Buy back our dream home! - We don't want this rubbish, say angry Phuket residents

[Xircal]

What surprises me here is that the couple in the OP are Thai and in that respect should have been able talk to their peers about the risks of buying a property especially if it hasn't been completed yet. Also about the seller's reputation and whether there's any cause for concern.

 

Don't they have surveyors in Thailand who can perform a building inspection before putting money on the table?

 

[F4UCorsair]

The country may change, but builders don't.

Edited November 12, 2016 by F4UCorsair

[USNret]

8 hours ago, mcfish said:

Who elsewhere could they have bought from if not a Thai builder ?
 

 

Wrong question.  The question is, why buy at all? 

[gdgbb]

12 hours ago, yellowboat said:

Was told if you (a farange) die, the property reverts back to the developer.

Also, if nobody pays there utilities, your elevators do not get fixed and the lobbies do not get renovated.  Good look selling a flat where one or more lifts are broken and the lobby looks bad.  Rent, avoid buying in Thailand, unless you are buying from an international hotel or executive apartment chain.   

 

Well that's got to be true if you were told it.  On the other hand, what you said and what you were told is boll ocks.  What has paying the water and electricity bills (the utilities) got to do with fixing the lifts?  Do the electricity and water authorities service lifts now?

Edited November 12, 2016 by gdgbb

[Stargeezr]

This just shows that people are still getting shafted by lousy construction.  My Thai family took two years to get a roof

problem fixed in a townhouse unit in Bangkok.  Even  Thai people have many problems getting quality work done.

This problem that this couple has,  sounds like a nightmare.

Good Luck. Chok Dee.

Geezer

[RichardColeman]

I'm waiting for the next new law hat if a farang does not occupy his house for 1 year it will revert to the government for allocation - good build or not.

[madmax2]

13 hours ago, mcfish said:

Who elsewhere could they have bought from if not a Thai builder ?

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk
 

A farang who claims to be a qualified builder in Thailand

Since when is someone who is a wall and floor tiler in Australia a qualified builder in Thailand

[madmax2]

3 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

This just shows that people are still getting shafted by lousy construction.  My Thai family took two years to get a roof

problem fixed in a townhouse unit in Bangkok.  Even  Thai people have many problems getting quality work done.

This problem that this couple has,  sounds like a nightmare.

Good Luck. Chok Dee.

Geezer

There are no qualified grano workers, carpenters, bricklayers or electricians etc in Thailand or i have not met any up to date

By qualified i mean someone who has served a apprenticeship in their trade which is usually 3 to 5 years where i come from

They are all day labourers from Myanmar who are shown what to do once or twice and left to do what ever job they are given 

[useronthenet]

You can buy a fridge in Thailand and get a 5 year warranty, but on a newly built house only 1 year.

Standards in Thailand are notoriously bad, and so stories like these are not uncommon. 

[Briggsy]

20 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Does the ThaiRath version of the article give the name of housing development or the developer?  Or is it just the ThaiVisa re-write that decided to leave out that info?

 

I read the first 3 paragraphs in Thai before it goes into detail about the specific construction faults.

 

The article dances around anything which could identify the developer. e.g. you get "a famous upmarket housing development" or "a large property development firm with projects all over the country". The article even fails to mention the couple's address, which would of course identify the project and thus identify the developer. This is odd because Thai news articles often go into inappropriate specific detail with regards to addresses or times.

 

So, in summary, it is clear the journalist and his/her editor at Thairath have taken care not to name the property developer.

[madmax2]

56 minutes ago, useronthenet said:

You can buy a fridge in Thailand and get a 5 year warranty, but on a newly built house only 1 year.

Standards in Thailand are notoriously bad, and so stories like these are not uncommon. 

Most swimming pool builders only give you a 1 year warranty on their workmanship here

!0 years with written warranty overseas, shows what they think about their own work and quality of it, building concrete pools with mild steel round instead of rebar as reinforcing and some are using breeze blocks/besser blocks for the side walls, and its not only Thais doing this

Buyer beware especially in Thailand and check the work daily yourself if you have the time or pay a friend to make sure its done properly, well worth the money  

Never buy anything of plan, you could be buying just fresh air where the building is supposed to be in the future, NO shortage of finished houses, villas, condos and flats around where you can see what you are buying.

As someone else mentioned look at properties 3to5 years old most faults are obvious by then 

Fleshly painted usually means they have covered up cracks in the building, not always but it happens regularly

[anon4637435435]

Rule of thumb.. if you cant fix it or afford a replacement, dont buy it!

[elgordo38]

18 hours ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

i have bought and sold a bit here and over 10 years i am about breaking even, which really means i have lost with inflation. one house took 3 years to sell. best to stay mobile, if i was looking to leave thailand in a hurry i would have had to take a big loss. my friends new condo has every electrical wire the same colour. everything working now but might be tricky down the line. building standards seem to be non existent in thailand.

i am down to one condo which is now completed but the title is not ready.  has been a 5 year wait already. now wondering how many years i will have to wait till the title is ready. not keen to pay till i have the paperwork.

 

As my old grandmother used to say "We get too soon old and to late smart" You sound like your not hurting but no sense financially flogging yourself. Stay mobile at our age. We could be leaving in more ways than one. 

[Morch]

5 minutes ago, bsdthai said:

Rule of thumb.. if you cant fix it or afford a replacement, dont buy it!

 

Perhaps not that easy to apply.

Many ordinary folk would have double what a house costs stashed on the side. Many houses are financed by loans/mortgages etc. which carry long term commitments. So replacement is not always a viable option. Fixing things by yourself - well, small stuff is one thing, trivial even. But handling serious construction faults, that can amount to re-building a house, is not something most people are up to. Especially not with regard to a newly bought property.

 

[Pinot]

With the crazy over development, there is only one way to go...rent.

 

 

[elgordo38]

15 hours ago, The Deerhunter said:

Also agree.  Don't buy, for all sorts of reason.  BUT, if you must buy, buy second hand 2-3 years old at least.  

(1) No building guaranteeing issues with the developer.

(2) Any defect will (almost always) be apparent by then.

(3) Get to see what the complex turns out like and and not stuck in a dump or social nightmare, not able to sell.

I agree to your agree. I live in a decade or two year old condo and if for some reason I got the vapors and decided to buy I would buy here and remodel. This old girl was built to last and being that old is now in the centre of things rather than on the fringe. 

[WhizBang]

On Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 0:02 AM, madmax2 said:

Most so called builders here would not be qualified enough to be a bricklayers labourer in a lot of developed countries where you have to be qualified and have a builders license to manage building construction, not here from the building standards i have seen

There must be some qualified people around but i have not met one yet who can show me a diploma or degree, even a fake one which qualifies them to build a house

 

Being qualified is not the real issue.  The real issue is that the people hired to actually do the work are unqualified, and work goes ahead often with only minimal oversight by someone who may, or likely, may not be qualified.

 

Basically the quality of any work here is horrible.  Those actually doing the job have no clue, and the guy showing them how to do it is equally clueless.
 

[madmax2]

1 minute ago, WhizBang said:

 

Being qualified is not the real issue.  The real issue is that the people hired to actually do the work are unqualified, and work goes ahead often with only minimal oversight by someone who may, or likely, may not be qualified.

 

Basically the quality of any work here is horrible.  Those actually doing the job have no clue, and the guy showing them how to do it is equally clueless.
 

I agree with you completely, the people doing the work and the people controlling the job do not have a clue how to do the job properly, near enough is good enough is their motto in my opinion

If you are not qualified and trained to do a job how can you do it properly , you cannot

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Having been in the building industry,both,commercial and domestic,i can only say,that i have never seen such incompetent,inept,know nothing' builders',as these people claim to be.They know nothing about setting out of  Tiling,and the proof of this,is, there is always a short cut at the end of a run.The hanging of doors must be a complete mystery to them as i have never seen any door with the hinges actually cut into the frame.cable fixing is a nightmare. A nicely plastered wall (and that is about the only thing that isnt too bad) is ruined  by cables being fitted surface and running to the sockets for all to see.

The kitchens are a nightmare,where the units are not level and any oil put in a pan always runs to the rim.The overflows are fitted to the sink traps, but that is defeated by the fact that none of the plugs and chains are fitted to the sinks.

The external drainage has little or no fall and the lifting of a inspection,or rodding point always reveals the drain pipe fitted half way up the man hole.leaving stagnant and stinking water in the bottom,which encourages rats and thousands of cockroaches..Also the drainage has insufficient falls to reach a self cleansing velocity (SCV)There is obviously no point of  sea level, from which the man hole inverts are derived(in the UK it is Newlyn in Cornwall) The plumbing is very hit and miss and has obviously been fitted by a guy that was told how to do it,by someone who thought he knew how to do it.The Glazing,that comes fitted in plastic frames,is of poor manufacture,with the filling strip usually falling out in the first 3 months and consequently,the windows rattle in the frames. 

You just cannot compare  the work here with Europe,Uk,USA.There are no apprenticeships in any singular trade here.People get taught by other unqualified people Not Tradesmen.

There used to be a Norwegian firm here that built condo's and the like offering European standard building and internal services with qualified foreign,Engineers in a supervisory capacity.But i havent seen their adverts for a long time now.

I wish i could set up an independent consultancy for inspection of buildings and their finishing's for  people thinking of buying,but i fear that i would be murdered in the first quarter,And my house burned down(by unqualified arsonists,you understand)

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

No, you've got it wrong. The arsonists here ARE well qualified. It's just the building trades guys who are NOT. 

[mortenaa]

On 11/12/2016 at 1:50 PM, mcfish said:

Of course but that doesn't change the fact farang can't get a loan and not many would have that money in cash. I would love to Know what percentage of farang actually do have that type of cash. At a wild guess I'm thinking about 50 to 1, probably much higher

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk
 

 

I'm a "farang", bought a condo, with a mortgage from a Thai bank. So far the best investment I have ever done. 

[mortenaa]

10 hours ago, useronthenet said:

You can buy a fridge in Thailand and get a 5 year warranty, but on a newly built house only 1 year.

Standards in Thailand are notoriously bad, and so stories like these are not uncommon. 

Im building a pool villa. 5years warranty on house. 10 years on the pool. 

[Golden Triangle]

9 minutes ago, mortenaa said:

 

I'm a "farang", bought a condo, with a mortgage from a Thai bank. So far the best investment I have ever done. 

 

I could afford to buy as well, just prefer to keep my money for myself and enjoy my life.

[farcanell]

1 minute ago, mortenaa said:

Im building a pool villa. 5years warranty on house. 10 years on the pool. 

 

I got a three year warranty.... but the builder refused to answer my phone!

 

that said, my lawyer got me a 100,000 baht deduction on the final payment, so it wasn't all bad

[mortenaa]

14 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

 

I could afford to buy as well, just prefer to keep my money for myself and enjoy my life.

 

I love the fact that the place I stay is mine. Peace of mind. 

12 minutes ago, farcanell said:

 

I got a three year warranty.... but the builder refused to answer my phone!

 

that said, my lawyer got me a 100,000 baht deduction on the final payment, so it wasn't all bad

Luckily my builder speaks my language and have the same sense for quality and craftsmanship as myself. 

 

Do your due diligence and it's possible to do very good real estate investments in Thailand. 

Edited November 13, 2016 by mortenaa

[NamKangMan]

1 hour ago, mortenaa said:

 

I love the fact that the place I stay is mine. Peace of mind. 

Luckily my builder speaks my language and have the same sense for quality and craftsmanship as myself. 

 

Do your due diligence and it's possible to do very good real estate investments in Thailand. 

 

 

"I love the fact that the place I stay is mine." - in relation to foreign ownership of property in Thailand, please define "mine." 

[mortenaa]

3 hours ago, NamKangMan said:

 

 

"I love the fact that the place I stay is mine." - in relation to foreign ownership of property in Thailand, please define "mine." 

It says my name on the Chanote, and no one else's.. 

[Ronuk]

7 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

 

I could afford to buy as well, just prefer to keep my money for myself and enjoy my life.

Do you live in rent free accommodation?

[USNret]

How to live in Thailand, own real estate, and not deal with the risks/hazards of cr@ppy Thai construction, resell values, and the inevitable pop-up karaoke bar next door...  Take all the money you were going to use to buy your Thai dream home, and instead buy a home in your home country (or any other civilized nation).  Rent the place out.  Use the money from the rent to pay rent on a nice Thai home.  Earn all the tax benefits & appreciation in your home country that you would not get in Thailand.  As a renter, when your neighbor builds a pig farm next to you, move out & rent elsewhere; no angst, no lawyers, no biker gangs threatening anyone. 

[farcanell]

4 minutes ago, USNret said:

How to live in Thailand, own real estate, and not deal with the risks/hazards of cr@ppy Thai construction, resell values, and the inevitable pop-up karaoke bar next door...  Take all the money you were going to use to buy your Thai dream home, and instead buy a home in your home country (or any other civilized nation).  Rent the place out.  Use the money from the rent to pay rent on a nice Thai home.  Earn all the tax benefits & appreciation in your home country that you would not get in Thailand.  As a renter, when your neighbor builds a pig farm next to you, move out & rent elsewhere; no angst, no lawyers, no biker gangs threatening anyone. 

 

Great advise... then you discover that the rental agent in your own country has effed up, and your unevictable tenant has trashed your investments property, costing tens of thousands to fix.... after lawyers and bailiffs intervene

 

their is no easy solution, you roll the dice, and take your chances.