[Happy M]

Hello

In September I'm moving to Thailand with my girlfriend. I've been to Thailand several times previously and feel more at home there than I do in the U.K so moving there for a while seems like a good idea.

I've been researching a great deal.. one thing I'm unsure about is accommodation. More specifically, the process of getting accommodation when in Thailand. There are plenty of websites offering rental houses, apartments, rooms and so forth however they are all quite expensive.. talking to some NGO workers in Thailand they suggested the websites I find online are aimed at non-thai's and therefore just rocking up would be cheaper. So here are my questions..

Where do you look for rental opportunities? 'estate agents'? news papers? shop windows?

Will the rental process be awesomely difficult due to the language barrier? Although learning Thai, we're fay behind arranging a rental property.

Are short term rents available in abundance? 30 days, 3 month etc?

Generally, are facilities (elec,water,internet) usually taken care of by the proprietor and 'bundled' in or will this be our first job after finding a place

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Many thanks
Happy

 

[joseph44]

Check websites of real-estate agents, accommodation-offers and small-ads only as a reference.
Once moved to Thailand, look around in person and meet up with the owners. Negotiate rent, deposit and other facilities. Will save some 25-30% on rental fees.

Usually utilities are NOT included in any rent.
Renting a house means lower fees (you pay directly to the providers of the utility)
Renting a condo/apartment means double fees (you pay to the condo-management).

Do NOT book any accommodation online. Book only a hotel for a few days and look around. Usually you can move in 'tomorrow'.

 

[TomC]

Anything online will be more expensive because you're going through 'educated' middleperson. And they WILL make you pay for it. It's best 'foot-on-ground' and hide your farang face if possible. If you can find a Thai to negotiate for you then you'll get the best price. Try not to bring your gf, the more farangs show up, the higher the prices. Good luck.

 

[Grennor]

In September I'm moving to Thailand with my girlfriend. I've been to Thailand several times previously and feel more at home there than I do in the U.K so moving there for a while seems like a good idea.

I've been researching a great deal.. one thing I'm unsure about is accommodation. More specifically, the process of getting accommodation when in Thailand. There are plenty of websites offering rental houses, apartments, rooms and so forth however they are all quite expensive.. talking to some NGO workers in Thailand they suggested the websites I find online are aimed at non-thai's and therefore just rocking up would be cheaper. So here are my questions..

Where do you look for rental opportunities? 'estate agents'? news papers? shop windows?

Will the rental process be awesomely difficult due to the language barrier? Although learning Thai, we're fay behind arranging a rental property.

Are short term rents available in abundance? 30 days, 3 month etc?

Generally, are facilities (elec,water,internet) usually taken care of by the proprietor and 'bundled' in or will this be our first job after finding a place

Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

Many thanks
Happy [/QUOTE]

Hi last year i rented a room in a new block for 15,000bht for 3 months+ water and electric about 10 k . so cost about 25k bht for 3 months , consisted of a large room with king size bed/dresser/tv/fridge/wardrobe/cabinet/ air con,+ large shower/bathroom,+ another small room that we used as a kitchen/cooking area (we purchased tables/chairs utensils/mini cooker/ kettle/toaster/pans etc cost about 10k, average cost for a good 3* hotel for 2 weeks is about the same, lots of rooms available beetween 2nd & 3rd road in Pattaya area. this was in peak season jan/feb/march/april. ...good luck & enjoy

 

[jamk]

hahahahah.. i love it..

''Try not to bring your gf, the more farangs show up, the higher the price''

I been in China over a year, same thing here, big nose means money. lol I have a few friends coming here in a month that used to live in Thailand, places i hear on the beach are about 100usd a month, one of my friends had an apartment for 50$ a month. My other half looks like a thai but she,s a Philippine that can speck thai so i sort of have a bit of luck there.

If you would like next month i might be able to pass you on a few contacts depending on location your staying at?

 

[wazza]

Depending on how urgent you are and what you bring with you ,the ideal way is to hit the ground and book a nice little hotel in where ever you go .from june to sept is low season and a good sized room on a say a monthly basis should cost arround 10k to 15k bht a month this should include power and water ,this will give you the chance to ask around and check out through local papers and such,NOTE: be very wherie of dealing with some landlords as they can be sharks try to get as small a deposit as pos because most times they will find a way not to return it ,take an inventory of everything , and the condition of the property and lots of photo's of the place and make sure you show him the pic's and note it .they use this as a reason to get out of returning your bond,
good luck

 

[joseph44]

NOTE: be very wherie of dealing with some landlords as they can be sharks try to get as small a deposit as pos because most times they will find a way not to return it ,take an inventory of everything , and the condition of the property and lots of photo's of the place and make sure you show him the pic's and note it .they use this as a reason to get out of returning your bond,
good luck

Sounds nasty, but is totally true!
I usually have my own deposit/guarantee rule:
- unfurnished house/condo: one month rent as a guarantee + one month rent in advance
- furnished house/condo: two month rent as guarantee + one month rent in advance
Of course I try to bargain down the guarantee/deposit.

As soon as landlords start with 3 months deposit/guarantee, turn around and leave.

 

[TomC]

>>> Sounds nasty, but is totally true!
I usually have my own deposit/guarantee rule:
- unfurnished house/condo: one month rent as a guarantee + one month rent in advance
- furnished house/condo: two month rent as guarantee + one month rent in advance
Of course I try to bargain down the guarantee/deposit.

As soon as landlords start with 3 months deposit/guarantee, turn around and leave. <<<

The Thai way of thinking is that if you're DUMB enough to give them 3 months deposit, then it's THEIR to keep (Lap Loy = unexpected gift from heaven). Start negotiating with ZERO deposit with a F off attitude, then go on from there. I'll give them nothing as a starting point or have them explain to me why they need the deposit in the first place. What do they think is wrong with me? Are you insulting me? Of course, if it's a big building as company owned, then there may be rules, but for a private owner, there is no such rule. It's all negotiable. Of course, chances are you have to put up something, but make it the smallest possible. Negotiate hard, because it's much harder to find the landlord when you try to get back the money. This is not the West, they have ZERO respect for you when it comes to money. IMO, only the Thai renters should be made to put up deposits. Farangs have a lot more respect for properties. Good luck.

 

[TomC]

I actually own a few apartment buildings in Bangkok and there's a rule to take 1 month deposit from all Thai and Farang renters. This is the minimum deposit you can find because we often found people who runaway without paying rents and quite a few of them are Farang. So as a landlord, I would say 3 months deposit is a bit too much but 1-2 months deposit is fair enough. We usually return most of the deposits unless the renters break things in the room. And yes, there are a lot of serviced apartment costing around 8,000-15,000THB in Bangkok that offers short-term rental.

I agree that 1-2 month deposit is fair. Also some of both Thais and Farangs do ran off without paying so you need to protect yourself. Thanks for great info.

 

[TomC]

FYI I once rented a "Thai" apartment and paid 3 months deposit, they gave all back but a 200 baht cleaning charge, so not all landlords/companies rip you off

Since the farangs are made to pay more whenever the Thais can get away with it, I thought I find something that Farangs should demand to pay less like security deposit since they are from a much more organized society. And I think the Thai landlords know this to be true about the organized part. As in any negotiation, you got to be willing to walk. And the moment you start walking, the security deposit can come down. The Thais want to have good tenants too. Yes, there are good landlords out there, but why take chances when you know that you're a good tenant yourself.