Debt Recovery Lawyer Needed for Condo Fees

[cigar7]

Can anyone recommend a good debt recovery lawyer in Pattaya, who has reasonable prices, and is experienced in condo maintenance fee recovery? Please indicate their performance and cost if known.

[NanLaew]

Watch for the local lawyer with debt recovery experience who contacts all the delinquents who in turn negotiate a 'fee' with the lawyer to avoid back-payments which enables him to get richer while he still claims his lawyer fees while he "pursues the delinquents with vigor" for years.

A quick google of 'pattaya debt collection" gave the following result via thailawforum.com

Sukhothai Inter Law & Business Ltd.

Area of Practice: Various, e.g. Company Registration, Tax & Accounting System Planning, Labor, Immigration, Asset & Debt Collection.
Address: 17 Chan 35, Chan Road, Sathorn, Bangkok 10120 THAILAND.

Full website, phone (including a local, Pattaya contact) and email details are there.

Edited March 5, 2016 by NanLaew

[KittenKong]

Can anyone recommend a good debt recovery lawyer in Pattaya, who has reasonable prices, and is experienced in condo maintenance fee recovery? Please indicate their performance and cost if known.

Corruption here is so extensive that I would avoid getting lawyers involved for as long as I possibly could. They will just extract even more money from you, and do little for it.

Bear in mind that:

1) You can add a healthy interest charge to the debt, under the provisions of the condo act. This is vastly more than you would get for deposited cash at the bank.

2) You can penalise anyone with debts by cutting off the supply of any billed services (water) or access to common areas (car park, pool).

3) The co-owner cant sell the unit without paying off the debts first (with a caveat for company ownership).

If the debts aren't causing a problem with your cash-flow then I would not worry too much about them. If they are causing a problem with your cash-flow, and if they are a significant amount, then you can apply to have the unit sold to pay the debts. The threat of this should be enough to make most defaulting co-owners pay up.

[craigt3365]

I met with Rena at Thai-Euro Law. Across the street from the North entrance of Big C on South Pattaya Road. Not sure if she is still there or not, but seemed to really know her stuff about this.

095 741 3447

Worth a call...good luck!

[NanLaew]

I met with Rena at Thai-Euro Law. Across the street from the North entrance of Big C on South Pattaya Road. Not sure if she is still there or not, but seemed to really know her stuff about this.

095 741 3447

Worth a call...good luck!

+1

[smutcakes]

Can anyone recommend a good debt recovery lawyer in Pattaya, who has reasonable prices, and is experienced in condo maintenance fee recovery? Please indicate their performance and cost if known.

Corruption here is so extensive that I would avoid getting lawyers involved for as long as I possibly could. They will just extract even more money from you, and do little for it.

Bear in mind that:

1) You can add a healthy interest charge to the debt, under the provisions of the condo act. This is vastly more than you would get for deposited cash at the bank.

2) You can penalise anyone with debts by cutting off the supply of any billed services (water) or access to common areas (car park, pool).

3) The co-owner cant sell the unit without paying off the debts first (with a caveat for company ownership).

If the debts aren't causing a problem with your cash-flow then I would not worry too much about them. If they are causing a problem with your cash-flow, and if they are a significant amount, then you can apply to have the unit sold to pay the debts. The threat of this should be enough to make most defaulting co-owners pay up.

No you cannot. Please indicate which law you are referring to where you believe this is a possibility?

[KittenKong]

If the debts aren't causing a problem with your cash-flow then I would not worry too much about them. If they are causing a problem with your cash-flow, and if they are a significant amount, then you can apply to have the unit sold to pay the debts. The threat of this should be enough to make most defaulting co-owners pay up.

No you cannot. Please indicate which law you are referring to where you believe this is a possibility?

Yes, you can. I know several buildings that have done it.

It's not a law, it's pursuing a debt.

[smutcakes]

If the debts aren't causing a problem with your cash-flow then I would not worry too much about them. If they are causing a problem with your cash-flow, and if they are a significant amount, then you can apply to have the unit sold to pay the debts. The threat of this should be enough to make most defaulting co-owners pay up.

No you cannot. Please indicate which law you are referring to where you believe this is a possibility?

Yes, you can. I know several buildings that have done it.

It's not a law, it's pursuing a debt.

So you are saying, that you know several buildings, that for unpaid common fees and utilities they have been able to sell someones unit to reclaim unpaid monies?

I simply dont believe it. Please tell me a building where this has happened?

There have only been a handful of unpaid debt cases which have reached the highest courts, where debts were often millions and millions of baht, and no court has ever ordered or allowed a Committee/Juristic Person to try and sell someones unit for unpaid expenses.

[cigar7]

I met with Rena at Thai-Euro Law. Across the street from the North entrance of Big C on South Pattaya Road. Not sure if she is still there or not, but seemed to really know her stuff about this.

095 741 3447

Worth a call...good luck!

Did you get your money?

[cigar7]

Can anyone recommend a good debt recovery lawyer in Pattaya, who has reasonable prices, and is experienced in condo maintenance fee recovery? Please indicate their performance and cost if known.

Corruption here is so extensive that I would avoid getting lawyers involved for as long as I possibly could. They will just extract even more money from you, and do little for it.

Bear in mind that:

1) You can add a healthy interest charge to the debt, under the provisions of the condo act. This is vastly more than you would get for deposited cash at the bank.

2) You can penalise anyone with debts by cutting off the supply of any billed services (water) or access to common areas (car park, pool).

3) The co-owner cant sell the unit without paying off the debts first (with a caveat for company ownership).

If the debts aren't causing a problem with your cash-flow then I would not worry too much about them. If they are causing a problem with your cash-flow, and if they are a significant amount, then you can apply to have the unit sold to pay the debts. The threat of this should be enough to make most defaulting co-owners pay up.

Well the debts are causing cashflow problems.. It seems there is one co-owner with 74 rooms that hasn't paid maintenance for years. Just started paying for cable TV and water for February, after threats of cutoff.

[Boca]

Is this the 9 Karat condo? I'm just wondering which one owner has 74 rooms

[digbeth]

If the debts aren't causing a problem with your cash-flow then I would not worry too much about them. If they are causing a problem with your cash-flow, and if they are a significant amount, then you can apply to have the unit sold to pay the debts. The threat of this should be enough to make most defaulting co-owners pay up.

No you cannot. Please indicate which law you are referring to where you believe this is a possibility?

Yes, you can. I know several buildings that have done it.

It's not a law, it's pursuing a debt.

So you are saying, that you know several buildings, that for unpaid common fees and utilities they have been able to sell someones unit to reclaim unpaid monies?

I simply dont believe it. Please tell me a building where this has happened?

There have only been a handful of unpaid debt cases which have reached the highest courts, where debts were often millions and millions of baht, and no court has ever ordered or allowed a Committee/Juristic Person to try and sell someones unit for unpaid expenses.

In order to be able to liquidate someone's asset to pay of their debt, that would means that the court needed to declare that person bankrupt, no?

If they're so broke that they're able to be declared bankrupt, there might be other debtors in line before the juristic person get their cut... I doubt it's practical to go that far

[Pattaya46]

It seems there is one co-owner with 74 rooms that hasn't paid maintenance for years.

Just started paying for cable TV and water for February, after threats of cutoff.

If the debit is so important, it's not threats that the management must do, but actions !

Cutting water, phone, electricity has proven to be very efficacious in many condos

Management can also forbid access to condo common facilities : car park, pool, lifts,...

[Pattaya46]

Another method that can help: In Center Condo the management displayed in a high visible place (the 3 lifts!) the list of rooms who were late on condo fee paiement, with name of the owner and amount to be paid. In just a few days we saw a lot of "Paid" added on these list

[craigt3365]

I met with Rena at Thai-Euro Law. Across the street from the North entrance of Big C on South Pattaya Road. Not sure if she is still there or not, but seemed to really know her stuff about this.

095 741 3447

Worth a call...good luck!

Did you get your money?

We were able to place a lein on the chanote. We get what's owed us if/when the owner sells. With 1% interest per month.

[KittenKong]

It seems there is one co-owner with 74 rooms that hasn't paid maintenance for years.

Just started paying for cable TV and water for February, after threats of cutoff.

If the debit is so important, it's not threats that the management must do, but actions !

Cutting water, phone, electricity has proven to be very efficacious in many condos

Management can also forbid access to condo common facilities : car park, pool, lifts,...

Precisely. The threats need to be extremely forceful in relation to the the maintenance fee. Give him seven days to pay up and if he doesnt then just cut off the water and access to common areas. Dont talk about it: do it.

But be careful: cutting off the electricity is NOT legal unless the service is provided by the building and billed by the building. In many buildings the provision is made directly from the PEA to the occupant of the unit and so this cannot legally be cut by the building (except for safety reasons).

[Pattaya46]

But be careful: cutting off the electricity is NOT legal

unless the service is provided by the building and billed by the building.

Good remark. That has been discussed at my condo a few years ago. The conclusion was that we are not authorized to touch/cut anything upstream the meter output, as it is propriety of PEA. So if meters are placed at each unit, you can't do anything. But in my condo meters are centralized in one corner of each floor. The meters outpouts go to a board of switches and then wires run towards inside units. This (switches + wires) is part of condo common parts and these switches can then be activated (cut) legally by the management. So it depends.

[cigar7]

I met with Rena at Thai-Euro Law. Across the street from the North entrance of Big C on South Pattaya Road. Not sure if she is still there or not, but seemed to really know her stuff about this.

095 741 3447

Worth a call...good luck!

Did you get your money?

We were able to place a lein on the chanote. We get what's owed us if/when the owner sells. With 1% interest per month.

How long was the process and how much did it cost?

[smutcakes]

I met with Rena at Thai-Euro Law. Across the street from the North entrance of Big C on South Pattaya Road. Not sure if she is still there or not, but seemed to really know her stuff about this.

095 741 3447

Worth a call...good luck!

Did you get your money?

We were able to place a lein on the chanote. We get what's owed us if/when the owner sells. With 1% interest per month.

Is there much point doing this when they would not be able to get a debt free certificate if there is unpaid monies assigned to the unit anyway?

[tomwct]

Never buy a condo! Thai's do not pay for pay maintenance Fees! You will have to pay for both!

[craigt3365]

It took a few trips to the local government office to get this process setup, but wasn't hard. The lein on the chanote means we get paid first when the property is sold. The person bought the property and never moved in. It's paid in full, but abandoned. Hard to tell if/when we'll ever get our money. But it did scare a few others into paying up promptly! LOL

[smutcakes]

Never buy a condo! Thai's do not pay for pay maintenance Fees! You will have to pay for both!

What a stupid and ignorant comment. The vast majority of Thai's like any nationality pay their Common Fees. Its a very small % that do not, and there are plenty of other nationalities, not just Thai who do not pay.

[KittenKong]

We were able to place a lein on the chanote. We get what's owed us if/when the owner sells. With 1% interest per month.

Is there much point doing this when they would not be able to get a debt free certificate if there is unpaid monies assigned to the unit anyway?

As far as I know the property that Craig is talking about is a house in a development, not a condo.

There is no debt-free letter requirement for house sales.

[gk10002000]

Bankrupt has little to do with it. It is like in the USA one can put a tax lien on a property. After a while and due process, if the taxes are not paid, the lender or city can put the house up for sale. They don't pursue the person too far. They don't have to. Pay up or we take the property

[ballbreaker]

Perhaps we have a legal expert who will know if following process could be used to recover unpaid condo maintenance fees.

Thailand has something called Kwaeng Court or District Court that handles small claims not over 300,000 baht. Using this process is much faster than a normal civil case.

The plaintiff, condo JPM, would verbally present the case to the court on scheduled date without a lawyer but it will require the plaintiff to prepare all documents to file the legal complaint to schedule court date. A lawyer could be used to draft the complaint if JPM was unable to prepare document with the help of staff at court house.

If the court agrees the plaintiff has a valid case a court order will be issue directing the defendant to pay debt.

If the defendant fails to make payment under terms of the court order the plaintiff reports to the court and ask court to appoint a legal execution officer. The plaintiff would provide asset information of the defendant (condo in this case) to legal execution officer and he would move forward with selling property to cover debt.