House rental

[goji]

Suggesting walking around looking for property advertising signs must surely be another form of trolling ?
There is no shortage of properties to rent advertised on the internet.
The problem specified by gerefan2 is that all the houses are for rental terms of 6 month or more, but a 3~4 month let is desired (recognizing that a slight increase in rent might be needed).

How the hell would walking around change the minimum rental term ?

[gerefan2]

I’m going to write to the agent about the 20,000 baht house I showed, and offer 25,000 for 4 months..subject to inspection.

I’m in the UK now. The problem with looking myself is that the time spent doing that, agreeing terms and moving in etc all reduces the term of the let even more!

Some good advice however, some things I hadn’t thought of.

[Old git]

With all these things you need to bear in mind the two rules of Thai business:

1) If business is slack you need to raise your prices.

> The fact that a house has stood empty for the past 18 months is unlikely to persuade a Thai owner to rent it to you at a bargain price. Many will be primarily minded to seek top dollar to recoup their losses.

2) If your business has a regular customer, you're not charging them enough.

> If you find a place that looks perfect, don't let the owner clock that. Think up six reasons why it's less than ideal and say you'll let him know if you can't find anywhere better, and he'll knock a lump off the price..

[christianpfc]

When I was looking for a room to rent in Bangkok, I found that only half of the available room in my area of interest were on the internet in English, and of those who were on the internet in English, half of the information was wrong or outdated (i.e. not available any more). Once I figured that out, I did all my room search by walking around and reading the Thai signs "for rent" and follow up. Details here: https://christianpfc.blogspot.com/20...n-sathorn.html

I recommend you go with a friend who can translate and look at houses (or better, do some research on internet to make a list of some houses, and on the way to those houses you will pass more with "for rent/sale" signs and can check them). So you see if there are any maintenance issues and see what vibe management/owner gives. 3 or 4 months instead of 6 should not be a problem. It's important to speak to someone who has an interest in filling the place; for staff in real estate office it makes no difference if the house is rented out or not, just additional work to mediate between you and owner about minimum rental time.

[pong]

Yes, same rules apply about anywhere in TH. I think-as is usual with that-there might also be tax-issues for the owner/landlord. Also dont forget that the other charges, esp. the electric, can spun up quite high in the heat and all AC hard working. If the former renter has left unpaid, you may very well be required to cough it up before you can get connected again
BTW: whats so essential the difference between a house and a villa? Also check sites like airb&b and the like.

[christianpfc]

Yes indeed, charged for electricity can range from as low as 3.5 THB/kWh (the rate of electricity company) to 8 THB/kWh. Makes a difference when you have aircon running all day. Speaking of aircon, when you are in the house check all aircon, there are few things worse than a scratching or noisy aircon. Poor water pressure can be an issue as well. And general construction/maintenance problems: squeaking, leaking, scratching, flooding...

[Manforallseasons]

You are looking for a 4 month rental ignore the technical advice as you are not buying the house, the electric bill comes to the house directly from the electric company and most of the rest of the advice for a rental is mot very relevant for a short term rental what you should be sure of is pics of the inside of the house so to be sure it’s not a shit house. If you get the house make sire the lease is in English if the rent is 20,000 offer 20,000 if the owner is wavering then offer 25,000.

[cdnmatt]

You are looking for a 4 month rental ignore the technical advice as you are not buying the house, the electric bill comes to the house directly from the electric company.

Right, but the advice in this thread is correct regarding electric and water bills. In Thailand, the electric and water companies bill the house address, not the current resident. Who's residing in the house at any given time makes no difference to them. They bill the house address, so if there's funds owed on that house when you take residence, you're going to need to pay those funds if you want your electric / water turned back on.

They don't screw around in Thailand either. If you don't pay, they just come over to your house and rip the meter right out of the ground.

[Patanawet]

make sire the lease is in English if the rent is 20,000 offer 20,000 if the owner is wavering then offer 25,000.

NO. That is absolutely NOT the way to do it in Thailand.
Never accept the asking price.
Renters will almost always come down in price.
Make sure there is a tight clause in the contract for the return of deposit.

[christianpfc]

Unpaid electricity bill. In 2010 I stayed a few days at a boy's place. He mentioned several times that he has to pay for electricity. At that time I was naive an dismissed this as general information, like talking about the weather. Then one day electricity was cut. It was winter, no need for aircon (I don't remember where I charged my phone), and can shower with cold water, so I didn't take action. The only problem was no window in bathroom, so for shaving I went into the elevator (the only place accessible to me that had light and a mirror). After some days the boy asked me directly for money for electricity bill and 500 THB fee for late payment, and I coughed up the money.