A Condo Experience

[ggt]

Owned a couple of different condos in the Jomtien area...sold them and rented a home in E. Pattaya to get away from the constant corruption and mismanagement...when I think about my experience my blood pressure goes up and I start grinding my teeth...that is my reaction when reminiscing about the Thailand condo experience...(don't even get me started on the dense smoke one had to breathe in a "no-smoking" condo...or the noise at all hours of the night)

[hdkane]

The situation you describe is incredibly frustrating, though common. I reside in Regent Home 12, a fairly new development near Wat Lad Phrao. The appointed management company used any available funds as their own secondary source of income. The management forged bills and expense reports, with the "payments" simply going into their own pockets. Every employee of the condo was involved, even security and maids. The elevator repair company even paid a kickback to the management staff to intentionally break the elevators in the buildings. Bogus insurance policies were purchased. Management purchased personal vending machines, with money from the residents going straight to the office staff. All the while, needed maintenance was ignored. When these issues were brought to the attention of residents, I was informed that this was the "Thai way"...not only by the management company, but by the residents, who blindly accepted the theft...no kidding...

We went through three changes of management, each with the same behaviors...more than 1,000,000 stolen in just a couple of years...all of it into the pockets of the management staff.

I made a formal complaint to the consumer protection office, and was ostracized by the residents...ultimately, there was no resolution to the problems.

Sadly, I see very little honor among most Thais...

[KittenKong]

The situation you describe is incredibly frustrating, though common. I reside in Regent Home 12, a fairly new development near Wat Lad Phrao. The appointed management company used any available funds as their own secondary source of income. The management forged bills and expense reports, with the "payments" simply going into their own pockets. Every employee of the condo was involved, even security and maids. The elevator repair company even paid a kickback to the management staff to intentionally break the elevators in the buildings. Bogus insurance policies were purchased. Management purchased personal vending machines, with money from the residents going straight to the office staff. All the while, needed maintenance was ignored. When these issues were brought to the attention of residents, I was informed that this was the "Thai way"...not only by the management company, but by the residents, who blindly accepted the theft...no kidding...

We went through three changes of management, each with the same behaviors...more than 1,000,000 stolen in just a couple of years...all of it into the pockets of the management staff.

I made a formal complaint to the consumer protection office, and was ostracized by the residents...ultimately, there was no resolution to the problems.

Sadly, I see very little honor among most Thais...

I have no trouble at all believing every single word of this.

[smutcakes]

Why dont you provide some examples of the common instances of managers, Committee members pilfering money?

Pilfering isnt really a problem, though it shouldn't happen of course. Massive fraud and deception are more of a problem.

There have been many instances of this, some of which I know of from personal experience.

However in Thailand such things tend to be hushed up so as to make those who should have been monitoring look somewhat less incompetent than they really are.

Also it is not always legal or wise to name names in Thailand.

KittenKong,

I am not denying things go on, but i dont believe it is common. There are some developers/buildings in Pattaya particulalry where they seem to get these types of issues, but in Bangkok and the better buildings in Pattaya with proper management i dont believe it is a problem.

Like with anything it is impossible to be 100% certain, but any decent management company or Committee if no managament company should have the processes and procedures in place to reduce the possibility of corruption, although however it is done, if a member or staff is that committed to stealing it is impossible to stop them.

In over a decade of working in the condo industry in bangkok and Pattaya i can count the number of instances of corruption to about 10, and not one has been hushed up. I have seen far more instances of Co-owners alledging corruption, spreading the rumour and subsueqnetly being found wrong, than i have of actual corruption.

[KittenKong]

I am not denying things go on, but i dont believe it is common. There are some developers/buildings in Pattaya particulalry where they seem to get these types of issues, but in Bangkok and the better buildings in Pattaya with proper management i dont believe it is a problem.

Like with anything it is impossible to be 100% certain, but any decent management company or Committee if no managament company should have the processes and procedures in place to reduce the possibility of corruption, although however it is done, if a member or staff is that committed to stealing it is impossible to stop them.

In over a decade of working in the condo industry in bangkok and Pattaya i can count the number of instances of corruption to about 10, and not one has been hushed up. I have seen far more instances of Co-owners alledging corruption, spreading the rumour and subsueqnetly being found wrong, than i have of actual corruption.

I'm glad that you have not had much experience of this. My experience is that many co-owners simply don't have the first idea about anything, and just believe what they are told by management and the committee at the AGM. If indeed they bother to attend the AGM or read about it. So they would not have much experience of it either, even though it might have affected them.

And my point was that the management company and some committee members and some co-owners (and government departments) can all be complicit in the frauds and general deviousness, and that it is not necessarily just down to one staff member.

[rak sa_ngop]

We had a similar problem that the management was having to dig into the sinking fund to fund repairs. The monthly homeowners fees had not increased in over 10 years. Attempts to increase the fees kept failing because there were never enough co-owners attending the annual meetings to attain a quorum.

Solution: to give some attendees proxy votes for non attending co-owners (up to 4 per person allowed).

Even several long term tenants who turned up out of interest were given proxy votes.

Result: Motion to increase monthly homeowners fees passed.

Victory for common sense.

[Beng]

Did you replenish yhe sinking fund as well ?

[huawei]

We had a similar problem that the management was having to dig into the sinking fund to fund repairs. The monthly homeowners fees had not increased in over 10 years. Attempts to increase the fees kept failing because there were never enough co-owners attending the annual meetings to attain a quorum.

Solution: to give some attendees proxy votes for non attending co-owners (up to 4 per person allowed).

Even several long term tenants who turned up out of interest were given proxy votes.

Result: Motion to increase monthly homeowners fees passed.

Victory for common sense.

But the proxies were sign by the non-attending co- owners.

You can assign proxies to anyone who attends other than a committee or employees.

So you got 50% of all votes of the building..tough to organise.

[KittenKong]

So you got 50% of all votes of the building..tough to organise.

Indeed.

In my building it would be impossible to get 50% of co-owners to agree to increasing the common fee. So every year we go through the same rigmarole of voting for a supplementary fee.

[smutcakes]

So you got 50% of all votes of the building..tough to organise.

Indeed.

In my building it would be impossible to get 50% of co-owners to agree to increasing the common fee. So every year we go through the same rigmarole of voting for a supplementary fee.

Could you get 33% to agree?

[KittenKong]

So you got 50% of all votes of the building..tough to organise.

Indeed.

In my building it would be impossible to get 50% of co-owners to agree to increasing the common fee. So every year we go through the same rigmarole of voting for a supplementary fee.

Could you get 33% to agree?

I doubt it. I dont think we've ever had 30% even present at a meeting (including proxies), let alone all agreeing to pay money.