Tenant fined 140,000 baht for keeping dog in Bangkok condominium
South Bangkok Criminal Court has ruled that a tenant who violated condominium rules by keeping a dog in the apartment must pay a 141,500 baht fine and interest of 5% per year until the sum is paid in full. The decision comes after the condo filed a lawsuit against the dog owner in December last year.
On top of the fine, the defendant must pay an extra 500 baht per day for “maintenance of common areas” from the date the lawsuit was filed until January 24, 2022. The tenant must also pay 500 baht for maintenance fees for an event that occurred on February 19, 2022. And on top of that, the tenant must pay 5,000 baht extra to cover the plaintiff’s lawyer fees.
The high-end condominium – Life One Wireless – prohibits all animals inside the condominium building itself and on condominium grounds, like most condo buildings in Thailand.
Netizens are divided on whether the punishment is appropriate for the crime. On the one hand, the fine seems over the top. On the other hand, tenants secretly hiding pets has become a real problem for condo buildings in Thailand, so the heavy fine could act as a cautionary tale to warn others against violating condo rules.
According to one resident, this isn’t the first time the tenant has violated condominium rules. The resident says the case has been ongoing for years, and the tenant didn’t even attempt to hide the dog. The resident said the tenant openly walked the dog around the condo grounds, took it in the elevator, let it defecate in the common areas, and challenged the condo to sue him for keeping the dog.
The resident added that the tenant even took a photo of the dog’s feces in front of the condo’s entrance sign to wind up condo staff. He “showed off the dog to the fullest,” said the resident.
The tenant was warned several times but continued to keep the dog in the condominium, so that’s why the condo ended up filing a lawsuit, said the resident.
Although they are less common, there are plenty of condominium buildings in Bangkok that do allow tenants to keep pets, so netizens don’t understand why the tenant didn’t rent a room in one of those in the first place, or at least move when they received a warning.
