Luxury Bangkok condo is like Beijing - Chinese treating it as a hotel

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies about casinos have been removed. 

 

 

[Tomtomtom69]

1 hour ago, garet said:

No, they didn't say it is okay. They are trying to take action against it.

That is an unsubstantiated myth that Chinese get preferential treatment. 

In reality, Thais complain more about Chinese tourists than they do about Westerners.

I fully agree with you. Granted, it may appear that Chinese have advantages over westerners at least in Asia but in reality it's not really that way. The main difference is Chinese are more likely to engage in dishonest, unethical or illegal acts such as bribery than westerners do. And of course the other standout are their sheer numbers. Just consider that in terms of tourists to Thailand, just PR China passport holders come here in larger numbers than all westerners of all nationalities combined.

 

And no Thai in their right mind prefers Chinese over westerners. Whether as tourists nor as investors, unless the former is able to pay them more for whatever they're offering.

 

Case in point: I have a Thai business partner/friend who is choosing between us, a western company and a Chinese or Japanese company as to who he wants to sell his business to. He already got burned with the Chinese once and he should know that if he chooses to sell to them it's a case of "bye bye" to this industry in Thailand as it will then be fully Chinese controlled. However, money talks and the only reason he may do this is because the Chinese have the cash to buy him out tomorrow, whereas we need more time. However, in the longer term our investment will create more value for him than the Chinese ever will. But will he see the light? I dunno.

[Wake Up]

2 hours ago, peter14 said:

again Thailand should grow up... the law is archaic. the whole world can rent daily but Thailand... oh no we Thai!  well, Hotel should lower their rate that's it!. 

Your statements are false. I have traveled a lot in the world and you are misled. And even if your statements were 25 percent accurate then who the hec@ are you to tell other countries what their public policies should be. Maybe you are having a bad day or maybe you think too highly of yourself.  Have a drink, relax and let countries decide on their own how to handle these problems. Take care of yourself. 

[bubba]

28 minutes ago, JTXR said:

The wife and I went to the sales office of a new condo in Huai Kwang a few weeks ago and were told that of the three buildings just being finished, one had units being sold only to Chinese, one only to "other foreigners" and one to "Thai people."  I don't know if it's true or not, but that's what we were told by the sales girl.

I thought the law was that condos must have a maximum of 49% ownership for foreigners.

 

But one thing for sure, if they really are selling all the units to mainland Chinese, with only one unit reserved for "other foreigners", I cannot imagine being the other foreigner buying that unit.

[Spock]

4 hours ago, ThaiBunny said:

I'm aware of at least two condos in Bangkok where the lobby and the lifts are littered with signs in English, Thai and Chinese warning against short-term lets and threatening legal or even police action.  Tourists struggle by them with their large suitcases almost hourly ????

And even on the outskirts of Thailand in Thanyaburi, a big condo complex with signs beside every lift stating that the apartments are not for backpackers and tourists and absolutely nothing is done about the short term rentals. I know because I have stayed three times in 3 separate apartments there. The warnings are a joke.

[Baerboxer]

4 hours ago, robblok said:

Can you tell me where exactly you read its ok for Chinese to do it and farangs not. The article i read said it was not allowed and this time it was Chinese breaking the law. So please explain to me what i read wrong. 

 

You are correct Rob, as usual. It is against the law. But I think the poster might be referring to the selective way in which the law is often enforced. There have been some high profile cases of Western farangs being pulled up for this, AirNB etc. Whereas it seems the Chinese are doing it with condos and villas and a blind eye is being turned.

 

If they set up check-in and check-out facilities, baggage storing, etc they are effectively running an unlicensed hotel, also against the law, and I suspect probably not reporting "guests" to immigration, also a legal requirement.

 

If this has been drawn to the attention of the police, then they should be acting.

[zaZa9]

TTT69 ...I think we have to look at these Chinese cities as the most recent form of 'colonization'.

Chinese , or any race for that matter , arent allowed to just take 600,000 people , and sail into some country and set up .

But if they purport to be "assisting" the host country by building something useful , like a Casino city ( 5555) , that will bring  huge amounts of foreign currency into undeveloped areas ( not to mention lining all the  pockets  of the officials involved ) , then China gets to spread its sphere of influence ,  it gets use  of a new resource , it gets work for its citizens.

Ive seen the gambling city being built in the Golden Triangle  on the Laos side  . ( and ive also seen the massive power cables crossing the Mekong there )

 

Sadly , Thailand only has one choice re gambling.

And that is to start building its own Casinos.

If it doesnt , and given the Thais love of gambling , vast amounts of baht will pour across the borders.

And vast amounts of foreign currency wont come in...

[bubba]

1 hour ago, champers said:

Surely Darlene is from Kansas?

Quote

 

   2 hours ago,  bubba said: 

Seems that many Condo C Ekamai owners are not keeping it a secret that they are doing daily rentals. How about Booking.com as advertised by the Chinese owner:

 

"Hello! I am the landlord, I look forward to your reservation for our condo, I hope that you can feel the feeling of home when you travel! As long as you give us the opportunity, we will work hard to do better!"

Darlene Li

 

https://www.booking.com/hotel/th/xin-di-biao-c-ekkamaigao-dang-gong-yu-47-gao-lou-ceng-47-ri-ben-ren-ju-zhu-qu-47.en-gb.html?aid=356980;label=gog235jc-1DCAso3QFCUHhpbi1kaS1iaWFvLWMtZWtrYW1haWdhby1kYW5nLWdvbmcteXUtNDctZ2FvLWxvdS1jZW5nLTQ3LXJpLWJlbi1yZW4tanUtemh1LXF1LTQ3SDNYA2jdAYgBAZgBCbgBGMgBDdgBA-gBAYgCAagCBLgChKWJ5wXAAgE;sid=f136b89e1fd624efc4e2fcd5647c7d78;dist=0&group_adults=2&keep_landing=1&sb_price_type=total&type=total&

 

 Or how about this owner "Amanda", who has 51 listings for Condo C Ekamai on AirBnB:

 

https://www.airbnb.com/users/244044673/listings

 

Now assuming these owners might be Chinese nationals and running what appears to be a daily substantial business, I wonder what immigration and labour law says about their businesses as well?

 

 

 

 hehe.

 

But think about it: a single owner called "Amanda", surely Thai and from Nakhon Nowhere, is listing 51 units in a single condo tower for daily rentals on AirBnB. That is a serious business and larger even than many hotels. As well, that is just Condo C Ekamai. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Traubert]

14 minutes ago, Wake Up said:

who the hec@ are you to tell other countries what their public policies should be. Maybe you are having a bad day or maybe you think too highly of yourself.  Have a drink, relax and let countries decide on their own how to handle these problems. Take care of yourself. 

Get real mate.

 

This is Thai Visa. It's a rite of passage. There's not a man jack on here who allegedly couldn't run Thailand better than the Thais do and that's without spilling one drop of Chang.

[JTXR]

8 minutes ago, bubba said:

I thought the law was that condos must have a maximum of 49% ownership for foreigners.

 

But one thing for sure, if they really are selling all the units to mainland Chinese, with only one unit reserved for "other foreigners", I cannot imagine being the other foreigner buying that unit.

The condo has three buildings.  They're segregating buyers by building (or maybe it's the buyers who want to be segregated?).  Maybe the building being sold to Thai people is the largest, with 51% or more of the total units?  I don't know the overall number of units in the three buildings.  Not sure, and again, I can't guarantee that what the sales girl was telling us is 100% true, just passing on what we were told.

[Traubert]

4 hours ago, Maverell said:

As normal the Chinese think they are superior beings and can do what they like. Look at Cambodia, it will be the same here in time unless Government policy towards them changes. Which of course is highly unlikely.

 

 

If there was a question there, you already answered it.

 

Asians prefer Asians and money talks. That's life.

[Dumbastheycome]

2 hours ago, bkkgriz said:

It's a perfect storm. One group who do not give a toss about rules or laws and another group who do whatever they please. I'll leave it to the TV sleuths to work out which group is which.

Same same? Depending on which side of the fence is to current advantage. Human nature. 

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, Maverell said:

As normal the Chinese think they are superior beings and can do what they like. Look at Cambodia, it will be the same here in time unless Government policy towards them changes

Maybe Chinese are the new superior beings... they've stealthily been infiltrating the world for decades.

Almost every city in any major country has a China town.

As for S.E.Asia they've been buying up property for decades, initially moving in the extended friends & families then breeding in the next generations... Thailand is no exception.

As for mainland China they are building/paying for infrastructure and new companies right across S.E.Asia from China through Laos to Cambodia into Vietnam & Thailand. Roads, bridges, railways even shipping ports all to help them ship their goods... they will own & influence so much trade & employment they will eventually control the local economy of each country and then they will dictate what they want to any sitting government.

[Stevemercer]

4 hours ago, robblok said:

Can you tell me where exactly you read its ok for Chinese to do it and farangs not. The article i read said it was not allowed and this time it was Chinese breaking the law. So please explain to me what i read wrong. 

 

It's probably more the context. There are many Chinese-Thai families resident in Thailand and they often help out their Chinese compatriots for a share of the profit. Many Thai businesses and the elite have a Chinese background.

 

Sure, what is happening is not legal, but most Thais would hesitate to dobb in a Chinese because they may have high connections. No so, farangs. 

 

You might say that Chinese have 'most favoured' status.

 

Sorry to be patronising, but it is Thai culture 101.

[RJRS1301]

4 hours ago, Orton Rd said:

 

'The ongoing problem had been the subject of many complaints to the juristic person who said they were powerless to stop it. '

 

As it is illegal maybe arresting and charging the owners might be a start?

 

Which Ministry/Department oversees the rental of condos?

How much is the Juristic Person being paid to do nothing about it, if they set up  a check-in desk and have staff on hand, there is obviously cooperation by the management on this situation 

Do the staff have WPs??

[Sydebolle]

Good on the Thais, the rooster comes home to roost - it seems! 

[RJRS1301]

Is the dragon sending out "fire" (plane loads of tourists) because the Thai government has not become part of the Belt and Road program??

[Maestro]

3 hours ago, Maverell said:

...As normal the Chinese think they are superior beings and can do what they like. Look at Cambodia, it will be the same here in time unless Government policy towards them changes. Which of course is highly unlikely...

Where there is no plaintiff, there is no accused.

 

The Condominium Juristic Person Manager has no legal power to enforce the law nor any legal obligation to report the matter to the police and he would have to pay the costs for the prosecution of every single offending apartment owner and if he lost a case, for example because of insufficient evidence, he would no longer have the qualification to be elected as Juristic Person Manager (JPM) for rest of his life.

 

The offended apartment owners have to initiate the court cases with individual police reports for every single offending apartment owner and bear the costs of prosecution.

 

Alternatively, they can try get another party, for example the local hotel owners association, to act as plaintiff. I remember reading about this having happed last year, I believe in Phuket, and the association won the case.

 

A much simpler procedure would to get a motion to modify the condominium rules to disallow the legally forbidden short-term rental on the agenda of a General Meeting and convince enough other owners to get a minority for the motion to be carried. In such case, the JPM will have the authority and the responsibility to take action against offending owners, for example switch off water and electricity. 

[newnative]

     Juristic and condo board have plenty of power to stop it--they just need to do it.

[newnative]

4 minutes ago, Maestro said:

Where there is no plaintiff, there is no accused.

 

The Condominium Juristic Person Manager has no legal power to enforce the law nor any legal obligation to report the matter to the police and he would have to pay the costs for the prosecution of every single offending apartment owner and if he lost a case, for example because of insufficient evidence, he would no longer have the qualification to be elected as Juristic Person Manager (JPM) for rest of his life.

 

The offended apartment owners have to initiate the court cases with individual police reports for every single offending apartment owner and bear the costs of prosecution.

 

Alternatively, they can try get another party, for example the local hotel owners association, to act as plaintiff. I remember reading about this having happed last year, I believe in Phuket, and the association won the case.

 

A much simpler procedure would to get a motion to modify the condominium rules to disallow the legally forbidden short-term rental on the agenda of a General Meeting and convince enough other owners to get a minority for the motion to be carried. In such case, the JPM will have the authority and the responsibility to take action against offending owners, for example switch off water and electricity. 

   The Cliff Condominium in Pattaya passed just such a motion forbidding short-term rentals at their last annual meeting.

[newnative]

3 hours ago, peter14 said:

again Thailand should grow up... the law is archaic. the whole world can rent daily but Thailand... oh no we Thai!  well, Hotel should lower their rate that's it!. 

     Totally untrue--most condominiums in America are a lot stricter regarding renting the units.  In one condo project I lived at, only a certain percentage of the condos could even be rented out at one time--and yearly contracts only.  I think it was 30%.  The reason? If there were too many rentals, condos in the project might not be approved for mortgages by some lenders--the theory being renters don't take care of the property and too many renters would adversely impact the property and the property values would drop.  

[puipuitom]

The Chinese name for China is not for nothing: "The country in the Middle". For milennia they see the cnations around as just vasal states, inclusive Thailand. (Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are already Chinesae controlled) .

[newnative]

1 hour ago, JTXR said:

The wife and I went to the sales office of a new condo in Huai Kwang a few weeks ago and were told that of the three buildings just being finished, one had units being sold only to Chinese, one only to "other foreigners" and one to "Thai people."  I don't know if it's true or not, but that's what we were told by the sales girl.

Could be true.  One condo I looked at in Bangkok was reserving certain floors for Chinese buyers and other floors for Thai buyers.

[mindfulness]

LOL ???????????? 

[newnative]

2 hours ago, sfokevin said:

1,080 baht a night.... Luxury?... 

     Easy to see why they are buying 20, 30, 40, or 50 condos in a project.  You can't make any money renting just one condo for 1,080 baht a night.  After you subtract the condo fee, the water fee, the electric fee, the maid service fee, the breakage fee, the booking fee, the laundry fee, the fee for the person to meet the illegal renter, the cable fee, the internet fee, etc., what do you have left?  Squat.  So, you need an illegal hotel of 30 or 40 rooms within the condo.  And, I think those operations are the ones condo residents are objecting to the most.

[NoComment]

Nothing will change.

The Chinese are spending and buying (for now) and no-one will stop it. A casino or two will be built very soon to cater for the Chinese. The Chinese are already gambling at present and again no-one will arrest them or stop them.

The Chinese know they have the money and the power to do whatever they want and no-one will stop them. 

The Chinese have taken over in Laos and no-one has stopped them.

Money and power leads to corruption and all manner of illegal activity in Thailand. as everyone knows.

Let the Chinese have their shot (remember the Russians!) for a few years and the only question is who will be next?

Good luck to them, soon the bad elements will arrive and hopefully everyone else will be left alone to enjoy this fantastic Kingdom.

 

[zaZa9]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/02/airbnb-faces-crackdown-on-illegal-apartment-rentals-in-barcelona

[Pravda]

3 hours ago, peter14 said:

again Thailand should grow up... the law is archaic. the whole world can rent daily but Thailand... oh no we Thai!  well, Hotel should lower their rate that's it!. 

 

Where I own a condo (Toronto) short term rentals are allowed, however, every single building downtown has banned it at the request of condo owners, so perhaps you are wrong

[SiSePuede419]

5 hours ago, shady86 said:

Easy. Just build condos only for Chinese.

Don't they already have Condos only for Chinese?

 

In China. ????

[Tomtomtom69]

1 hour ago, Traubert said:

If there was a question there, you already answered it.

 

Asians prefer Asians and money talks. That's life.

What a bunch of racists. LoL. However, I suspect it's also (if not even more) a cultural/linguistic thing. Chinese like foreigners who can speak their lingo, but they are far and few...