Out of the ashes...

[London Boy]

I think I told the story, albeit briefly, so I am not moaning just telling brianks that he is full of shit.
My comment is to him about what he wrote and I am sorry but it is to people like him that will ruin all for Hua Hin and he could'nt tell the truth if his life depended on it.
I think there was another thread about him asking where it is best to buy a TV and he knows every frigging shop from BKK to Hua Hin and he could tell you the exact price and make in everyone of them shops.
He is just a lonely man who is out to make trouble

[poosmate]

As I am trying to put my twopenneth in trying to get less censorship and more relaxed moderation here I think I have to comment. That this type of open hate should be kept to a private message.I would however still be interested in both how some of the old property issues that filled the forum over the last few years have been resolved. (Or not).

[hhfarang]

Fees shouldn't be "high" they should be prorated based on the expenses, whatever those are. Don't the HOAs prepare budgets? That should show where the money goes. I might be naive since I don't know how it is set up in Thailand, but a well managed HOA with a good BOD (Board of Directors) should be able to control cost. I'm a member of the BOD where I live and we have not had a fee increase for five years!

TT, I've noticed from your posts on several threads a kind of expectation that things work or should work here like they do in the U.S. That couldn't be further from the truth. If you do move here and buy or build a house you are in for a rude awakening (as I was).

[poosmate]

a well managed HOA with a good BOD

Is a farang allowed to do this?

[STEVE G]

Is a farang allowed to do this?

Technically you're not allowed to do anything, but I know people who do.
It would be a bit of a silly situation if they completely enforced the law. You have to employ people to look after your house as you're not allowed to do it yourself, but then you wouldn't be able to organize that, so you would have to employ a Thai to do it, but even organizing him would be illegal!

[johnnyk]

Fees shouldn't be "high" they should be prorated based on the expenses, whatever those are. Don't the HOAs prepare budgets? That should show where the money goes. I might be naive since I don't know how it is set up in Thailand, but a well managed HOA with a good BOD (Board of Directors) should be able to control cost. I'm a member of the BOD where I live and we have not had a fee increase for five years!

TT, I've noticed from your posts on several threads a kind of expectation that things work or should work here like they do in the U.S. That couldn't be further from the truth. If you do move here and buy or build a house you are in for a rude awakening (as I was).

The most useless English word in Thailand: should

[TypicallyTropical]

When I moved from New York City to Hawaii 20 years ago, the first advice I got was not to try to change things and accept the "local" way. I certanly would do the same in Thailand, but as a businessman being in real estate & development, I'm already shocked by the real estate stories I read on the HHAD!

[TypicallyTropical]

PS. I have a copy of the "Condominium Act, (No. 4), B.E. 2008" which is the Thai Law Governing Condominiums, and I assumed there was something similar for subdivisions too, or as it seems "developments" as they are called there, but it seems that is non-existant yet. I sure am glad I'm interested in condos!

[johnnyk]

Thai law is always enforced and justice is always done.
OOps! My alarm clock just went off, time to get up!

[Jaime]

For a 'Home Owners Association' to have any clout whatsoever it needs to be formed as a 'Thai Juristic Person,' which means (I think - others can correct me if wrong) it must have majority Thai members on its committee. Without the Thai Juristic Person status you will have no legal power to control errant residents.

[johnnyk]

For a 'Home Owners Association' to have any clout whatsoever it needs to be formed as a 'Thai Juristic Person,' which means (I think - others can correct me if wrong) it must have majority Thai members on its committee. Without the Thai Juristic Person status you will have no legal power to control errant residents.

Yes, it must be a legal entity otherwise it has no status in law and cannot really do all that much even though it "should".

[TypicallyTropical]

For a 'Home Owners Association' to have any clout whatsoever it needs to be formed as a 'Thai Juristic Person,' which means (I think - others can correct me if wrong) it must have majority Thai members on its committee. Without the Thai Juristic Person status you will have no legal power to control errant residents.

I don't know the Thai law, but that wouldn't make sense, if the development has 100 homes and 51 of them are owned by non Thais than it can't be a Thai majority association. I don't know the tax laws in Thailand either, but in the USA these associations are registered as non-profit companies.

[johnnyk]

Thailand is not the USA. A lot of things may not make sense to us.
It makes sense to them and nothing else matters.
Complicated to set up a non-profit here, usually has to be a foundation and foundations controlled by non-Thais aren't popular.

[STEVE G]

I don't know the Thai law, but that wouldn't make sense, if the development has 100 homes and 51 of them are owned by non Thais than it can't be a Thai majority association. I don't know the tax laws in Thailand either, but in the USA these associations are registered as non-profit companies.

I think in most areas of Thailand, non-Thais are not allowed to own more than 49% of a development anyway.
That's something to do with condominium laws; if it isn't a condominium they're technically not allowed to own any of it.

[Jaime]

For a 'Home Owners Association' to have any clout whatsoever it needs to be formed as a 'Thai Juristic Person,' which means (I think - others can correct me if wrong) it must have majority Thai members on its committee. Without the Thai Juristic Person status you will have no legal power to control errant residents.

I don't know the Thai law, but that wouldn't make sense, if the development has 100 homes and 51 of them are owned by non Thais than it can't be a Thai majority association.

Not everybody will be on the committee! In the scenario you have described there may be, say, ten committee members - elected by the residents to represent them annually, of which the majority need to be Thai.

As someone posted above though, the actual owner of a 'farang owned' property would be their company, which would also be a Thai Juristic Person, with Thai proxy directors who I guess may need to be drafted in if the number of Thai owners on a development was too small to provide adequate Thai representation.