Hotel Raids continue in South Pattaya

[sam neuts]

The Hotel Act is being enforced more every day with the 2021 full compliance to the 2016 amendment deadline approaching. Don't get caught for something that you thought was legal. 

 

With the clampdown on short term rentals continuing a number of hotels, bars, restaurants and buildings with daily/weekly rental signs were raided on Thursday 31st May and Friday 1st June 2018 in Soi 17 South Pattaya, including many local favourite drinking spots.

 

Properties were descended on by Army, Police and District Officers. The properties were inspected and any evidence seized. Owners and managers were arrested and taken to Pattaya Police Station, if Hotel Licences or other laws were suspected of being broken.

 

After payment for release and being interviewed they will now face further investigation, and charges will be brought against any found providing daily or weekly room rentals without the correct licences.

 

If you are caught operating illegally the risk of high fines and even imprisonment is definitely worth investigating.

 

Online agent listings are also being investigated to target large numbers of businesses that are currently operating illegally. OTA's including companies like Airbnb which was reported to be trading in Thailand illegally are also coming under the spotlight.

 

A visit to Banglamung District Office in Sukhumvit Road to confirm if your building is now classified under the 2016 Hotel Act amendment and requires a licence. Or, they can issue your exemption certificate so that you can legally rent rooms on a daily basis and have your certificate displayed if your business is inspected.

 

This applies throughout Thailand.

 

We encourage anyone renting short term accommodation regardless of whether you are operating a guesthouse, homestay, villa or home rental, condominium, bar or restaurant with rooms or just 1 room to visit your local District Office for your Hotel Licence application or exemption certificate.

 

City Hall cannot issue a licence for daily rentals, but they can inspect your property for suitability.

 

The amendment to the Thailand Hotel Act may well affect you.

 

The old exemption of 5 rooms or less and less than 20 guests no longer applies.

[dabhand]

So, those providing hourly room rentals are not included in this crackdown.

 

Well, that's a relief.

[KittenKong]

Why aren't they raiding more condo buildings? Most of them have many illegal short-term rentals happening and the scope for arrests is huge.

They can start with my building if they like.

[johng]

Why aren't they raiding more condo buildings?

They can start with my building if they like.

They aren't clairvoyant enough or the crystal ball is at the cleaners ?
Maybe they have a phone hotline ?

[sam neuts]

They have raided a number of condominium buildings and are inspecting all buildings.

 

It takes time as they usually have a team of Army, Police and local Authority Officers which need co-ordinating. The inspections will become more frequent and many will be prosecuted.

 

Condominiums especially are not designed as hotels and it does affect many residents. It is now illegal to rent daily under both condominium act and the hotel act.

 

It is however not only condominiums that are affected by the 2016 amendment.

 

It is ALL buildings.

[champers]

I imagine a lot of the larger hotel chains are miffed about losing custom to any Tom, Dick or Harry with spare rooms, especially telling in low season. They may have some clout to exercise and are seemingly doing so.

[KittenKong]

They aren't clairvoyant enough or the crystal ball is at the cleaners ?

They dont need either. Pick any condo building here at random: the odds are it will have someone doing short-term rentals in it. Very few buildings seem to escape this. And in some condo buildings you only need to stand outside for a few minutes to realise just how many tourists are arriving in coaches daily.

But another option would be to make a list of the building addresses that are given as a destination on the TM6s of tourists arriving without a visa, or the addresses that are reported to immigration for TM31s. Then just target the building names that show up most often. Once they are done, move on to the others. An immigration computer could spit that list out in seconds.

[Pattaya46]

3 hours ago, sam neuts said:

They have raided a number of condominium buildings and are inspecting all buildings.

 

How can they check condos ? Are they visiting each of their hundred of rooms and asking people inside to prove for their status and length of stay ? Seems Mission Impossible to me... 

 

Also could you please give a few names of these Pattaya condominium already "raided" ?

[grabue]

6 hours ago, KittenKong said:

They can start with my building if they like.

also had one to offer ?

 

[DrTuner]

So how much air is in the condo prices due to them being used as illegal hotels? 40%? 60%? 80?

[Rastaputin]

Just a diabolical thought:
Guest house has occupant sign a 1 Month release, collects a few night's worth as rent deposit, and agrees on trms of cancellation without charge.
What now?

[ThaiBob]

5 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

So how much air is in the condo prices due to them being used as illegal hotels? 40%? 60%? 80?

Very small in my opinion. This short-term rental issue has only become an issue in my building in last several years. Condo prices are high relative to houses because it is the only way a foreigner can have the title in his own name. 

[ThaiBob]

I missed reading this news story. The Atlantis condo is mentioned. 

 

http://www.pattayamail.com/news/7-arrested-illegal-hotel-raids-208891

[swissie]

Full compliance is in 2021. By then, the "raiders" will have thought of another money-generating "shake-down" scheme.
Could it be, that mainly "foreighn-owned" businesses are the main target?
Farang investors seem to be more interested in the subject than the Thais themselves.

As long as the "raiders" are grossly underpaid, "shake-downs", "crack-downs", "clean-up's", "knock-downs", "mop-up's" will be the order of the day. (Yawn).
But I am sure some hotel-licence crack down is more lucrative than rounding up the "usual suspects" of Lady-Boys on Beach Road.
Don't worry, be happy and hand over the brown envelope when the time is right. (Original text of an ancient Thai Folk Song.)

Food for thaught: Any legislation, violating the social concept of THAI RAK THAI in a major way will not be enforced.
Note: It's "Thai Rak Thai" and not "Thai Rak Farang."
Cheers.

[KittenKong]

How can they check condos ? Are they visiting each of their hundred of rooms and asking people inside to prove for their status and length of stay ? Seems Mission Impossible to me...

Many condo buildings have rental agencies on the premises, and these are usually the ones in which the problem is greatest.

Not hard to raid such an office and examine the paperwork and accounts.

It should be easy enough to get the likes of Airbnb and other online booking agencies to provide full contact details of the owners and agents doing this also.

[arithai12]

13 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

How can they check condos ? Are they visiting each of their hundred of rooms and asking people inside to prove for their status and length of stay ? Seems Mission Impossible to me... 

Browse to booking.com, airbnb or equivalent, type in name of condo. There are pictures and details of rooms offered for less than one month. Print. Go to juristic person of said condo and have them surrender room numbers and names of owners.

Mission very possible.

[newnative]

18 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Why aren't they raiding more condo buildings? Most of them have many illegal short-term rentals happening and the scope for arrests is huge.

They can start with my building if they like.

Mine, too.  This crackdown on guesthouses will likely just drive more tourists into illegal daily condo rentals. 

[newnative]

You can't get a hotel license for a condo unit that is in a project legally registered as a condominium at the Land Office.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

 

How can they check condos ? Are they visiting each of their hundred of rooms and asking people inside to prove for their status and length of stay ? Seems Mission Impossible to me... 

 

Also could you please give a few names of these Pattaya condominium already "raided" ?

That's what they get paid for. They don't have to check every condo in the next month.

[sam neuts]

In response to a couple of replies. The recent new design of Arrival/Departure cards and the enforcement of TM30 registration at Immigration for ALL guests within 24 hours of arrival makes it very easy. The immigration computers and the computers at Airports and Land borders can share the information. When you leave Thailand if the TM30 box has not been confirmed you may  then bee asked details of your accommodation.

They are also investigating through OTA's such as Airbnb, Agoda, Booking.com and many more.

It is a laborious process that will take them time but it is happening.

Unfortunately many many businesses think it doesn't affect them because of the previous "under 5 rooms and less than 20 guests" exemption. This no longer applies and ALL rooms for daily/weekly rental require either the licence or exemption certificate clearly displayed at the entrance to the room/building.

There is lots more information on social media with advice, instant business assessment, law and the effect it will have on 10s thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of tourists.

In 2016 Bangkok post reported that there were 500,000 illegal rooms, and this was BEFORE the exemption was finished.

Now there are unknown numbers of illegal rooms but they will be raided eventually. It is the LAW.

 

I will post more articles when both travellers and businesses become more interested in learning as they see the raids increasing.

 

Fines can be 10-20,000 THB for every day you have been trading since the August 2016 amendment came into force.

 

Good luck everyone. Both travellers and businesses. This will affect you ALL

[sam neuts]

Also could you please give a few names of these Pattaya condominium already "raided" ?

 

I am not here to post about individual buildings. All the information is available if you search Google or Facebook. I am here because it is a subject that I am fairly knowledge about and have some advice and ideas that may help.

[JAZZDOG]

6 minutes ago, sam neuts said:

In response to a couple of replies. The recent new design of Arrival/Departure cards and the enforcement of TM30 registration at Immigration for ALL guests within 24 hours of arrival makes it very easy. The immigration computers and the computers at Airports and Land borders can share the information. When you leave Thailand if the TM30 box has not been confirmed you may  then bee asked details of your accommodation.

They are also investigating through OTA's such as Airbnb, Agoda, Booking.com and many more.

It is a laborious process that will take them time but it is happening.

Unfortunately many many businesses think it doesn't affect them because of the previous "under 5 rooms and less than 20 guests" exemption. This no longer applies and ALL rooms for daily/weekly rental require either the licence or exemption certificate clearly displayed at the entrance to the room/building.

There is lots more information on social media with advice, instant business assessment, law and the effect it will have on 10s thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of tourists.

In 2016 Bangkok post reported that there were 500,000 illegal rooms, and this was BEFORE the exemption was finished.

Now there are unknown numbers of illegal rooms but they will be raided eventually. It is the LAW.

 

I will post more articles when both travellers and businesses become more interested in learning as they see the raids increasing.

 

Fines can be 10-20,000 THB for every day you have been trading since the August 2016 amendment came into force.

 

Good luck everyone. Both travellers and businesses. This will affect you ALL

Where is this office located where one might be able to get an exception and what business qualifies

[scorecard]

 Seems to me there an overriding point; why wasn't all of this sorted out, serious rules and regulation and structured monitoring and action system developed and implemented 30+ years ago?

 

Answer: totally incapable and corrupt officials, governments which have been focused on 'self help' (for themselves and for decades) rather then development and progress. 

 

Now (and this is just one example) we see the sorry result.

 

 

[sam neuts]

The first thing to do is enquire at your District Office which if you are in Pattaya as an example is the Banglamung District Office in Sukhumvit Road. You then arrange an initial inspection by City Hall located in North Pattaya Road You will find out more for each individual case. Then if you require a licence you will need to do many things. Thailand Hotel Act information is found all over social media and Google. Unfortunately most links and advice relates to the old exemption. No longer applies.

[JAZZDOG]

20 minutes ago, sam neuts said:

The first thing to do is enquire at your District Office which if you are in Pattaya as an example is the Banglamung District Office in Sukhumvit Road. You then arrange an initial inspection by City Hall located in North Pattaya Road You will find out more for each individual case. Then if you require a licence you will need to do many things. Thailand Hotel Act information is found all over social media and Google. Unfortunately most links and advice relates to the old exemption. No longer applies.

I conclude from what you are saying is there no longer are exemptions. Very few if any current guesthouses will qualify without major renovation ie; staircase width, parking etc. Seems difficult to believe the Gov will suddenly close down a large percentage of businesses. The other question is why are the shutting down businesses if this doesn't go into effect until 2021.

[sam neuts]

18 hours ago, champers said:

I imagine a lot of the larger hotel chains are miffed about losing custom to any Tom, Dick or Harry with spare rooms, especially telling in low season. They may have some clout to exercise and are seemingly doing so.

Yes that is part of it. There are lots of reasons which include knowing where foreigners are by using TM30 along with Arrival/Departure Card. Safety of accommodation provided, regulations regarding environmental impact, revenue collection and many more reasons.

 

The requirement to have a license is no problem and anywhere offering short term rentals should be subject to regulations, taxes etc.....

 

It is that ALL buildings are now under the same legal framework for big hotels down to a private villas, guesthouses, rooms above bars, homestays everything big or small.

 

Example: If you have a residential villa owned by a company and want to rent daily. You require a Hotel Licence. To start your application you visit the District Office and City Hall to request architectural drawings and building assessment, environmental assessment, build code inspection, change of usage to commercial building and a variety of other regulations that will make it near impossible and financially draining. You are not allowed to continue the business until your licence is issued in approximately 6 months.

 

The number of Hotels with a Licence in Pattaya is around 300. The tourist numbers are around 7 million. Please Thailand Hotel Association, do the maths and tell us where people will stay.

[CGW]

18 hours ago, champers said:

I imagine a lot of the larger hotel chains are miffed about losing custom to any Tom, Dick or Harry with spare rooms, especially telling in low season. They may have some clout to exercise and are seemingly doing so.

I would agree with your reasoning, same situation with getting rid of the street vendors in Bangkok, they were taking business away from those with huge investments in property and rentals.

[sam neuts]

"Seems difficult to believe the Gov will suddenly close down a large percentage of businesses. The other question is why are the shutting down businesses if this doesn't go into effect until 2021."

 

It came into effect on 19th August 2016. Government have urged FULL compliance by 2021 as they already understand what a massive situation this is.

 

They are warning people by raiding different styles of accommodation to try and raise awareness without panic because you are correct. A large % of businesses will close.

[JAZZDOG]

3 minutes ago, sam neuts said:

"Seems difficult to believe the Gov will suddenly close down a large percentage of businesses. The other question is why are the shutting down businesses if this doesn't go into effect until 2021."

 

It came into effect on 19th August 2016. Government have urged FULL compliance by 2021 as they already understand what a massive situation this is.

 

They are warning people by raiding different styles of accommodation to try and raise awareness without panic because you are correct. A large % of businesses will close.

What if a guesthouse went to monthly rentals >30 days?

[sam neuts]

53 minutes ago, JAZZDOG said:

What if a guesthouse went to monthly rentals >30 days?

That depends on a number of factors including the building, location, number of rooms, building codes, environmental impact and more......Ask at your District Office not City Hall.