Landlord refusing to do repairs

[Steiner]

On 11/23/2016 at 8:44 AM, madmax2 said:

Whats wrong with renting from the property owner, i prefer to and have never had a problem with maintenance and repairs, and you usually get a better price because the owner does not have to pay the real estate agents sometimes exorbitant fees and charges

There are rip of agents and owners in my experience, you just need to ask the rite questions before you commit yourself to anything 

"Exorbitant fees and charges " how do you arrive at that? 

Commission for agents is generally 1 month for 1yr, you feel that is exorbitant? 

Try running an office,  paying staff and marketing the properties and showing them to endless lines of dithering people,  then dealing with maintenance and rent issues throughout the year for that,  and you think it's exorbitant? What do you get paid for your skills: bananas and peanuts? 

Anyway your experience is confined to your personal miniscule number of rentals,  I have dealt with thousands and get somewhere between 10 and 20 emails a  week asking for help. 

Seriously,  who has a better picture of the industry here? 

 

Also if the owner does turn out to be a bad one;  I've seen rentals where the owner and tenant hug it out their so happy at the signing of the contract,  2 months later they are at each other's throats.  A good agent can mitigate any damage and get most people back on track. 

Also of it does go wrong it's  your word against the owner,  that generally won't go so well for the farang direct renter,  with a real registered company acting as agent,  there is that 3rd impartial voice to resolve issues and it won't go any further. 

It's also a common myth that owners add a premium to rental prices if there is an agent,  just think about that;  the owner will have advertised the property at a certain price,  how could an agent then advertise the same property at a higher price?  That would be plain stupid. 

Anyone finding the property online will then Google that property name,  it makes no sense to list that property at a higher price. 

 

[Steiner]

16 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

We did go through an agent which I wouldn't do again. I mean she's ok but at the end of the day she's working for the owner...and in any case I think they get their months rent commission up front and thats it. She pays us lip service etc but I don't really think its her problem. I wouldn't use an agent again. By the way, not like we've been nuisances. In a year called twice. Once for a major flooding pipe leaking into the yard and under the foundations, which was here from the start and got worse (pump running all the time) and this instance 

There are agents and agents,  does this 'agent'  have an office,  a website,  a landline number,  is she a registered company? 

If she was a freelancer,  then without meaning to  sound terse,  what did you think would happen? 

Would you rent property from an untraceable person in your own country? Of course not,  so why do it here,  it common sense. 

TBH I have heard Thai agents,  who asked me if I spoke Thai and to which I replied no,  plotting with the owner to keep deposits at the end of the tenancy by ignoring the tenant's calls until they had left the country. 

A real company with an office and a website would live or die  by their reviews,  freelancers can't even be tracked to a physical address,  and if it gets too hot,  they get a new mobile number.

Owners don't have to worry about bad reviews,  so if they want to mug you over,  what's to stop them. 

There are some good agents in this country,  but there are thousands of freelancers,  the choice is simple really. 

[blackcab]

A good agent will hold tenant's deposits themselves and keep them in a separate, dedicated bank account.

 

If the owner isn't happy with that, there are plenty of other agents they can call. 

[blackcab]

19 minutes ago, Steiner said:

Commission for agents is generally 1 month for 1yr, you feel that is exorbitant? 

Try running an office,  paying staff and marketing the properties and showing them to endless lines of dithering people,  then dealing with maintenance and rent issues throughout the year for that...

 

If you are managing rental properties have you considered a monthly charge based on rent received? It helps to smooth out cash flow.

[Steiner]

47 minutes ago, blackcab said:

 

If you are managing rental properties have you considered a monthly charge based on rent received? It helps to smooth out cash flow.

Yes that  was standard when I ran the same business in the UK,  we would handle all issues and repairs up to an agreed level and field all out of hours calls for issues such as burst pipes and broken heating.

However here it's impossible to get from Thai owners who simply pass 99.9% of repairs and issues to the juristic office. 

 

We still stay involved throughout the year,  you have to do something to try to stay apart from sea of freelancers,  it's the nature if the business here. 

Unfortunately a large percentage of people still rent from anonymous people without any thought for potential problems,  and of course there is the booming business for farang who rent based on decisions made with their small head ;-) 

 

I can't tell you him many guys have given me a list of 'essentials'  they need: large pool,  high floor,  good view,  certain size room size,  and make an appointment for the next day. 

When  I call to confirm the viewing next day,  they met some girl on the town the night before and rented some hovel with a tiny pool,  low floor and no pool. 

I have to wonder just how frustrated some of these guys are! 

[DSJPC]

22 hours ago, Kenny202 said:

They have 2 months deposit, and I know there is no chance we will ever see that again. If I do stop paying rent can they call the police and move us out or something? I do want to just stop paying the last 2 months were here or like I said there is no way we will get our deposit back. The house by the way is in 300% better shape than when we moved in

just keep staying and delay your rent payments...just make excuse after excuse after excuse...hopefully 2 months will pass and u are home free!...if not, and he calls police, show them the repairs that are needed and your lease, which will hopefully say that necessary repairs are the responsibility of the owner...otherwise,  if not, u shouldn't have signed it!...good luck and let me know what transpires...have u changed your locks yet???...very important!

[Steiner]

21 hours ago, blackcab said:

A good agent will hold tenant's deposits themselves and keep them in a separate, dedicated bank account.

 

If the owner isn't happy with that, there are plenty of other agents they can call. 

You do realise this is Thailand right? 

Try getting the deposits to hold in an escrow account. 

We actually do that for owners who don't live in Thailand or have Internet access to their accounts,  Thai owner would need a heart ambulance of you suggested that to them,  it's difficult enough to get a set of keys out of them to hold on the office key safe,  deposits? No chance. 

[Deepinthailand]

58 minutes ago, Steiner said:

You do realise this is Thailand right? 

Try getting the deposits to hold in an escrow account. 

We actually do that for owners who don't live in Thailand or have Internet access to their accounts,  Thai owner would need a heart ambulance of you suggested that to them,  it's difficult enough to get a set of keys out of them to hold on the office key safe,  deposits? No chance. 

I wouldn't touch an agent with a barge pole a waste of time and money. all deposits we recive go into a separate account. Purley beacuse it's easier for us to keep it separate for tax reasons. Agents in my experiance are obviously just out to make money and the few I've had dealings with do not give you value for money at all. 

[Steiner]

On 11/25/2016 at 9:51 AM, Deepinthailand said:

Agents in my experiance are obviously just out to make money

 

Awesome insight, where you come from agents must work for free.
Maybe you'll follow your example here and give all the TV members some of your services for free?
 

[Deepinthailand]

46 minutes ago, Steiner said:

 

Awesome insight, where you come from agents must work for free.
Maybe you'll follow your example here and give all the TV members some of your services for free?
 

I was mearly pointing out agents do nothing but pair tenants to landlords and absolutely nothing else but want money for doing nothing. Far better to miss out the agent and liase direct.  

What services do you want for free I dint take any fees for liaising between Tennant and landlord never have never will. Or are you trying to suggest other things?? sorry I'm married and straight.

[blackcab]

30 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

I was mearly pointing out agents do nothing but pair tenants to landlords and absolutely nothing else but want money for doing nothing.

 

That depends on the agent. Some agents offer a full property management service.

[Deepinthailand]

4 minutes ago, blackcab said:

 

That depends on the agent. Some agents offer a full property management service.

Yes they do but again having used them for such a purpose in UK and here We find them to be less than efficient, ok for first few months then next to us less we have had tennants contacting us direct to solve basic issues the property management team should have sorted within a day. One Tennant  unbelievably was without heat or hot water for two weeks with a boiler breakdown they reported it to the property management on several occasions but they did nothing. I sorted the problem took one phone call to our maintenance contractor (British gas home care) problem fixed same day. Asked property management why they had not acted. So many excuses blaming one person then another Sacked them on the spot. Never used one since and never will.

[blackcab]

17 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

Yes they do but again having used them for such a purpose in UK and here We find them to be less than efficient, ok for first few months then next to useless...

 

I agree, especially in Thailand. Everyone and their friends are agents. They all want the 1 months rent commission, but not many can handle a full management service role.

 

I can understand why. It's hard work for not so much money. It only gets good when you have a decent quantity of clients and very good relationships with your contractors.