Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

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Undaunted
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Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

Post by Undaunted »

"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
firecat69

Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

Post by firecat69 »

I would not take much solace from this ruling. Last time I checked Prostitution was illegal in Thailand. How is that going?
fountainhall

Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

Post by fountainhall »

firecat69 wrote:I would not take my solace from this ruling. Last time I checked Prostitution was illegal in Thailand. How is that going?
Prostitution does not exist in Thailand! Or so the powers that be like to think. Hence the tip system. You are not actually paying a fee for sex. Or so it is claimed!! ;) ;)
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Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

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firecat69 wrote:I would not take much solace from this ruling. Last time I checked Prostitution was illegal in Thailand. How is that going?
I take a lot of solace in this ruling......it has shed new light on an old problem......I hope this is just the beginning!
Thailand has no shortage of serviced apartments and hotels.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
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Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

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What the court ruling really means:

https://bk.asia-city.com/city-living/ne ... ns-bangkok
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
fountainhall

Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

Post by fountainhall »

That is a very useful link and I feel certain parts are particularly significant. So I will quote from it. Most of the direct quotes are from Chris Potranandana, a partner at the law firm Strathmore Litigation and Asset Management, unless otherwise credited.
In 2015, Bangkok’s Banglamphu district ranked the second-highest-growing neighborhood in the world in terms of its popularity on the [Airbnb] site, and since then, the number of apartments, condos and villas that are available to rent in Bangkok has flourished. In 2017, the Din Daeng/Huai Khwang district ranked 11th most-trending neighborhood in the world with 218-percent growth in one year. According to the Bangkok Post, Thai Airbnb hosts have served more than 1.2 million guests in the past 12 months, earning between them four billion baht in supplemental income from Feb 2017-Feb 2018.

But the Thai Government and the Thai Hotels Association (THA) see the site’s business model as a disruption to Thailand’s hotel and tourism industry. According to media reports, a letter from the local authorities has been sent to the Wan Vayla Condo in Khao Tao outlining the court’s decision in two of three cases where condos were rented out for less than one-month periods. The court ruled that renting out rooms via Airbnb on a daily or weekly basis is an illegal act if the renting party has not obtained a licence to run a hotel business under the 2004 Hotel Act.

“The Hua Hin ruling has made it clear that short-term renting on a daily or weekly basis to tourists is illegal. To make it legal, the hosts need to have a Hotel License” . . .

To obtain a hotel license, they must prove they employ a qualified hotel manager, that they comply with the Building Control Act, have a Building Permit and Use Certificate which states that the existing building can be used as a hotel. “The Hotel Act is very unsupportive to hotel businesses and Airbnb’s business model,” says Chris . . .

However, Chris believes the ruling will have little real-world impact on Airbnb operators in Thailand. “To be frank, most of the Airbnb hosts in Thailand will continue to rent out their rooms anyway because the penalty isn’t that severe—there is no prison sentence,” he says. “If caught, they just have to pay the fine, and to be honest, the fines aren’t that high.”

So what penalty can hosts potentially expect? In the first Hua Hin case, the court ruled on Jan 5, 2018 that the host must pay a B5,000 fine plus an additional B500 for each day of a 20-day stay, resulting in a total B15,000 fine. The second case ruled on Jan 16 for a B5,000 fine in addition to B100 per day for 81 days’ worth of stays. The total came to B13,000. A third case is still pending.

Chris, however, doesn’t feel that hosts need worry too much about the courts coming after them—though he does warn that the new ruling could set a precedent for successful conviction that didn’t exist before. “It really depends how serious the Thai government is towards this issue,” he explains. “Since there are already two cases of fines imposed from the Hua Hin court, other provinces in Thailand can follow in the courts' footsteps and use it as an example for future punishments. Due to this news, other condominium or apartment owners may report or sue his or her neighboring host if they are opposed to the idea of having their condo being rented out on Airbnb or are unhappy about the coming and going of Airbnb tenants.”
He goes on to suggest that there is probably little problem for house owners. But then adds -
“The Airbnb business model is not illegal,” says Chris. “It’s the people who use it—renting out their places short-term—that’s making it illegal. Do these hosts know that what they’re doing is illegal? Probably. But as long as they don’t get caught, they’ll continue to rent out their rooms on
Up2u

Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

Post by Up2u »

The problems that are not mentioned are unreported income, not collecting hotel tax, and not filing TM30. Potentially consequences far more severe than the fines.
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Undaunted
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Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

Post by Undaunted »

The following link is the latest interpretention of what the current Thai court ruling against airbnb will actually mean:

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/ ... nt-matter/
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
fountainhall

Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

Post by fountainhall »

Undaunted wrote:The following link is the latest interpretention of what the current Thai court ruling against airbnb will actually mean:

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/ ... nt-matter/
With respect, that is a very long article with some interesting and quite complicated issues. Bearing in mind the request made only a few days ago -
Gaybutton wrote:From now on, if there is nothing more than a topic title and a URL, or a post response that is only a URL link, then I will delete the topic or post.

I agree with the complaint. I don't think a brief description is too much to ask. If it is too much to ask, then don't bother to post merely the URL. It will be deleted.
- I venture to suggest that the-one line heading to the URL hardly fits the term "brief description" of its actual contents. But I accept that phrase is open to interpretation.
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Re: Thai Court Rules Against Airbnb

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No one is insisting you read it.
"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
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