiem and paid two months deposit on each occasion. Always got my money back.

OP, I suggest you PM me the names of your ratbag landlords and I'll "mention them in dispatches" to all the locals in Jomtien.

Any other volunteers?

[Jay1]

Hello mate.

The lease on my place expired a long time ago and I am on a month to month basis now. But when I move, which I will be be doing soon, I will be giving them a months notice, it never crossed my mind to expect that I can just move out without giving them a months notice. The Landlord needs time to find a replacement tenant. Sounds fair to me. Although, I don't think your Landlord should have kept all of your deposit, should have taken 1 month from your deposit and given you the rest back.

Just my opinion.

[ttthailand]

I think you can take to civil court. I would go and face them directly and ask for the deposit. Go in with a few mates and not leave until you receive.

[h90]

thainess.jpg Keeping deposits.....

.....2 farangs run the place......

[FireMedic]

thainess.jpg Keeping deposits.....

.....2 farangs run the place......

I understand. After enough time in country, some farang business owners do as the Thais do (they lower their moral/ethical standards: good for the goose, good for the gander mentality). It would be expected from a Thai, is more disappointing when it is farang owned.

[Deaw]

I think you can take to civil court. I would go and face them directly and ask for the deposit. Go in with a few mates and not leave until you receive.

If I were there that is what I would do, in fact I am quite sure I would have my money by now had I just moved to another location in Jomtien.

Fact is I am back in the states now and no plans to go back there, maybe for good, but at least for a year or three.

Understood Jay, if I had time to give a one-month notice I would have, but I had to get out of there quickly. I would think [but of course be wrong] that the month I paid for in July when I was not even in there would kind of work as a notice. Managements DID know why I came home and I made it clear around the 20th of July that I wouldn't be coming back.

I would think under the circumstances, which I laid out for them in detail and even included a service card from the local newspaper for my ex-wife, along with a scan of my passport, that these guys would be nice and understanding about things. As usual, TIT

[ryanhull]

Really returning the keys and getting the deposit back is usually done at the same time in my experience... I have always given the keys back after the final inspection and wouldn't do so without the deposit... I would send them a recorded letter followed by a phone call again, then report it to the police ... You should have also taken pictures of the place as you left it so they cannot say it was in a bad way but anyhow good luck

[Aussieroaming]

Sorry to hear about your issues. What a lot of us dread, an unexpected need to return home because of a death. Take solace in the fact that your kids appreciate your stance in going home to support them.

[Expattaff1308]

thainess.jpg Keeping deposits.....

duplicate post

Edited September 2, 2014 by Expattaff1308

[3NUMBAS]

very common tale sad eh .like trying to get blood from a stone