Starmer Balances Economic Growth and Fairness Amid Tensions in Labour's Approach

[NanLaew]

I am trying to get a handle on the additional costs when buying or renting in a Pattaya area village, Naklua, east Pattaya and Nongplalai (the dark side), Jomtien, Huayyai,.. all areas that come under the general Pattaya umbrella. This is the monthly/yearly fee for repair, maintenance, security, garbage collection, etc..

Since there's a wide range of villages with age, size and type of housing to consider, I am asking TV'ers to post what they are paying without the need to identify the village specifically. Just list i) how much you pay (monthly or yearly), ii) the age of your village, iii) the approximate number of houses in the village and iv) the median cost of a new build in that village. If you want to add the general location (see first paragraph) that's fine. You may also want to comment if you consider getting good value for what you pay.

Thanks,

NL

[anto]

On my Condo in Jomtien ,J.B.C it was B5400 a year on a small 28 sqm studio . In the newer Park lane near by B14,000 for a 35sqm I bed condo .Up here in Chiang mai i have a house in a village with good security but no pool or club house .It was B3000 but from January it goes up to B4200 a year .

[n210mp]

fixed monthly maintanance costs are generally related to the number of dwelling in the village, if its a small village say 20 houses

with security guard x 2 then you will pay a lot more then a village with 150 houses

On the other hand even large new village builders are getting on the band wagon in making theri maitanance costs higher becasue they are becoming greedier

Typically 20 house estate near SSCR 1300 Baht per month

largish estate off Soi Khao noi 800 baht a month

[craigt3365]

I think we are paying 20B/TSW. Works out to a bit less than 4,000B/month for the larger houses. Less than half of that for those without a pool.

[JohnC]

We pay 300 baht per month, covers street lighting, waste disposal twice a week and village maintenance, no security, about 70 houses.

[anto]

Wow B4000 a month ? You can rent a studio Condo up here in Chiang mai for that .Phuket must be even more extreme .

[emilymat]

I live in a small road of 7 houses. Nice and quiet and I rent a 3 bedroom house.

I pay 40 baht a month for street lighting and refuse disposal (the dustmen come twice a week). Yep, 40 baht a month and a nice guy on a motorbike collects it each month and gives a receipt.

Realise it's not a village but, apart from no security man and gate at the end of the road, it could be classed a very small one. Touch wood, we've had no problems with security at all since I've been here.

So, the OP might want to take that into account if considering renting.

[augustwest]

120b a month 500 houses no pool no security

[ThaiBob]

A friend in a small 6 home village pays 50,000+ annual (in Northeast Pattaya) for garbage, electric and 24 hour security. No community pool.

Edited November 23, 2015 by ThaiBob

[anotheruser]

Mine is fair in my opinion I only pay for what everybody else uses and it works out great

[Guderian]

Huge variations between different villages and condos in the same area, and not always related to the level or quality of service you get.

The village where I live on Thepprasit Soi 8 charges 700 Baht/month. That's with security, decent cleaning services, a manager on-site six days a week, and theoretically a swimming pool (but a leaking rain water collection pit in practice). Other, smaller villages from the same developer only charge 400 Baht/month. OTOH, I know of an up-market village on Thepprasit Soi 17 and a mate living there pays 5000 Baht/month. Yes, their services are better and it's generally nice, but not 4300 Baht/month nicer IMO.

[egypte]

Chiang Mai Canal Road

6THB/TW/Month (Land Size),

they may increase to 10THB/TW/Month, it would be the 1st increase since the Moo Ban was buit, more than 10 years ago.

[Langsuan Man]

Price in my village is based upon the size of your lot:

20THB X 92 = 11,040 THB X 2 for 22,080 THB per year

Gated security, general street clean up and lighting, garbage collection, pool (currently non functioning), community rooms (2)

[craigt3365]

Wow B4000 a month ? You can rent a studio Condo up here in Chiang mai for that .Phuket must be even more extreme .

Agreed, but have yet to see a studio at 4k Baht/month I'd live in. Just too small.

Our lots are quite large. And the village is quite nice. 24x7 security, nice community pool, great onsite manager. A bit pricey yes, and we're working on getting it reduced to 15B/TSW.

The security is nice as we don't have vendors knocking on our doors, don't have people roaming the streets...nor any dogs! LOL

[anto]

Wow B4000 a month ? You can rent a studio Condo up here in Chiang mai for that .Phuket must be even more extreme .

Agreed, but have yet to see a studio at 4k Baht/month I'd live in. Just too small.

Our lots are quite large. And the village is quite nice. 24x7 security, nice community pool, great onsite manager. A bit pricey yes, and we're working on getting it reduced to 15B/TSW.

The security is nice as we don't have vendors knocking on our doors, don't have people roaming the streets...nor any dogs! LOL

We have good security also 24/7 and on site management .No pool though ,which i would not mind paying extra for .

[giddyup]

We pay 15,000 baht a year (97 sq. wah) for 24 hour security, street cleaning, lighting, pool and rubbish removal.

[mikebell]

We pay 15,000 baht a year (97 sq. wah) for 24 hour security, street cleaning, lighting, pool and rubbish removal.

In Bang Saray we pay 18,000 for 100 talan wah for all the above services + gym (rubbish collection 3 times a week.) We offer 1000 baht discount if you pay on time. Of 62 houses only 2 have failed to qualify for their discount so far this year. Dhewee Park.org is our website. We are a Juristic Entity with 1.5 million in the bank. We have not raised our prices in 9 years. All our staff are given cost of living rises regularly. Our Committee of 6 meets monthly to consider matters. All meetings are minuted in Thai/English and published by email to all householders + tenants. All accounts are published monthly.

We also have a part-time office manager for dealing with day-to-day matters/tradesmen.

The above services ensures a trouble-free existence worth far more than 1500 a month.

[giddyup]

We pay 15,000 baht a year (97 sq. wah) for 24 hour security, street cleaning, lighting, pool and rubbish removal.

In Bang Saray we pay 18,000 for 100 talan wah for all the above services + gym (rubbish collection 3 times a week.) We offer 1000 baht discount if you pay on time. Of 62 houses only 2 have failed to qualify for their discount so far this year. Dhewee Park.org is our website. We are a Juristic Entity with 1.5 million in the bank. We have not raised our prices in 9 years. All our staff are given cost of living rises regularly. Our Committee of 6 meets monthly to consider matters. All meetings are minuted in Thai/English and published by email to all householders + tenants. All accounts are published monthly.

We also have a part-time office manager for dealing with day-to-day matters/tradesmen.

The above services ensures a trouble-free existence worth far more than 1500 a month.

How do you deal with non-payers?

[SantiSuk]

In an Isaan village we pay nothing for a one rai property and modern house. Dunno who pays for the street lighting (yes - there is some), the free morning announcements at 6am, the symphony guard dogs (of the barking soi variety), the anti mossie fogging invasion 3 times a year, the free string connecting every house once a year, the bi-annual king and queen birthday verge cutting, the admiring glances of schoolgirls (to a presumed-to-be-rich-and-marriageable old fart) in the village markets, etc. Probably the bulk of Thai tax-paying people through village grant?

Of course our $hit goes down concrete-ringed holes in the ground (which seemingly absorb it without any required pumping-out) and I long for the day when I have to pay the typical 20 baht weekly fee charged in bigger amphur villages for removing the small amounts of non-recyclable rubbish - that I have to palm-off discretely into 711 and pam namman rubbish bins. Oh and village water costs 4baht a cubic meter.

A man comes round for most of our non-biological effluent bi-monthly for glass/plastic/papers/cans and gives us typically about 120 baht. So that makes it a net receipt not payment for local servicing! Life is not all-tough in Isaan

PS I pay 26,000 baht a year for servicing at my Bangkok condo, but that keeps more people in a job than I have in my extended family at our regular home!

[edd]

We used to pay 2000B/ Month but after the village was finished and the last house sold,the building company just walked away.

None of the Thai house holders would pay the community charge.

So no security no road cleaning.

I would have paid more but there are only only about 4

Farangs & 3 Thai family that will Pay the community charge there is very little you can do.

Edited December 1, 2015 by edd

[Langsuan Man]

We used to pay 2000B/ Month but after the village was finished and the last house sold,the building company just walked away.

None of the Thai house holders would pay the community charge.

So no security no road cleaning.

I would have paid more but there are only only about 4

Farangs & 3 Thai family that will Pay the community charge there is very little you can do.

Pretty sure you can petition the tessaban and they can take over road cleaning and garbage disposal

I don't know the exact procedure but the "threat" of this turnover is what most developers use to get residents to establish a juristic committee to run the development once they sell out. At least that is what the developer did in our village

[edd]

We now have the council for bin emptying, street lights never had the streets cleaned.

That's a few B/ year but no communal grassed area cut or especially no security day or night.

It used to give you a secure feeling when you saw the guard walking around.

Since we lost the guards the village has 2 houses vandalized and 4 robberies.

But unfortunately a lot of the residents think its not happened to me and I've saved 2000 B a month.

Very sad.

But that's life in Thailand.

[toenail]

(Sounds like a variety of monthly maintenance fees.) I am curious a couple stories I have heard (a few years ago) about the monthly maintenance fee that is held by the owner of the apartment building (who, of course, is not living in Pattaya but in his estate in BKK) or despite people paying, not all the maintenance is completed such as pool cleaning, finding competent security guards, or replacing a ceiling light in the lobby. I think six years ago Spanish Place Condos (off from Sukhumvit in Central Pattaya) had trouble with the montly maintenance fees being pockets by the mafia owners.

[giddyup]

(Sounds like a variety of monthly maintenance fees.) I am curious a couple stories I have heard (a few years ago) about the monthly maintenance fee that is held by the owner of the apartment building (who, of course, is not living in Pattaya but in his estate in BKK) or despite people paying, not all the maintenance is completed such as pool cleaning, finding competent security guards, or replacing a ceiling light in the lobby. I think six years ago Spanish Place Condos (off from Sukhumvit in Central Pattaya) had trouble with the montly maintenance fees being pockets by the mafia owners.

This post is about Villages (houses), not Condos.

Edited December 1, 2015 by giddyup

[oxforddon]

In a gated village around Lake Mabprachan my fees are 1,500 per month covering general area cleaning and maintenance, garbage collection, 24 hour guard services and use of communal pool (which not all use as some houses - like mine - have pools). Since we have a village committee, any profits - if any - are channelled back into other things of benefit to the village such as frontage repairs and maintenance.

[Baboy]

We now have the council for bin emptying, street lights never had the streets cleaned.

That's a few B/ year but no communal grassed area cut or especially no security day or night.

It used to give you a secure feeling when you saw the guard walking around.

Since we lost the guards the village has 2 houses vandalized and 4 robberies.

But unfortunately a lot of the residents think its not happened to me and I've saved 2000 B a month.

Very sad.

But that's life in Thailand.

edd,

went thru exactly the same thing a while back. 1,200 baht a month got us security, road cleaning, maintenance guy & lovely swimming pool. Then it started " i don't use the pool ", security guard found sleeping. So slowly the monthly fees stopped. It was instigated by a couple of farangs at first then got to well they not paying why should we. Was ashame as was a lovely little village. Anyway we moved out to a stand alone property on 2 rai near Mabprachan lake. Would never go back to living in a village as just can't handle neighbours that will let their investment run down because of a $ 40 a month fee. Still got a house in there that we are trying to sell.

[giddyup]

We now have the council for bin emptying, street lights never had the streets cleaned.

That's a few B/ year but no communal grassed area cut or especially no security day or night.

It used to give you a secure feeling when you saw the guard walking around.

Since we lost the guards the village has 2 houses vandalized and 4 robberies.

But unfortunately a lot of the residents think its not happened to me and I've saved 2000 B a month.

Very sad.

But that's life in Thailand.

edd,

went thru exactly the same thing a while back. 1,200 baht a month got us security, road cleaning, maintenance guy & lovely swimming pool. Then it started " i don't use the pool ", security guard found sleeping. So slowly the monthly fees stopped. It was instigated by a couple of farangs at first then got to well they not paying why should we. Was ashame as was a lovely little village. Anyway we moved out to a stand alone property on 2 rai near Mabprachan lake. Would never go back to living in a village as just can't handle neighbours that will let their investment run down because of a $ 40 a month fee. Still got a house in there that we are trying to sell.

Got the same problem in our village. The biggest house on the biggest land with two expensive cars (Thais) refuses to pay the maintenance, there's a couple of unoccupied houses where owners (Thai) won't pay, but the majority (falang) still pay because they don't want to see the village deteriorate into a shithole. We just have to suffer the flies in the ointment, it gets right up my nose that these bastards are getting a freebie, but that's Thailand.

[KittenKong]

Got the same problem in our village. The biggest house on the biggest land with two expensive cars (Thais) refuses to pay the maintenance, there's a couple of unoccupied houses where owners (Thai) won't pay, but the majority (falang) still pay because they don't want to see the village deteriorate into a shithole. We just have to suffer the flies in the ointment, it gets right up my nose that these bastards are getting a freebie, but that's Thailand.

Have a meeting and deny the non-payers access to the common areas and services, and sue them.

Thais only get away with this crap because no one ever forces the issue here.

[craigt3365]

Got the same problem in our village. The biggest house on the biggest land with two expensive cars (Thais) refuses to pay the maintenance, there's a couple of unoccupied houses where owners (Thai) won't pay, but the majority (falang) still pay because they don't want to see the village deteriorate into a shithole. We just have to suffer the flies in the ointment, it gets right up my nose that these bastards are getting a freebie, but that's Thailand.

Have a meeting and deny the non-payers access to the common areas and services, and sue them.

Thais only get away with this crap because no one ever forces the issue here.

We had this problem a few years ago. The manager went to the local government office and now every year, logs the money the deadbeats don't pay onto their chanote. When sold, they will have to pay us first, with a 1%/month interest charge. After doing this, we only have one house that isn't paying. We offer discounts for paying on time and for paying the entire year. And we negotiated discounts with the deadbeats, so they paid up.

We installed an electronic gate with key card access. No pay, no key card, no entry to the village. That seemed to have helped also. Though now, the guard just uses the push button and nobody uses the card anymore! LOL

[Spaniel]

We live in a 12 year old gated community in Bangkok (Minburi) consisting of 104 houses. The yearly maintenance fee is determined by your lot size. Ours is 78 TW and we are charged B21,690 per year payable not later then 31 March. For this there is 24 hour security, community pool, street lighting, trash pickup twice a week, daily sweepers, gardening crew to maintain the two park areas, 3 maintenance workers, and a daytime manager.