Stand Your Ground

[bigmick 840]

I guess it was just over two years ago when i deceided i wanted to buy this particular house.Its in what i consider a great location and the house itself is very nice and has everything i could ever wish for.I thought initially at first just to try to rent this house on and just sit on the asset until such time it is worth selling on.I never did anything with the place for several months other than use it for a secret meeting place with some fit looking girls for an afternoon of bonking.

Then in October of last year i decieded to try to rent it on, i contacted a few agents who came , took pictures and advertised the place.To my real surprise it was viewed many times within a short space of time , but i never felt comfortable with the people comeing around so i refused them.Eventually i meet this couple from Finland who shall remain nameless.They were late twenties and seemed real friendly and very happy, the woman had a job locally and the guy wanted a larger house to accomodate his computers etc.So i agreed to let them rent the place and a contract was signed for one year.In the contract these people had to maintain the pool and garden.After a month or so they called and said about an air con unit not working, so i went around at the time to suit them and arranged for someone to come fix the aircon unit.This went on for four months,something wouldnt work so i arranged for repair men toi come round to fix whatever was broken.Eventually one of the repair men who i know persoally aske me to come round and see for myself what the problem was with one unit.When i arrived he showed me the remote control unit.It was simply had no batteries and the tennat was constantly removeing the batteries.I noticed at this time that the grass hadnt been cut for months and the pool was green.

I decieded to have a chat to my tennant and see what was going on.He told me he cancelled the pool guys and decieded to take care of the pool himself and it was perfectly ok (STILL FUCKIN GREEN) and that he cuts the grass every two weeks(even though its seven inches long) I was somewhat shocked and told the guy he needs to rectify the situation as he is responsible.Some two weeks later it was still the same so i decieded to send him a recorded delivery letter pointing out the breaches of contract and he had 14 days to rectify the problem.He rang me after recieveing the letter and said he had to return ti Finland to do national service and he had now paid the pool guys to take care of things so all was happy once more.

After six weeks when he returned he walked in to the office at the agents and asked if everything was inplace for him to leave the house!!!!!! The agent said what do you mean leave the house?? youve been there for 9 months into a 1 year contract, so you cant just terminate your contract yourself.This guy went nuts and said that i had agreed to this and it was all set.The agent calls me and tells me and i tell him i havent agreed to this, nor will i agree to this,we had reduced the rent already to acceot a 1 year deal so i wasnt goning to let them get away with this.I went up tothe agents office where a really pathetic letter was waiting for me, telling me ive broken the contract, i pissed myself laughing.But i had to reply , which i did telling the guy politley that he had broken the contract and listed all of the breaches.Afew days later i get acall from the agent to tell me this guy has gone to see a lawyer.So i tell him fine he can do if he wants but ive already done that and im not worried about going to court.

Afew more days go by and im playing golf and this guy calls me to want to smooyh things over.So i have a long talk with him pointing things out to him and makeing it clear that he wont be getting his deposit back, atleast not all of it until i can see hes cleared all his bills and taken care of the pool and garden etc. Next day i get a sms from him telling me he feels better now we have had a chat and cleared the air.On the thursday i get another sms telling me he has a seat booked for the tuesday to return to Finland and can i meet hime at the house on tuesday to hand back keys and disscuss deposit etc, to which i agreed.

So as its tuesday , its golf day and after golf i check my emails etc and to my horror i get an email from this guy- now in Finland- telling me if i want the keys to my house to email him back and for 100,000 baht i can have the keys delivered to me.As some of you who do know me i took this very lightly and decided im just gonna kill the cunt, i fly round to the house(with spare keys) and enter the house.And yes its been wrecked.many things not broken but just thrown across the floor, piles of washing up and food left out everywhere, a real mess.

I contact Rob at East coast real estate who is a real good guy who helps me with a locksmith, 9pm at niote , locksmith comes, changes 4 locks and costs 2600 baht!!!!!!

Now ive got my house back the story begins and the big clean up starts.

The next day me and my gf are at the house all day cleaning things and paying the 12000 bahts worth of unpaid bills when we get a call from a policeman wanting to see us about the missing keys to the house.First we think the girls in the office have called the police to tell them about it but they hadnt.It turns out this policeman was a friend of the tennant who had emailed hime to contact me to try to get the 100000 baht from.So i declined to meet him somewhere dark and eventually got him into pattaya police station were he prduced all of the letteres we had written to each other, he wanted to argue with my gf but eventually i had enough and without shouting at him( so he dont loose face) i told him i will be taking this matter to the civil court as that is were it belongs and i will call upon him to appear and tewll the judge how he came by all this info and how he may have the keys to my house that are now stolen property, at this point the sergent looked at him and asked him to go back to banglamung were he belongs, which he did and we have not heard from either one of them again.I checked the lawyer he went to and they told me they told him to go away as he never stood a chance.

i now have a very nice family from th usa staying there and they are good people.

so if you find your self the victim and you know you are right , dont be scared to stand up for what you know is right- even to bent policemen

Edited December 16, 2008 by bigmick

[frostfire 1,279]

Wow.

 

.... and again, wow.

 

Well done Mick. And thanks for sharing - proves you just never can tell about people.

 

Dont suppose you have much legal recourse against the guy?

 

Frosty

[Rick1079 0]

Renting out property is a risky business if you can't find the right tenants, unfortunately I have had a similar experience although not in LOS. Glad to see everything worked out in the end for you.

[BBB 3]

Renting out property is a risky business if you can't find the right tenants, unfortunately I have had a similar experience although not in LOS. Glad to see everything worked out in the end for you.

 

Good for you, i detest people like that.

[jacko 8,822]

Exactly my thoughts too....'Good For You'......

I am a renter, and have been fortunate to have a reasonable landlord.

I would like to think he regards me as a good tennant (he should, I insulated the roof at my cost and wander around with a screwdriver).

 

There are some rtight $!nts in the world who have little regard for the property of others. You demonstrated the way to play it...signed contracts, deposit, keep records of communication and perhaps a diary of events.

 

I wonder what the twat did with all the batteries?

[NorCalKid 1]

That sucks but I suppose this can happen any where in the world. It’s defiantly not a situation unique to Thailand.

 

Just out of curiosity is there anything that a landlord can do if a renter simply skips town? I know if there is enough damage to make it worth your while here in the states you can go after them civilly. My family has a lot of rentals and I can tell you that this will happen anywhere. And usually there isn’t much you can do about it or it’s just not worth your time.

[whilliam_mancon 2]

Unfortunately there will always be people like that, especially in a tourist country like Thailand, (it´s like the easy lifestyle, the cheap booze and the warm weather attracts a 10-15% lunatic tourism on top of the sane ones), people that have no respect for other peoples properties or a written contract.

 

On the other hand I had a big Thai company as a landlord in Bangkok 2005, and a contract that stated that included in the rent were air con in all rooms, warm water at all times and modern functional plumbing!

 

After having the air con broken for all together 5 of the 12 month, the plumbing constantly flooding the bathrooms floors and the warm water work one week out of 3, they still argued for 3 weeks before reducing my last 3 month of rent.

 

What I´m saying is that you have idiots on both sides if you are unlucky! I am glad that your situation worked out for you at last, Mick!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whilliam

[bigmick 840]

Wow.

 

.... and again, wow.

 

Well done Mick. And thanks for sharing - proves you just never can tell about people.

 

Dont suppose you have much legal recourse against the guy?

 

Frosty

 

thanks frosty, you can only get the guy thru the civil courts after you have made a police report , which i did, the lawyer told me to do this as it puts me in the driving seats.I have to be lucky and hope i see him again one day in pattaya and i can then have him arrested.He then has to prove himself innocent,which he cant as he incrimminated himself with his email to me.Once at the police station , he has the opportunity to pay what he owes, including compensation to me, which to be honest is not likely to happen

I had hoped to get him stopped at the airport , but you need a court order for that, so realistically he got away with it, so i have to put it behind and move forward, which ive done.

 

For anyone wishing to rent out a property here or at home i would recommend you always sign conracts and hold deposits(2 months) and always keep a small diary of events to remind yourself should something go wrong.And always always always, here in thailand if your involved with the police and you are wrong--admit it and pay up, but if your right , stand your ground,be polite ,dont shout and you will win

[friendlyric6411 0]

Is it not a good idea to put the price of a gardener in with the rental agreement.

 

 

The Guy from Finland will be back , make a note , Not that you already have not done.

 

 

Strange accidents happen in Pattaya ..

Edited December 16, 2008 by friendlyric6411

[bigmick 840]

Is it not a good idea to put the price of a gardener in with the rental agreement.

 

 

The Guy from Finland will be back , make a note , Not that you already have not done.

 

 

Strange accidents happen in Pattaya ..

 

the cost of the gardener and the pool clean to be included was their idea not mine, i hope he does come back, i really do, i really really do

[Basil B 46]

Yes, there can be some total assholes out there.

 

Personally I would name and shame with the hope that if anyone should enter his name on Google like another prospective landlord or employer they will be pre-warned what a total tosser he is.

 

Another line is, you say his girlfriend/wife worked locally, many multi-international companies have a good reputation and their employees viewed as good tenants and this sort of behaver would not be tolerated.

[softrabbit 3]

I´m sorry to hear you found a real asshole from my country.

 

 

I just hope the old Finnish saying will become true in his case.

 

They saying is "What you leave behind yourself, you´ll find in front of you"

[soi unwise 6]

They saying is "What you leave behind yourself, you´ll find in front of you"

 

 

Far too fucking deep for me !!

[soi6 0]

Is there any way for your Thai wife to file a complaint against him/get a restraining order against him that

will keep him out of thailand or alert you when he arrives?

 

As a farang they might ignore you, but a thai person maybe might make the difference..

[joekicker 53]

I've always thought that being a landlord is one of the worst and potentially THE worst way to try to make money. Good for your for standing your perfectly legal ground but I wouldn't do your job for 10 times what you might have got.

[Gary 4,119]

I have a sixty square meter condo in Jomtien that stayed empty after I moved upcountry. I turned down several rent requests by saying that I wanted a place to stay when I visited Jomtien.

 

A friend of mine rented a condo that got sold and the new owner raised his rent substantially. I told him that he could stay in my condo until he found a new place. It turned out that he liked it there and he now has it leased from me. He had offered me the going rate for rent, 12,000 baht per month. I asked him for 9,000 per month.

 

He decided I was crazy and wanted to know why so cheap. I told him that when there is a problem he always takes care of it and doesn't bother me. I told him that I wanted to make sure he couldn't find another place that nice for that price. I'm happy and he's happy.

 

If you find a good renter, it is to your advantage to take less money and keep your renter there.

[bigmick 840]

Is there any way for your Thai wife to file a complaint against him/get a restraining order against him that

will keep him out of thailand or alert you when he arrives?

 

As a farang they might ignore you, but a thai person maybe might make the difference..

 

Unfortunatley not a chance there either, the only thing i could do and have done is make the police report and hope to see him again one day, i can then call the police and they will ask him to the station to give his side of things,unfortunatley for him he has incriminated himself and i still have the evidense,so i hope to see him again and ...... according to the lawyer i can screw him for compo also, so i hope to see him one day.

The only way a person can be stopped at the airport in a situation like mine is if i had taken him to court and a judge passed an order to hold him or an order for an arrest, but time to move on and get on with the most important things in pattaya

[LocalYokul 217]

this may not be unique to Pattaya but I feel like it's more likely to happen in Pattaya with all the pond scum around