Condominium Leasing restrictions

[eggers]

As an update, went back to office today & spoke with senior manager who explained that person I initially dealt with couldn't clearly explain situation.

- The developers office now only deals with sales & manager was trying to state that "only Thais could buy" as reached % limit of Farang ownership.

- For leasing (long term) inquiries, check with Juristic Office at Condo.

So that seems to have clarified the situation.

Thanks for all you comments.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

3 hours ago, trogers said:

 

There are other criteria to evaluate. But seeing such a sign helps to strike the project off my list right from the beginning.

 

This is a very strange comment from you. As a potential buyer, I would consider buying in this unit simply because tenants seem to be in accord that their place and facilities are not being used by a bunch of strangers.

 

It is also warning the AirBnB "guests" that they could end up in a slammer. 

 

Just curious how AirBnB deals with this?

Edited September 1, 2016 by theguyfromanotherforum

[trogers]

10 minutes ago, theguyfromanotherforum said:

 

This is a very strange comment from you. As a potential buyer, I would consider buying in this unit simply because tenants seem to be in accord that their place and facilities are not being used by a bunch of strangers.

 

It is also warning the AirBnB "guests" that they could end up in a slammer. 

 

Just curious how AirBnB deals with this?

 

Owners prefer long-term tenants. Should there be substantial oversupply, many units cannot find such tenants and their units remain vacant.

 

So, they lease their space short-term to generate some income.

 

As an investor who buys to hold and lease out at least for a decade or more, I would not want to buy a space that is difficult to find tenants, which eats into rental yield.

[KittenKong]

3 hours ago, trogers said:

Owners prefer long-term tenants.

 

I dont think this is necessarily true. I know several owners in my building who are not interested in long-term tenants as they can make much more money out of short-term ones.

 

I myself did holiday lets in my own detached house Europe but I would never have wanted long-term tenants as they pay less and, where I was, they have a lot of legal protection that makes it hard to remove them even if they are a*seholes.

[cheeryble]

On August 31, 2016 at 6:22 PM, mcfish said:

Min 1 month its the law

 

 

I believe you have to be leasing four or more units for less than a month to fall foul of the Hotel legalities.

Seems to be little known but I first got it from a friend switched on ex boutique hotel manager (Thai) and have come across it in an article which seemed authoritative I think if memory serves it quoted the Act. Shouldn't be difficult to look up the statute?

Edited September 4, 2016 by cheeryble

[KittenKong]

4 hours ago, cheeryble said:

 

I believe you have to be leasing four or more units for less than a month to fall foul of the Hotel legalities.

Seems to be little known but I first got it from a friend switched on ex boutique hotel manager (Thai) and have come across it in an article which seemed authoritative I think if memory serves it quoted the Act. Shouldn't be difficult to look up the statute?

 

As far as I know if you have fewer than 3 or 4 rooms then you dont have to get a licence but you do have to register and pay taxes. I think it's a fair bet that few or no condo owners here do either.

[blackcab]

21 hours ago, cheeryble said:

 

I believe you have to be leasing four or more units for less than a month to fall foul of the Hotel legalities.

Seems to be little known but I first got it from a friend switched on ex boutique hotel manager (Thai) and have come across it in an article which seemed authoritative I think if memory serves it quoted the Act. Shouldn't be difficult to look up the statute?

 

The Hotel Act applies to buildings with more than four rooms or that are designed for occupancy of over 20 people (think dormitory). Under that and you are exempt from registrstion.

 

The discussion here is about condos. I haven't come across any condo with only four units, although there is nothing stopping someone building one other than common sense.

 

The main sticking point is that condos do have more than four rooms/units, and a registered condo will never be given a hotel license. It's not that you must be leasing four or more rooms, it's that the building has the potential to lease more than four rooms. At least that is how the law is (can be) enforced.

 

In reality it has to be like that. Otherwise every unit could be rented short term and every owner could claim the four room exemption while the entire condo was running as a defacto grey market hotel.

 

Which would severely annoy the hotel operators in the area, which is when the problems start.

[KittenKong]

59 minutes ago, blackcab said:

 

The Hotel Act applies to buildings with more than four rooms or that are designed for occupancy of over 20 people (think dormitory). Under that and you are exempt from registrstion.

.....

The main sticking point is that condos do have more than four rooms/units, and a registered condo will never be given a hotel license. It's not that you must be leasing four or more rooms, it's that the building has the potential to lease more than four rooms. At least that is how the law is (can be) enforced.

In reality it has to be like that. Otherwise every unit could be rented short term and every owner could claim the four room exemption while the entire condo was running as a defacto grey market hotel.

 

My understanding from the English translation of the hotel act that I read is that operations of less than 4 units had to register, but those of more had to register and get a licence. Of course the translation I read could be wrong and probably is.

 

My understanding of the translation I read was indeed that any number of persons could register themselves in a condo building (and pay tax) and that the condo building as a whole was not subject to registration. I dont really see how a building could register anyway as each unit is individually owned and the juristic person has no real idea of what units are being used for what purpose, nor does it (in theory) ever participate in that activity. I also dont see that a building has the power to even register for anything without the authorisation of co-owners (or possibly their representatives the committee).

 

I note the fairly recent disappearance of an extremely large sign outside a Jomtien condo that was promoting short-term rentals on behalf of the building developer who still owns many units. I dont know whether this was to comply with the law or whether the owner has stopped doing these rentals or whether the sign just fell down.

 

Edited September 5, 2016 by KittenKong

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

Which would severely annoy the hotel operators in the area, which is when the problems start.

 

The area around my building is full of hotels, and of condos in which short-term rentals are carried out quite blatantly.

 

No one seems to give a flying xxxx about it, which is surprising as few of the hotels seem to have many occupants.

[Peterw42]

On 9/1/2016 at 9:45 AM, KittenKong said:

 

Excellent! Should be applied in every condo building here.

 

My Condo block has similar signs. My condo management actually go further and get the booking.com/agoda listings shut down

[blackcab]

To be honest I've never known anyone with under four rooms who has registered. Probably because it's all done on the quiet at that scale.

 

I understand what you are saying about units registering individually. I am certain you could register to pay tax, and the revenue office and the district would happily take your money.

 

I think the easiest thing to do is to look at it from other way round. When the condo on Soi 11 was busted, the person who got taken away was the building manager. Now he admitted he knew what was going on, but even if he didn't, he would be in the firing line.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head with the building being registered. It does have to be registered to be a hotel, and there is no practical way a condo can achieve that. Not least because the condo is not in possession of the master chanote(s) for the actual land the building sits on.

 

 

[blackcab]

21 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

 

The area around my building is full of hotels, and of condos in which short-term rentals are carried out quite blatantly.

 

No one seems to give a flying xxxx about it, which is surprising as few of the hotels seem to have many occupants.

 

The hotel owners must have too much money!

[KittenKong]

3 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

My Condo block has similar signs. My condo management actually go further and get the booking.com/agoda listings shut down

 

That's very good. I wish it would happen in my building.