Why so many gated estates with private security in Hua Hin?

[MrPlum]

Our security is useful. They keep people out in the summer who try to come in and use the community pool; they keep soi dogs out; the wife of the guard takes care of all the gardens, including ours and they keep our mail for us. The management fee is 30k per year.

Is it worth it?

How do you know whether the presence of security prevented someone from robbing your home, stealing your dog, raping your daughters? If it did, it's great value. If not, it's a waste of money. I think the honest answer is you just don't know.

[Big Boy]

How do you know whether the presence of security prevented someone from robbing your home, stealing your dog, raping your daughters? If it did, it's great value. If not, it's a waste of money. I think the honest answer is you just don't know.

My house hasn't been robbed, my grand daughters haven't been raped and nobody has stolen my dogs ......... yet. Maybe I'll change my mind if one of those terrible occurrences should happen. I hope it doesn't happen to either of us.

[margaretcarnes]

How do you know whether the presence of security prevented someone from robbing your home, stealing your dog, raping your daughters? If it did, it's great value. If not, it's a waste of money. I think the honest answer is you just don't know.

My house hasn't been robbed, my grand daughters haven't been raped and nobody has stolen my dogs ......... yet. Maybe I'll change my mind if one of those terrible occurrences should happen. I hope it doesn't happen to either of us.

I can understand the argument for a management fee - and have lived in places in th UK in the past where I've paid them. But only for communal maintenance purposes, which can be an advantage where there are communal green areas, or for flats which need to be all painted at the same time etc to maintain their appearance. Those kinds of things benefit owners because they help to sustain property values.
But for security - in the event you did need to change your mind BB (and hopefully that will never happen) I wonder if the Thai version of Group 4 could be held responsible and sued?

[MrPlum]

My house hasn't been robbed, my grand daughters haven't been raped and nobody has stolen my dogs ......... yet. Maybe I'll change my mind if one of those terrible occurrences should happen. I hope it doesn't happen to either of us.

It has but it is too personal for a public forum.

[Winkie]

Our security is useful. They keep people out in the summer who try to come in and use the community pool; they keep soi dogs out; the wife of the guard takes care of all the gardens, including ours and they keep our mail for us. The management fee is 30k per year.

Is it worth it?

How do you know whether the presence of security prevented someone from robbing your home, stealing your dog, raping your daughters? If it did, it's great value. If not, it's a waste of money. I think the honest answer is you just don't know.

The maintenance fee also covers other items also, I assume.

Community Pool
Shared Roads
Shared Gardens/Parks
Lighting in Communal Areas
Garbage Collection
Maintenance for Water and Electrical main supplies
Contribution to Collective Fund for major incidents (big communal repairs etc

Security fee account for only a % of the Maintenance Fees.

Security People also provide for other services too:-

Catching snakes in the Garden
Calling Taxis (at least here in Bangkok, anyway)

There are many advantages to Gated Communities. I live in one in Bangkok, and also my weekend place in Cha Am is the same too

[Takiap]

BB, to be honest, I feel safer living outside a development. When we bought our place, we too were determined to avoid buying inside a development. There are several such developments here where we stay, and i can guarantee you I could get into every single one of them any time of the day or night, and nobody would even notice.

Our place on the other hand has the best possible security........the Old Wifey mafia. Bloody hell, the MIL and her clan/friends know about everything and anything happening in the area. In fact, it's quite unbelievable. I can't even fart without her and 20 other Thai women knowing about it. Even though I'm used to it already, it still amazes me.

[Big Boy]

Winkie, the only thing on that list that might be a nice to have (for my personal circumstances - I know we each have ur own needs) is the communal swimming pool. However, I'm happy paying my 600 Baht a month for the pool at Sport Villa.

Shared Roads - our roads are fine.
Shared Gardens/Parks - don't have, and i don't think I need them.
Lighting in Communal Areas - Ours are there - I guess gratis from hua Hin Municipality.
Garbage Collection - included with my < 60 Baht month water bill
Maintenance for Water and Electrical main supplies - Not really sure what this means, but our works fine. maybe I'll find out when we have a problem
Contribution to Collective Fund for major incidents (big communal repairs etc - I don't think this is applicable to my kind of area.#

Security People also provide for other services too:-

Catching snakes in the Garden What our dogs miss, we have neighbours willing to help out.
Calling Taxis (at least here in Bangkok, anyway) - We have numbers stored on our mobiles

There are many advantages to Gated Communities. I live in one in Bangkok, and also my weekend place in Cha Am is the same too

I am sure there must be advantages, otherwise people wouldn't pay the money. As I said, it's each to his own, and personal choice in the end. Whatever you're happy with. We're obviously both happy with what we've got.

[Ralfredo]

We have been live in Hua-Hin since 2004 and in all that time, I have never ever bothered locking our doors when I leave the house, and no, our home has never been broken in to. We don't have high walls; we don't have burglar bars on our windows, and neither do we have alarms; cameras, intercontinental ballistic missiles; smart bombs and etc. We do have dogs (Dalmatian & Rottweiler) but even they were bought as pets rather than for security.

Thanks for the information. What food do your dogs like and where do you live?

[Takiap]

We have been live in Hua-Hin since 2004 and in all that time, I have never ever bothered locking our doors when I leave the house, and no, our home has never been broken in to. We don't have high walls; we don't have burglar bars on our windows, and neither do we have alarms; cameras, intercontinental ballistic missiles; smart bombs and etc. We do have dogs (Dalmatian & Rottweiler) but even they were bought as pets rather than for security.

Thanks for the information. What food do your dogs like and where do you live?

you'd be wasting your time because there's nothing to steal. I live Thai style, and besides, if you turned up at a time when nobody is home, and you entered the property, I can guarantee you the Great Bamboo Telephone would give you away within minutes, if not seconds.

I've just got back from dropping the kids off at school, and every window is wide open, as are the front and back doors. Guaranteed, my wife will more than likely comment on me only getting back quite late. How they do it I have no idea.

BB, having seen your place, I can assure you, you and your wife would know if there were any
unfamiliar people by your property while you we're out, unless you've fallen out with your neighbors.

My take on things is.......if you stay in a gated community, your home is just another farang property. If your home is part of the mainstream Thai community, you'll find yourself in the middle of a gossiping society, but that gossiping addiction is also first class security. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it.......everybody knows everybody else's business, and sometimes even some personal details.

[Nereus]

Guaranteed, my wife will more than likely comment on me only getting back quite late. How they do it I have no idea.

It`s that bloody Dalmatian, cannot trust them behind your back!

[Dannie Boy]

I previously lived on a gated community and although they had a residents committee in which you were able to attend and vote, there are certain things that have to be done and paid for, so you cannot simply opt out of paying. The vast majority of homeowners want 24 hour security because as others have pointed out, they live away most of the time and feel better that there is somebody watching over their property. The fact that most of the guards are better at saluting you in and out and performing the odd snake clearance is by the by. Communal garden areas have to be watered and maintained, street lighting, garbage collection on some estates and a number of other things that get done which all cost money.

I wholeheartedly agree with those who live amongst the locals and feeling better protected by the local network, but sadly that doesn't work on the largely farang estates, so it's a case of doing the best that you can. Our community used a privately employed team of guards, paid them a bit more than the going rate and for that I believe we got better protection than using a security company that pays the guards peanuts who then look to earn a bit on the side by assisting (turning a blind eye) to break-ins!!

[Big Boy]

I hadn't considered the 'living away' scenario, and I can see why such persons would feel better with somebody watching their property while they were away.

In my Soi, most people 'live' here. My neighbours have strange sleeping habits, which means there's usually somebody awake 24/7. We get on fine with our neighbours, and I like to think that we look after each other. We also have 2 very fierce 'sounding' dogs, who are very good at scaring strangers. If the unthinkable happened, and somebody decided to poison our dogs, we have a second line of defence, with about 20 Soi Dogs living nearby. We feed them occassionally, so they don't bother us, but they certainly let us know when there is a stranger about.

All in all, I would say that I feel safer in my home here in Thailand than I did in the UK.

[Homer]

I've wondered about leaving a house empty for months or for the entire low season. Yet I can't recall ever hearing or reading about long term house sitters. Maybe that's because having a fellow expat house sit is scarier than being burglarized.

(I suppose I should google 'house sit' to see if it means something entirely different in the UK. But why pass up an opportunity for colorful remarks if it does?)

[dtaai-maai]

^^ No you're safe (as houses...)


I'm sure I remember a thread in the last year or so where someone was asking for a house sitter.

[bonnielass]

I returned to Scotland to find my home was completely empty, and I mean "completely" empty. I certainly wouldn't turn around now and say the Scottish will steel everything from you if they can, including your underwear, so to tar all Thais with the same brush is a tad unfair.

Takiap, having grown up in Scotland, I can honestly tell you that people used to frequently steal our underwear off the washing line. Often wondered what that was all about.

As an absent HH home owner, it gives me great peace of mind to be in a gated community with security on site. We don't keep anything of any value in our house, just some holiday clothes.
But I always think, what if the house went on fire, or flooded when we were not around?
The guards are good and I think they would do their best.

On the other hand if I ever manage to move to Hua Hin permanently, I think I might prefer a standalone house.

Burglary is a problem wherever you live, not just in Thailand, there is always someone ready to take advantage. Worst experience, a few years ago, some joker stole the wheels of my brand new Audi which was sitting outside my front door, also in Scotland. The car was up on bricks. Can laugh about it now, but at the time it was not funny!

BL