Getting your own place

[khunsanuk]

Renting a condo or a house in Thailand can be quite a hassle. Here are some things to keep in consideration when moving to a new place.

 

Location

 

The location of your place is very important, but what makes a good location. I suppose different people have different criteria, but here are some which I think are important.

 

• access to public transportation
  Having easy access to public transportation (especially the skytrain) could save you quite a bit of money, as well as saving you the aggravation of having to walk a couple of km's in order to get a taxi or bus.
  
• Noise
  You may have a very nice condo, but if you are woken up every night by dozens of dogs barking, domestic disputes or the road which is next to your house, you still won't be very happy. Moving a bit further into the soi, or even to the other side of the building, can sometimes cut back the noise quite a bit.
  
• Availability of convenience stores, restaurants
  A lot of apartment buildings have a restaurant and convenience store on the premises, but having a few other ones in the area might be nice. A 7-11 or Foodland close by can be quite convenient when you run out of condoms at 3am
  You might want to have a meal at the restaurant as well before deciding to move into a certain apartment building. Most of these restaurants deliver to your room and if the food is good this too can be quite convenient.
  
• Overall beauty of the area
  The building you are in may be very nice, but what if the surrounding area looks like shit?
  
• Privacy
  Lots of condos are build very close to other buildings, which could mean that there is as little as a few meters between your window and the next building. This may be nice if there is a cute girl in the room opposite yours who likes to walk around naked, but more often than not it is a severe restriction of your privacy.
  

 

Oh, and try to get a place in the area you expect to spend most of your time in, this will save you a lot of money and time traveling.

 

Price

 

Without a doubt the price will be one of the main deciding factors when it comes to deciding on a place to live. Apartment in Bangkok range from 1,500 Baht a month concrete box all the way up to 80,000+ Baht a month serviced apartment. I doubt that many people will be renting either of these extremes though.

In the 'farang' areas expect to pay roughly 5-20,000 Baht a month for a 1 room apartment (studio), 10-40,000 Baht for a 1 bedroom place and 15,000+ Baht for a 2 bedroom place. (These are Bangkok prices, expect lower prices in most of the other cities in Thailand)

Discounts can sometimes be arranged if you sign a long-term lease.

As you can see the price ranges are very large, however a 20K studio may not be all that much nicer than a 10K one, so it certainly is worth your time to look around a bit before deciding.

Location is usually a big factor in the price. Apartments in centrally located areas, close to the business/entertainment areas, are usually a lot more expensive than similar apartments slightly further out. It becomes a matter of (traveling) time versus money.

 

Utilities

 

In most of the apartment buildings, and certainly the serviced ones, you pay your utilities bills to the landlord as opposed to the utility company directly. And these prices usually get hiked up a bit. Water should be around 8-12 Baht per unit, with electricity costing you 4-6 Baht per unit.

You might want to keep a close eye on this, since I have heard (and encountered myself) a few cases in which the utilities bills were higher than they should have been.

If you do have to pay directly to the utility companies, all the better since especially your electricity bill will most likely be a bit lower. You can pay these bills at just about any 7-11.

 

Phone

Just about every place will have a phone in the room, however in the cheaper places this will most likely not be a direct line. Instead you will go through an operator. Some apartments charge outrageous amounts for phonecalls, and many also have a timelimit on the connection. You could end up paying 5 Baht for every call and having that cut after 15 minutes. Not very convenient if you want to use the Internet.

By the way, if you are calling through an operator you often have to dial a number or character (like #) before dialing the number. Make certain that your computer can handle this.

So, if you intend to use the phone a lot, or expect to call international, it is probably worth getting your own direct line. This will cost roughly 6,000 Baht, as well as a monthly fee of 100 Baht, but it might very well work out cheaper in the long run.

You may have to ask if you are allowed to have a direct line installed though.

 

Facilities

 

The cheaper apartment buildings most likely won't have any facilities other than a small convenience store, a restaurant and maybe a laundry service. The more expensive ones, however, may have a swimming pool, fitness room, and sometimes even a sauna, use of which more often than not is free for residents.

 

Cable TV

Most of the apartment buildings, and certainly the ones in the 'farang' areas, also have cable TV, but not all of them have the same channels. So, you might want to ask which channels you will be able to receive, and whether or not you will be allowed to have your own cable TV installed.

A subscription to UBC costs ~1,100 Baht a month, with discounts if you pay 1 year in advance and/or pay automatic by bank. Bills can be paid at 4 different banks as well as at most 7-11's.

 

Service

 

Laundry

Some apartment buildings offer free laundry, either completely free or limited to a certain amount of items a month, and even though laundry is fairly cheap in Thailand, this is rather convenient.

 

Maid service

Most of the serviced apartments provide maid services as well. These can either be included in the rent, or have to be paid separately.

Prices for maids should be around 1500-2500 Baht a month, with the maid coming in once or twice a week for a few hours.

 

Security

Most places have 24 hours security in the form of guards, a keycard lock on the door to the apartments and sometimes even surveillance cameras.

However, even though this may sound very secure, the reality is usually very different. The guards are more often than not very lax, and everybody can enter the apartment building by just waiting at the door for someone to enter or leave.

Buying a good lock for your door may not be such a bad idea.

 

The contract

 

Once again a lot of different options, some apartment buildings require you to stay a minimum of 1 year, for others it is 3 months and for yet others you can rent for 1 month. The majority of the cheaper places seem to favor 3 months though, where as the more expensive places try to go for 1 year leases (although 3 months is quite often possible as well). Leaving before this timeframe is up will mean forfeiting your deposit.

Talking about the deposit, most apartment buildings expect you to pay first and last months rent as well as 1 month deposit when signing the lease.

 

Moving in

Before signing the contract and moving in make sure that you know all the costs and rules, if possible try to check the phoneline and/or cable reception. Also have a look at the room and have them write down things that are broken, and preferably get them to fix it before you move in (check that they did!). Go over the inventory of items that should be in the room according to the contract as well, since anything missing when you move out will be taken out of your deposit.

And of course it goes without saying that you should keep your copy of the contract somewhere safe.

 

Moving out

When moving out make sure that you don't get taken, it is not at all uncommon that landlords try to hit you up for extra charges. Last time I moved for instance they hit me up with a cleaning fee of 800 Baht, knowing what a cleaning lady makes this amount was ridiculous. They also tried to get me to pay a 1,200 Baht electricity bill, however when I told them I had only been in the apartment for 3 days of the timeframe the bill was for, they backed down.

Obviously this could have been an isolated incident, were it not that similar incidents happened every time I moved apartments.

 

Miscellaneous

 

Bathroom

Virtually all but the cheapest places have Western toilets, but you might want to make sure. And when you are in the bathroom anyway, check to see if the place has hot water. Plenty of the cheaper apartments do not.

 

Cooking

If you intend to cook your own food, either get a place with a kitchen or make sure you are allowed to cook. A lot of the places will not allow you to, or will only allow electrical devices. No gas (, which is probably a good thing).

 

Furniture

Most condos come furnished, but again there are large differences with cheap apartment sparsly furnished (bed, cloths cabinet, desk and chair) and serviced apartments fully furnished (often including TV, fridge, wooden floors, wallpaper, etc.).

A lot of apartment buildings also allow you to rent TVs and/or fridges per month, expect to pay around 500 Baht per month. Unless you are really tight for money or expect to only spend a few months at a place, I suggest just buying these items since you will be cheaper off.

 

Pets

I would say that the vast majority of apartments will not allow you to have any pets, with a fishtank maybe the only exception. So, if you do want to have pets, I suggest you look into renting a (town)house.

 

Visitors

There are a few apartment buildings that have restrictions on the amount of people staying in an apartment, either permanently or temporarily. If you expect to have several guests over a lot, you had better confirm with the landlord that that will not be a problem.

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

[color:red]"Moving out

When moving out make sure that you don't get taken, it is not at all uncommon that landlords try to hit you up for extra charges. Last time I moved for instance they hit me up with a cleaning fee of 800 Baht, knowing what a cleaning lady makes this amount was ridiculous. They also tried to get me to pay a 1,200 Baht electricity bill, however when I told them I had only been in the apartment for 3 days of the timeframe the bill was for, they backed down.

Obviously this could have been an isolated incident, were it not that similar incidents happened every time I moved apartments."[/color]

 

 

What some people do is forget to pay the last month's rent. In this case you only lose 1 of your 2 month's deposit. When I last moved, before they would give me back my deposit, they wanted me to sign a new lease! Sure! The lease said you have to stay at least 3 months before you can leave without pentalties.