Illegal renting of houses to large groups of noisy tourists - where do I report?

[Card 1,112]

I live in a condo in Pattaya and overlook a number of local houses which are being rented out for 1-2 nights at a time to large numbers of tourists (often 10-20 per house). Before covid the tourists were usually Chinese or Indians, but since covid they are Thai tourists. I am sure several of the houses are owned by the same person and probably rented through an agent as they do not appear on Airbnb. I would not mind but the noise they create is intolerable most of the day and until very late in the evening.

 

I am asking where I can complain to the local or national authorities as I am sure it is illegal to rent private accommodation for less than 1 month to avoid competition with hotels, which are suffering badly at this time. Is it the police, local city hall, tax authorities, hotels association and is there a online link to make the complaint? I very much doubt complaining to the owners would make the slightest difference and it may open me to revenge.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Card

[SidJames 1,066]

City Hall, there is an English speaker hotline I believe on 1337

https://www.pattayamail.com/news/phoning-1337-pattayas-unique-call-service-run-by-city-hall

Local old bill usually like these kinds of matters as well because of illicit finds which make them look good with lots of finger pointing unless it's case of "do you know who I am"

[Oldie 3,760]

11 minutes ago, Card said:

I live in a condo in Pattaya and overlook a number of local houses which are being rented out for 1-2 nights at a time to large numbers of tourists (often 10-20 per house). Before covid the tourists were usually Chinese or Indians, but since covid they are Thai tourists. I am sure several of the houses are owned by the same person and probably rented through an agent as they do not appear on Airbnb. I would not mind but the noise they create is intolerable most of the day and until very late in the evening.

 

I am asking where I can complain to the local or national authorities as I am sure it is illegal to rent private accommodation for less than 1 month to avoid competition with hotels, which are suffering badly at this time. Is it the police, local city hall, tax authorities, and is there a online link to make the complaint? I very much doubt complaining to the owners would make the slightest difference and it may open me to revenge.

You can call the 1337 and press then 9 for English. It is the 24/7 hotline of the City Hall. But don't expect too much. If necessary they will call the police and this is where the story sadly often ends. 

[2long 2,395]

Local mafia... oh hang on, they are probably involved.

[Card 1,112]

23 minutes ago, Oldie said:

You can call the 1337 and press then 9 for English. It is the 24/7 hotline of the City Hall. But don't expect too much. If necessary they will call the police and this is where the story sadly often ends. 

Do you think it would help if I visited City Hall and made a complaint in person?

[Oldie 3,760]

34 minutes ago, Card said:

Do you think it would help if I visited City Hall and made a complaint in person?

If you have time you can do it and fill in a form. There will be nobody you can talk to. At least this was my experience. Will it help more? I don't know. But from my experience not. If you call the 1337 they will not ask for your name or address. But if you go there they would like to have it on the form but they didn't check it. 

 

Problem is that there are no good laws against things like noise. The existing laws are made for noise that exists the whole day and not only for some hours. So they can mostly only use a law for causing disturbance and charge the person 100 Baht. But if they do things without a license or other illegal things (like drugs) then this might be more helpful. If the police checks because of noise perhaps they find more... 

 

An other hotline for complaints is the 1111. It is the national hotline for complaints. You also could call the Pattaya City Police directly (not the number for emergency calls). But their English is often limited. Therefore a Thai speaking person should do this. 

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Oldie

[Golden Triangle 5,548]

Tell the cops illegal drugs maybe being used, that might spur them on,

[Card 1,112]

9 minutes ago, Oldie said:

If you have time you can do it and fill in a form. There will be nobody you can talk to. At least this was my experience. Will it help more? I don't know. But from my experience not. If you call the 1337 they will not ask for your name or address. But if you go there they would like to have it on the form but they didn't check it. 

 

Problem is that there are no good laws against things like noise. The existing laws are made for noise that exists the whole day and not only for some hours. So they can mostly only use a law for causing disturbance and charge the person 100 Baht. But if they do things without a license or other illegal things (like drugs) than this might be more helpful. If the police checks because of noise perhaps they find more... 

 

An other hotline for complaints is the 1111. It is the national hotline for complaints. You also could call the Pattaya City Police directly (not the number for emergency calls). But their English is often limited. Therefore a Thai speaking person should do this. 

Thanks. Very useful. It is not only a report of noise but much more serious  involvement of probable illegal renting and tax avoidance (and immigration reporting when foreign tourists are involved) so I wonder if the authorities would take it more seriously and investigate.

[Kwasaki 10,625]

I think to complain the hope of anything happening would be no hope or Bob Hope.

Thais renting to Thais I can't see as a problem for any Thai house owner. 

Around our village after 6am and before 11pm Thais can make as much noise as they want. 

[Card 1,112]

Thais renting to different Thai groups for less than 1 month is illegal and probably involves  tax evasion.

[Guderian 5,109]

Get a Thai speaker to make an anonymous call to the cops and tip them off that the houses are full of Thais who've just returned from Burma without going into quarantine and so they're probably rife with covid. That'll set the cat amongst the pigeons!

[Oldie 3,760]

38 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

I think to complain the hope of anything happening would be no hope or Bob Hope.

Thais renting to Thais I can't see as a problem for any Thai house owner. 

Around our village after 6am and before 11pm Thais can make as much noise as they want. 

It is very complicated here with the law in respect of noise pollution. I read many things about this because I have such a problem myself as owner of a condo. Below is one of the many sources that I have read. To cut a long story short - it is better to rent than to buy. The existing laws in Thailand will often not be very helpful if you get a noise problem. 

 

"Notification of National Environment Board No.17 B.E.2540 prescribes that the 
standard of ambient noise and the maximum of Background noise level should not exceed 115 dBA. As well, a weigh equivalent noise level or the average of sound level in 24 hours should not exceed 70 dBA. These standards are limitation for noise occurring in residential area. "

 

If you want to read more about this problem you can find the (very) long version here (it is the downlod link of a PDF fiie):

 

https://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/TBLJ/article/download/112588/87704&ved=2ahUKEwj495-0w7btAhUNzDgGHep5D6kQFjAAegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw1QbYtBPAjKH4eDmhz3gbQP&cshid=1607160586677

 

Edited December 5, 2020 by Oldie

[darrendsd 3,407]

48 minutes ago, Golden Triangle said:

Tell the cops illegal drugs maybe being used, that might spur them on,

 

They probably are being used - the OP needs to be careful if he does indeed tell them that

 

OP different city but I went to Hua Hin Tessabahn when I had a issue with noisy neighbours - they were very helpful and resolved the issue

[Kwasaki 10,625]

2 minutes ago, Oldie said:

It is very complicated here with the law in respect of noise pollution. I read many things about this because I have such a problem myself as owner of a condo. Below is one of the many source that I have read. To cut a long story short - it is better to rent than to buy. The existing laws in Thailand will often not be very helpful if you get a noise problem. 

 

"Notification of National Environment Board No.17 B.E.2540 prescribes that the 
standard of ambient noise and the maximum of Background noise level should not exceed 115 dBA. As well, a weigh equivalent noise level or the average of sound level in 24 hours should not exceed 70 dBA. These standards are limitation for noise occurring in residential area. "

 

If you want to read more about this problem you can find the (very) long version here:

 

https://www.google.co.th/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/TBLJ/article/download/112588/87704&ved=2ahUKEwj495-0w7btAhUNzDgGHep5D6kQFjAAegQIBhAC&usg=AOvVaw1QbYtBPAjKH4eDmhz3gbQP&cshid=1607160586677

Thanks but I would have no interest owning or renting a condom.

I live in Thailand in the north and the local village police take care of noise when it comes to parties,  funerals, etc, etc. 

[Card 1,112]

44 minutes ago, Card said:

Thais renting to different Thai groups for less than 1 month is illegal and probably involves  tax evasion.

 

9 minutes ago, darrendsd said:

 

They probably are being used - the OP needs to be careful if he does indeed tell them that

 

OP different city but I went to Hua Hin Tessabahn when I had a issue with noisy neighbours - they were very helpful and resolved the issue

No worries. I have no intention of lying to the police about drugs or covid carriers, as has been suggested on here. It's not the people who are staying illegally who I want to shop, it is the owners of the properties that are the real culprits.

Edited December 5, 2020 by Card