P.R. Pattara mansion
This blog is solely dedicated to the people at pattara mansion.
Do not, I repeat do not rent a room there! Once you sign the paper the people over there think they own you and will try to squeeze every last baht out of you.
The mansion is run by an meddlesome, lying and utterly selfish family. They sit in the common area in front of the apartment all day long, waiting for the money coming in. The common area is not common anymore and they act like you should be grateful that you can sleep in their apartment.
The lies:
When we first looked over there it looked nice, the rooms are actually quite nice. We asked to come over at 9th of the month so we would start renting at 9, they said it was ok. When we actually arrived we had to pay from the first of the month, they said it must be a misunderstanding and we had to pay for the first 9 days of the month even though we did not rent it yet. Because we didn't want any trouble, we paid.
No internet
Before we got in we asked it the rooms have a quick internet connection, as I need it for my work, "yes every floor has a dedicated 2 MB connection" they said. It turned out they only have an 1 MB connection for the whole apartment! This we found out after many, many times complaining about it until they could not lie any longer. Then they just acted like we were really difficult people, and we would have to cope with it.
Demanding money, or else...
So because I need a quick internet connection for my work we wanted to move to somewhere else, but we signed a contract for 5 months and we only rented it for 4 months. After checking with the boss she said it was OK but we would lose our deposit (1 month rent). Fair enough. The day we wanted to move out, they said we had to pay 3000 baht for electricity, water and cleaning. We said we did not wat to pay such amount since we agreed upon our leave and nothing like this is in the contract. Then they called the police (turned out to be a police cop friend) and obstructed us from leaving! After going to the police station the officer there told the people from pattara mansion they had to let us go immediately or else they would be locked up, also they asked us why the police officer over at pattara mansion did not do the same, as obstructing people from leaving is a serious violation against the law.
So in the end we could finally leave. In the mean time we spoke with many other people around the neighbourhood and they said this wasn't the first time something like this happens. Many people have had problems there and they will try to get every last baht out of you.
Final words
Renting a room in Thailand falls under pretty much the same laws as many western countries. Actually by law you are pretty well protected. Having a contract with a term in it longer than 1 month is against the law and you can just ignore it. Getting your deposit back is ofcourse more difficult since you would have to prosecute which is many times more expensive than the deposit itself. Fortunately they only ask for 1 month deposit, so you can get out any time you want. THEY CAN NOT STOP YOU. If they call the 'police' then some friend of theirs who happens to be a small time cop comes over, smiles and says you have to pay a rediculous amount of money. DO NOT PAY AND GO TO THE POLICE STATION. The real police over there are helpful and actually respect the law, especially with foreigners.
The complete address of the mansion:
room for rent
P.R. Pattara mansion & rungreung apartment
255/155 M.5 Naklua, Banglamung, Chonburi 20150
Room price is around: 5000/5500 (every floor different) baht per month (but they ask 9 baht p.u. for electricity)
