Thailand Apartment Rental Guide for Bangkok and Beach Towns

One of the questions I get asked fairly often is: if I came to live in Thailand, if I came to retire or I just wanted to come out for, say, 3 months, how much would it cost me to rent an apartment? And quite honestly, that is one of the hardest questions to answer because there are so many variables involved.

People have different budgets, different needs. Some people are very happy to live in a small room and pay 7,000 baht a month. Other people want something overlooking Benjakitti Park in Bangkok with a beautiful view for miles a 90- or 100-square-meter apartment. But as I say, we’re all different.

Short Term Leases Can You Rent for 3 or 6 Months?

One of the big questions that comes up is: “I’m coming to Thailand for 3 months. I don’t want to stay in a hotel. Can I take out a lease on an apartment for 3 months or 6 months?” And the answer is most likely no. Most apartment owners here want you for a minimum of 1 year. You’d leave a 1 month’s deposit and 1 month’s rent, and then you’d get the keys to move into that apartment.

Some landlords here will try and take 2 months’ deposit from you. That is illegal now they’re not supposed to do that. Some still do. So if somebody wants 2 months’ deposit, walk away. It’s 1 month’s deposit, 1 month’s rent.

The easiest way to do it if you’re coming out here for several months and you don’t want to stay in a hotel Airbnb is probably your best choice.

The Truth About Airbnb in Thailand

Some people say that running an Airbnb is illegal that’s a misconception. It’s not illegal to run an Airbnb in Thailand. But if somebody does run an Airbnb in Thailand, they’re supposed to have a hotel license. And if you get caught letting rooms, then it’s a 20,000 baht fine. That’s why a lot of the time when guys come here to Bangkok or Pattaya and they take out an Airbnb, they’ll meet the landlord and it’ll be kind of hush hush. The landlord will often say, “Don’t tell anybody you’re staying in an Airbnb just say you’re staying with a friend.” That happens quite often. So if that’s happened to you, you now know the reason why. But it isn’t illegal to run an Airbnb.

How to Find an Apartment Agents vs. Boots on the Ground

Let me give you a little bit of background on Thai agents here because they’re not the same as where you are around the world. I’ve had some dealings with agents, and I find they’re not the best way to find apartments.

One of the best places to find agents, if that’s what you want to do, is Facebook. But be careful don’t send any money on Facebook because there are a lot of scammers on there. What will happen is you’ll see a property advertised somewhere, you’ll get the agent’s details off Facebook, you’ll call her up and say, “Look, I’m looking for a one bedroom apartment near the beach.” She’ll say, “Great, where do you live? I’ll come and pick you up. I’ll show you what I’ve got.”

She might have three or four apartments. She shows you around, and for whatever reason you don’t like any of them. You’ll say, “Well, look, I’m still looking. If anything comes on your books that you think would suit me, please give me a ring or email.” And they’ll say, “Yep, we’ll do that. We get properties every day.” And you’ll never hear from them again. So don’t expect to just sit there and wait for the phone to ring. You’ve constantly got to be chasing them, calling them, “Have you had anything new in?”

Boots on the Ground The Best Way to Find a Bargain

Another good way to find an apartment is just boots on the ground. The way I did it I found a fantastic apartment 3 years ago in Bangkok in Sukhumvit Soi 8, 51 square meters. I was paying 20,000 baht a month. All I did is I spent a morning or an afternoon walking down Soi 6, Soi 8, Soi 10, wherever. You’ll see a telephone number outside. They always have a guard on the gate of these apartment blocks. I just put into Google Translate, “I’m looking for an apartment. Is there anything available here?” Showed it to the guard. He took me to the juristic office that’s the management of the block and there’s always someone there who speaks English.

That’s where you’ll find the best deals. A lot of the time the agents only want to show you the higher end they don’t want to deal with the 10, 12,000 baht rooms because they get their commissions based on how much rent comes in. So they want to show you the 30, 40, 50,000 baht a month apartments. That’s all they’re interested in.

If you’re at the lower end and you’re looking for a bit of a bargain, it’s worth just walking around. It is quite tiring it’s hot especially this time of year but that’s where you find the bargains and the best deals. Once you’ve secured an apartment, it’s worth every footstep that you’ve taken.

Don’t Rely on Just One Agent

Another thing you need to know about agents: you might go to a building that’s got 50 apartments. You go with an agent and she’ll say, “Well, I’ve got two in this block.” You look at the two and you don’t like them. She’ll say, “Well, that’s all I’ve got.” All that means is that particular agent doesn’t have anything else in that building. There might be 20 apartments available in that apartment building, but the management doesn’t just contact one agent they’ll contact half a dozen agents and give them a few apartments each.

So what you need to do is once you’ve said goodbye to that agent, you need to go back into the office and say, “Look, that wasn’t very helpful. Have you got any others?” A lot of the time the management will say, “Yeah, we’ve got five or more. Let me contact the agents.” And they’ll ring the agents and organize a meet so you can go back and look at the other five. So that’s very important to remember don’t just rely on the one agent.

What to Expect to Pay A Rental Price Guide

I’ll try to give you a little bit of an idea of what you’d pay.

Central Bangkok

If you want to stay in central Bangkok tourist areas where they have all the McDonald’s, the malls with international food, the pizza places somewhere like I lived in Soi 8. A lot of people will say, “Oh, no, I want to live in a Thai neighborhood.” That’s great if you speak Thai, but if you don’t speak any Thai, the menus are in Thai, most people don’t speak English you won’t be able to communicate and it makes it very, very difficult. Whereas if you live in a tourist area where lots of expats live, then a lot of the staff who work in restaurants and bars do speak a little bit of English.

For a one bedroom apartment in central Bangkok anywhere between 32 and 50 square meters you’re looking at anywhere between 20,000 and 35,000 baht. That’s kind of the going rate depending on where you are and depending on the view. Most guys I know who want to rent in Bangkok have a budget of around 25,000 baht. You’re not going to get a luxury place for that it isn’t at the high end at all. You can pay 100,000 baht a month in Bangkok more for a big spacious apartment overlooking the park.

But go to the other end of the scale. If you’re willing to take a large room that’s got a little kitchenette in the corner a sink and a microwave basically one room with a sofa at one end, a bed in the corner, and a shower room with a toilet, you could find something like that even in central Bangkok for around 12,000 baht.

Living Outside Central Bangkok

Some people will say, “Well, the BTS and the MRT are great they go every 5 minutes. I can live 20 minutes out of town and jump on the BTS.” That’s good in theory, but after you’ve been doing that for 6 months, it gets a little bit tiring when you want to go and have a coffee and a pastry in a bakery, and you’ve got to do a 20 minute journey each way and fight through the crowds. So you really want to be living fairly in an area where you can get your coffee and pastry and snacks, and you can meet other foreigners. It’s important to meet other foreigners as well, isn’t it?

Beach Towns Pattaya Jomtien and Hua Hin

If you go to somewhere like Hua Hin, Pattaya, Bang Saray, Rayong those sort of beach towns. A lot of guys ask, “I’m looking for a place overlooking the beach.” Those overlooking the beach apartments can be very expensive and few and far between. Jomtien you can get some good deals. I’ve got a friend down there who’s got a one bedroom apartment overlooking the sea, and he’s only paying 12,000 baht for that.

You can get a room in Pattaya for as little as 5 or 6,000 baht a month if you don’t mind living above a go go bar or some room with no elevator, no facilities, nothing. It’s almost like a hotel room, but very, very basic. It’s not somewhere you’d want to stay long term.

If you go up to Isaan or up in the north not the cities like Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, or Chiang Rai but a little bit out in the sticks, you can get places for 2,500 to 3,500 baht. The Thais do this. It’ll just be a room with maybe air conditioning if you’re lucky, but you’re in the middle of nowhere there’s not much going on. Some guys are very, very happy to live like that on their pensions, but it’s not something I’d want to do.

If you go to somewhere like Hua Hin not overlooking the beach, but in town if I wanted a nice one bedroom apartment, clean and comfortable, nice and spacious 50 square meters if I really looked around, I could get something for about 15,000 baht a month. You’re not going to snap it up you’re going to have to do some legwork but there is that sort of availability for that price. You could get a room down here for 5 or 6,000 baht. I had a friend down here in Hua Hin who was paying 6,000 baht a month for a room with a shower room on the side, and he was eating rice and noodles on the street, and he was happy to do that.

The High End

If you’ve got a bit more of a budget, I’ve got a friend who lives in Soi 8 down the end. He’s got a beautiful 90 square meter apartment overlooking Benjakitti Park on the 22nd floor wonderful views. He can leave his windows open no need for air conditioning in the daytime because the wind comes through very nice. I’ve been up there very jealous in a nice way. He’s paying about 60,000 baht a month. That’s usually beyond most expats who retire in Thailand or come out to Thailand.

If you’re at the higher end if you can afford anywhere between 50,000 and 80,000 baht then you’ve got the pick of the bunch because there are only so many people who can afford that kind of apartment. You’re going to get offered some very, very nice apartments.

I think the hardest market really is between 20,000 and 25,000 baht the one bedroom apartments because that’s what most people are looking for. If you’re happy to go down to the lower end and just rent a room, you’ll find it fairly easy.

Check the Facilities Especially the Pool

You want to check the facilities because they all come with little gyms and swimming pools. But something that can make a huge difference: the apartment where I lived had a very long pool on the roof. The water used to get warmed up all day. I’d go up there about 6:00 p.m., and it was a really nice temperature not cold, not hot. I didn’t shudder when I went in. It was very refreshing.

Whereas my friend who lived in another apartment had a pool on the second or third floor that was covered by concrete. When you went into that pool, whatever time of the day or evening, it was absolutely very, very cold. You would think, “Well, in Thailand, how could it get that cold?” But it used to get very cold because it’s in constant shade.

So when you’re looking at apartments, don’t just look at the apartment check everything else. Does it have a gym? When does it close? Can I bring guests up to the swimming pool?

Check for Other Airbnbs in the Block

Check if there are any other Airbnbs in that block because most residential blocks don’t like Airbnbs. Where I lived, when guys come on holiday, they take an Airbnb they’re not bothered about the neighbors, they’re not bothered about keeping quiet. They’re there for 2 weeks. They don’t care if they put loud music on or come back from Nana Plaza at 3:00 a.m. and start partying with a bunch of girls. The neighbors can’t get any sleep. So you’ll find a lot of apartments are very resistant to having Airbnb units in there. If you do get an Airbnb, it’s not something you want to be talking about with the neighbors.

Who Pays the Utilities?

Something that’s also very important: when you go to rent an apartment, make sure you ask the landlord are you paying the water and electricity to the landlord, or are you paying directly to the electricity company? I was paying directly to the electricity company. I got a bill every month, went online on their app, and paid it. I was paying 4.5 baht per unit.

I’ve known guys who’ve been living in apartments they thought they got a great deal, telling me how cheap the rent was but the landlord was charging them 9 baht per unit on electricity. You sleep with air conditioners on, you have a shower twice a day it adds up, and it can make that very cheap apartment suddenly very, very expensive. So you need to check that. Who are you paying your water to? Are you paying it to the water authority, or again, you’re paying it to the landlord, he’s paying them, and he’s taking a cut off the top.

The Lease and Getting It in English

When you get the lease, you need to check it very, very carefully. I was very lucky I got my lease in English. But if you get a lease in Thai, don’t just sign it because it could have anything in there. Go around and take photographs of the apartment. Any scratches especially wooden floors you need to point that out to the landlord. I did when I moved in there were some scratches under a table and I said, “Look, I just want to make you aware that there are scratches here.” She was a very nice woman she said, “Yeah, we know about that, Peter, no problem.” There was no hassle when I left, either.

But one bit of strong advice I could give you is: if you get a lease and it’s in Thai, engage the services of Thai Legal Protection. They’re very, very good. They handle a lot of legal issues for foreigners here. They have a membership if you’re coming out here for a few months, you can cancel anytime. You’re not tied into a number of months or years. If you get a lease in Thai, you take it to them, they’ll go through it with their Thai lawyers, and they’ll make sure everything’s good. If anything crops up in that lease, they’ll bring it to your attention, or they’ll even phone the landlord on your behalf.

Getting Your Deposit Back

Another thing they do: sometimes landlords here don’t want to give the deposit back. They think, “Well, the foreigner’s checked out. He’s going to get on a plane and go to his country. He’s not going to fight me for the deposit.” But again, through Thai Legal Protection, you go to them, their Thai lawyers ring up the landlord and say, “Hey, this guy’s played by all the rules. Why are you not giving him his deposit? You either give him his deposit, or we’ll take it to court.” And you’ll be amazed how quickly the landlord pays back the deposit.