Living In A Moo Baan (Residential Village)

[jingjo01]

When one owns a house in a Moo Baan it is required to pay an annual maintenance fee to cover the upkeep of that village (common areas, security etc). The village I live in has a high cost maintenance fee because of an inbuilt COMPULSORY component for owners villa pool maintenance and gardening service, which is carried out by the Developers staff. The village has been completed for some time but as the Developer still runs the show, there is no homeowners association or Juristic person setup. I have previously lived in two other village developments which had  lower maintenance fees because the owners arranged for their own private gardening and pool service. Has anyone here in this forum experienced a similar situation whereby one is forced to pay the Developer for these services ?

Edited June 4, 2017 by metisdead
All Caps removed from topic title.

[Kwasaki]

Surely deciding to live in a gated houses area with facilities you would expert to pay more l would of thought.

Our house is just in a village near-by surrounded tourist attractions we still have to pay the local village council every year, we pay 8 baht. 

[steven100]

Gated communities will incur annual maintenance fees or body corp fees. This is to pay for upkeep and maintenance of the facilities.  Ordinary village residence pay annual council fees, but generally much less than that of a gated community.

[SiamBeast]

You pay for the security guards, pool maintenance, facilities, cleaning, etc. every owner has to pay the fee. It is up to you to decide whether you want to pay or leave.

[Halfaboy]

If you have your doubts ask for a detailed budget / expenses overview....

[lovelomsak]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Surely deciding to live in a gated houses area with facilities you would expert to pay more l would of thought.

Our house is just in a village near-by surrounded tourist attractions we still have to pay the local village council every year, we pay 8 baht. 

You got off cheap we pay 11 baht a year. 

[bbi1]

36 minutes ago, lovelomsak said:

You got off cheap we pay 11 baht a year. 

If someone can't afford 8 baht or 11 baht a year, Thailand surely isn't for them lol

[jeab1980]

Thats one of the main problems of moo baan living. They have you by the short a curlies. The other major down side is neighbours/packed in housing. Now we are lucky we live on the border of two villages so far no charge for services from either village as neither know if we are in one or the other. However tbe one we know we are in we donate certain things like fans for funeral pyre buildings and chanting area. Head man informed us last week as from next march 2018 we will have to pay 36bht a year. 

[NanLaew]

With respect to the OP, I found out last year that it is very common for the developers of otherwise completed villages to retain control of the pool and associated community facilities regardless if they have relinquished the village as complete and a home owners association has been set up. There's some sort of loophole in how the development plan is originally registered that allows them to do this. I am not sure if this still exists and applies to newer developments. Thus it is possible for the property developer to either charge home owners for third party maintenance of the pool and facilities or rent out the pool and facilities operations and maintenance to third parties. A friend of mine dabbled in pool ops and maintenance at an older moobahn but right from the start it was difficult to get the owner to agree to high budget items like new pumps and filtration on a 12 year old pool that had been allowed to fall into disrepair. Even after the initial difficulties getting things up and running, it wasn't a very profitable or otherwise rewarding line of work.

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, jeab1980 said:

Thats one of the main problems of moo baan living. They have you by the short a curlies. The other major down side is neighbours/packed in housing. Now we are lucky we live on the border of two villages so far no charge for services from either village as neither know if we are in one or the other. However tbe one we know we are in we donate certain things like fans for funeral pyre buildings and chanting area. Head man informed us last week as from next march 2018 we will have to pay 36bht a year. 

In mentioning funeral pyres and chanting, I would say your moobahn is close to a temple? Is your rent cheap? Or was a it a bargain buy?

 

Serious question. In my years of scoping out rental properties for myself and others, some really desirable homes get passed over despite having below market prices because they are near to or bordering onto a temple. This is especially so with anyone who has a Thai partner and their innate fear of ghosts. An acquaintance of mine has a really nice 4 bed 4 bath home in a really quiet, inner city moo bahn that he's been trying to sell for years but as soon as they see the crematorium smoke stack over the wall, some prospective buyers won't even get out of their car.

[jeab1980]

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

In mentioning funeral pyres and chanting, I would say your moobahn is close to a temple? Is your rent cheap? Or was a it a bargain buy?

 

Serious question. In my years of scoping out rental properties for myself and others, some really desirable homes get passed over despite having below market prices because they are near to or bordering onto a temple. This is especially so with anyone who has a Thai partner and their innate fear of ghosts. An acquaintance of mine has a really nice 4 bed 4 bath home in a really quiet, inner city moo bahn that he's been trying to sell for years but as soon as they see the crematorium smoke stack over the wall, some prospective buyers won't even get out of their car.

I dont live in a gated moo baan i live in a village.we live close to a temple but then again most of the village does. Funeral pyre location is about 3k from village. We own self built. I would never live in a gated moo baan anywhere not my cup of tea at all. 

[Hutch68]

I thought a moo baan was just a normal village but I am a bit daft.... So your telling me some of you live behind a gate, all locked in and sharing things cooped up like hens? Sounds great.

[Damrongsak]

Years ago in Isaan, the gated moo bans were just villages with fences around each house to keep the buffaloes from wandering around.  Some kept them under the house. 

[KittenKong]

18 hours ago, jingjo01 said:

The village has been completed for some time but as the Developer still runs the show, there is no homeowners association or Juristic person setup.

 

Why not form one then?

[jeab1980]

They are building one just off KK ring road (230) close to Chuda park resort on the 2009. What a monster it is had a wander around the half that is completed. Open your bedroom window and shake hands with the neighbours. There is 1.5m from house walls to boundary wall side and back and the front is 4m from door to front gate. No thank you. Thought they had banned chicken farms. They want 1.5mil for two bed and 1.8mill for 3 bed. 2.2 mil for 4 bed. 

[Pdaz]

I lived in a nice village for almost 10 yrs. it was initially well run. Once handed over to a residents committee it was still well maintained for a few years. But slowly over time as the demographic changed less and less fees were collected. This let to lower quality security and less money for communal lighting, pool servicing and gardening. Now it consists of a few nice houses ( the more expensive ones ) surrounded by slumlike poorly maintained cheaper ones. This to me is the main disadvantage of a village where there are a mix of properties. The lower end townhouses or villas usually end up in disrepair with owners unwilling to pay maintenance. I moved to a single house in it's own grounds. Less neighbors, less dogs, and only fees paid directly to the tessabahn. I would never buy in a village again unless it was a very small development with houses of similar value and owners who could afford to maintain them.

[jeab1980]

Just to clarify although people call these moo baans villages they are not in reality they are estates a group of houses in a gated estate. Not a village at all. You could say a secure (ish) community.

Edited June 5, 2017 by jeab1980

[steven100]

15 hours ago, jeab1980 said:

Thats one of the main problems of moo baan living. They have you by the short a curlies. The other major down side is neighbours/packed in housing. Now we are lucky we live on the border of two villages so far no charge for services from either village as neither know if we are in one or the other. However tbe one we know we are in we donate certain things like fans for funeral pyre buildings and chanting area. Head man informed us last week as from next march 2018 we will have to pay 36bht a year. 

how will you figure that  into your annual budget  ...          

[jeab1980]

16 minutes ago, steven100 said:

how will you figure that  into your annual budget  ...          

Will be tight might have to give up an essential or two but one has to make sacrifices to live in Paradise doesnt one.

Edited June 5, 2017 by jeab1980

[Orac]

 
Why not form one then?

Not always straight forward if the developer will not cooperate. Our moobaan has been trying for years and still no resolution.

[chrissables]

2 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Years ago in Isaan, the gated moo bans were just villages with fences around each house to keep the buffaloes from wandering around.  Some kept them under the house. 

Moo baan is a village, gated or not.

 

Reading the op, he says his private pool and garden, surely they can't enforce that? Just re-read it, it seems the village pool and garden areas.

Edited June 5, 2017 by chrissables

[chrissables]

3 hours ago, Hutch68 said:

I thought a moo baan was just a normal village but I am a bit daft.... So your telling me some of you live behind a gate, all locked in and sharing things cooped up like hens? Sounds great.

You are right, a moo baan is a village. I suppose gated or not.

[lopburi3]

As said nothing to do with living in a moo baan - you are talking about a private gated community and they cost no matter where located (I lived on one in Florida and will never do again - nice to look at but not so nice to pay for or live by extended rules).

 

That said my village here was private 40 years ago - people stopped paying fees and nothing owner could do other than publish shame list.  Owner removed guards, who seemed to supervise theft, and gate removed - much less crime.  As became loss for owner turned over to city and conditions improved, new lighting/roads/water.

[phuketalex]

Polished uniformed security mainly with the purpose to impress potential new buyers

[sfokevin]

To the OP - Were you not aware of these charges when you moved in?... 

[mike324]

If bought from a reputable developer and there is not juristic yet, then its either not enough units is sold be create one hence the developer is still managing the property. If there are enough owners but no juristic yet, you might still be in the transition phase of developer handling over the managing which may take a couple of months too. 

 

If you say the pool and gardening maintenance is compulsory, you should ask them to provide where it was written in the purchase contract, or if there are any other written documents stating so. Perhaps you purchase it without reading carefully too. If they make it compulsory, I would imagine they want all the gardens to look uniform and well kept at the same time.

 

 

[jingjo01]

Thank you to all the respondents to my post, however not one answered my question.

Perhaps I didn't make it clear enough. Some respondents sidetracked the discussion and it went off the rails.

So I will try and be blunt and to the point again :

1.I live and own a villa in a small gated community.

2.There is no communal swimming pool. Each villa has its own garden and private pool.

3.The development has been completed but the foreign developer has not handed over management to the homeowners.

4. The same developer will not produce any financial reports pertaining to the management of the estate.

5. The annual maintenance fees are high because of a compulsory component which requires all owners to use the developers staff to service their private gardens and pools.

I have lived in other gated communities here in Thailand and homeowners always arranged for their own gardening and private pool maintenance, hence lower annual maintenance fees.

I repeat my question : Are any other forum members (who live in gated communities and have private pools and gardens) forced to pay developers (or homeowner committees) to attend to their private pool and and garden ?  I am trying to get a feel for this practice to see how widespread it is, as I feel the practice is unjust.

Just answer YES or NO. Thank you.

 

[jingjo01]

3 hours ago, KittenKong said:

 

Why not form one then?

Foreign developer refuses to handover.

 

[KittenKong]

9 minutes ago, jingjo01 said:

Foreign developer refuses to handover.

 

 

You need to be more forceful. Lawyers, Land Office, publicity. Make the developer feel very uncomfortable.

[248900_1469958220]

Problem is most villages in this country look like sh*t after  few years in spite of the 'maintenance' fee. They are just let go.....My village isnt that old and still ok but I can see its DEvolution in front of my eyes. 'Maintenance' .....mmmmm.