The Thai Landlord from Hell

Finding somewhere to live in Bangkok is hard, even in these days of a real estate glut. No matter whether you hire an agent or go looking yourself, you will end up looking at a lot of houses you don't really like. This is the story of our search for a better home, and the disappointment that followed.

We had already driven all over Bangkok to look at a series of houses for more than two months. We were becoming discouraged, because all the houses we looked at just didn't suit us. Some were too small, others had leaking roofs, peeling wallpaper, poor electrical wiring. The list went on and on.

Then one day we found a house we thought was just perfect.

It all started when my wife contacted an agent and asked about a house she'd seen listed in a real estate magazine. After talking to the agent my wife hung up and said that it was strange that the agent seemed so keen for us to go. But we weren't really alarmed. After all, selling real estate is a tough business these days. And how were we to know we were about to meet the landlord from hell? The poor woman was probably eager to get this nutter off her books.

We went to see the house on the outskirts of town. It was a lovely place, with a large front garden filled with a variety of trees. Lots of privacy there.

The building was 100 square wah, which was about the size we needed. The agent showed us the interior and we were struck by the spacious feel, the light streaming in through the sun roof, and the polished marble floors. It looked good, so we said we would like to rent it.

The agent said she would contact the landlord and we went home to make our moving plans. Little did we know.

The next day we received a call from the landlord himself. He said he wanted to meet us before signing any agreement. We offered to go and meet him and discuss the rental terms.

"No," he said, "I'd like to go to your home first. I had a Japanese man who wanted to rent the place last month. But when I met him I changed my mind, because I think he was Yakuza. I want to meet you first to see if you are suitable."

This is very unusual behaviour for a landlord, but his request seemed reasonable. So we agreed.

He turned up and immediately we got a strange feeling that there was something wrong, but we couldn't put our finger on it. His description of the Japanese man just didn't seem to be quite right.

The landlord told us that as the Japanese man was moving in he brought a lot of sealed boxes. Nothing wrong with that, we thought.

But the landlord said that when he asked the Japanese to open one of the boxes so that he could see what was inside, the Japanese refused. A reasonable reaction, I thought. It was none of the landlord's business what was in the boxes.

The landlord disn't think so. He told the Japanese that he had changed his mind and that the house wasn't available for rent any more.

While the landlord was at our house he insisted on visiting our office, which is attached to the house. He walked in, met my staff and exclaimed that he was very pleased that my business is a quiet one that doesn't make a mess.

He told us that when we moved in he didn't want us to put any nails in the wood, make holes in the walls, or make any additions to the house without his permission.

By this time I was becoming uneasy. But we agreed to meet at his house in a few days and he would show us around and sign the contract.

My wife and I talked it over and decided to go. The house was just what we were looking for, and we didn't think the landlord could cause us too many problems once we moved in. After all, the law states that any landlord must ask the tenant's permission before going into a rented house.

We turned up for our second meeting with the landlord with the agreed on deposit money, and ready to sign. But as we toured the house I started to realize that he was making too many unreasonable demands.

For example, he expected someone to climb up on the roof periodically, cross on fragile old roofing to the gutters and clean the leaves out of them. I refused.

But he wasn't to be deterred. He climbed up there himself to show one of my staff what to do.

Then he pointed out a small building attached to the house. One of the rooms was for the maid, but the other was filled with chemicals and other medical equipment.

"Those are my wife's. She's a chemist." he pointed out. "I want to leave them here and I will lock the door."

I agreed, as long as he would move all the chemicals out. I didn't want my baby daughter getting in there one day and endangering herself. He refused. He would put a padlock on the door instead. I wasn't happy about it, but agreed.

By this time, my wife and I were feeling distinctly uncomfortable, but I was still determined to rent the house. Silly me.

We sat down together and he gave me the contract he had got his lawyer to draw up. I have signed many rental agreements, and they all use a standard form. I'd never met a landlord before who had his own rental agreement written up. And as it was in Thai I refused to sign right then. He agreed, but asked that I pay a small deposit to assure him that I meant to take the house. That's when I should have walked out, but I still didn't. Instead, I gave him 5,000 Baht and co-signed a hand written agreement that I would rent the house.

When we got home I asked my wife to translate the contract he had given us.

The first paragraph said we would have to pay a 100 Baht fine for every day we were late paying the rent. As we didn't intend paying late that was no problem.

We had agreed at our previous meeting to pay 22,000 Baht for the first year, and 25,000 Baht for the following year. His contract said that he wanted the deposit for both years in advance. That was unusual and unnacceptable.

He also included a clause that the contract would be voided if the government wanted to take the land for any purpose. As his house sits in the middle of a housing estate with thousands of other houses in it, this seemed a very remote possibility.

Another clause stated that we would have to move if the house burned down!

This was getting ridiculous. We were also concerned by another clause that stated he would have the right to come into our home whenever he felt like it to check on the state of the house. That was when we finally decided that it would not be a good idea to move in after all. Losing our small deposit was better than having to put up with the landlord from hell.