There are no real rules concerning property brokers in Thailand so if they lied to you about the roof is leaking there is not much you can do besides using them as filling in your concrete mix.
After you sign the contract you will not see much of the broker he will stop calling you and turn of the phone if you call too much. He will get his money as soon as the contract is done.
The property broker has a very easy life in Thailand and any guy that has an ok suit can be property broker here. They need no education and hardly pay any tax since their company is just front anyway to get a work permit. If you manage to find his office do not be suspired if he sleeps upstairs.
Sometimes magazine or newspaper in Thailand wants them to write some lie about that there are no apartments available in Bangkok and that the Pattaya housing market is going to rise by 300 percentages this year. Making the normal punter rush for business card from the latest property broker they met in the Go Go bar last week.
It for me amazing how the newspapers can let these “experts†talk totally unquestioned for one or two pages about property market like it was realty.
You might as well turn to the message board in Carrefour and get the same info and save some money in the same time.
So what the Property brokers get from renting out a house? They get the first rent in most cases and maybe a monthly payment if they can push up the rent even more. The owner of the house does not really need the broker once you met them and you do not need them either. So if you feel like it, just ignore the broker and go straight for the owner if the owner not asks you to do that first. There is no contract in Thailand between the broker and the property owner anyway. But you can be sure the broker will follow you like a shadow and do not be surprised if he pops up when you and owner meet with out calling first.
To trust the property broker on the paper work is just a big joke, they do not have any law education and you be better of paying a local lawyer go trough it for a few thousand, at least you can sue him if he lie. But remember that Phuket, Pattaya, Samui and Krabi is small towns most people know each other, if you want sound advice head for the capital.
As I said in the first everything is not gold in Thailand, if you want to buy or rent something try to stay in the same area for a few month first.
