In recent years, extreme weather worldwide has become more frequent, putting greater strain on urban drainage systems, and flooding has increasingly become a major concern for city residents. Thailand in particular has experienced severe rainstorms that have caused flooding in multiple cities, at times reaching residential basement parking garages and submerging large numbers of parked cars. Incidents like these have drawn public attention to, and debate over, what responsibility a condominium’s management should bear when a parking garage floods.
In modern urban living, an underground parking garage has become standard infrastructure for condominium buildings. But precisely because an underground garage sits at the lowest point of a building’s structure, it is more exposed to flooding in extreme weather. Under Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code, and under Section 33, paragraph two of the Condominium Act B.E. 2522 (1979), the condominium’s common property (including the parking garage) is the responsibility of the condominium’s management to maintain and manage. If mismanagement causes damage to common property, the management can be held legally liable.
Flooding Incidents Are Becoming More Frequent in Thailand
Thailand has a tropical monsoon climate, with a rainy season from May to October, and frequent, heavy rainstorms driven by the monsoon and by typhoons. During the heavy rains of October 2022, the underground parking garages of many modern condominium buildings were flooded, submerging large numbers of parked cars and causing significant losses. Although some condominiums are equipped with sump pumps and drainage systems, the volume of rain in a short period exceeded what the equipment could handle, the drainage systems failed to clear the water in time, and large numbers of cars in the garages ended up flooded.
The Legal Liability of Condominium Management
Under Section 420 of Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code: “A person who, willfully or negligently, unlawfully injures the life, body, health, liberty, property, or any right of another person commits a wrongful act and is bound to make compensation therefor.” This means that if condominium management negligently fails to take the flood-prevention measures required, or fails to properly maintain flood-prevention equipment, and this causes parking-garage flooding, the management may be held liable.
Section 33, paragraph two of the Condominium Act further specifies that the condominium’s juristic person (management committee) must carry out routine maintenance and management of the condominium’s common facilities (including the parking garage) to keep them functioning properly. If flooding damages vehicles because management failed to fulfil this duty or maintained the facilities poorly, management may be held legally liable.
Court Precedent and How Liability Is Determined
Thailand’s Supreme Court has previously ruled, in similar cases, that condominium management is responsible for maintaining a parking garage’s drainage and flood-prevention systems so that they function properly in extreme weather. In Supreme Court Case No. 4493/2543 (2000), the court held that because management had failed to properly maintain the drainage system, rainwater backed up through blocked drainage pipes, ultimately flooding the underground garage, and management was liable to compensate car owners for their losses.
In that case, the court specifically noted that management had collected fees from unit owners for the maintenance and management of common facilities, and therefore bore an unavoidable responsibility when the drainage system failed. The court also emphasized that even where no single individual could be shown to be specifically at fault, because management bore the ongoing duty of maintenance and failed to prevent water from entering the garage, this itself constituted management negligence, carrying a corresponding duty to compensate.
How Liability Plays Out in Practice
In practice, whether condominium management is liable to pay compensation depends on several factors:
- Whether there was management negligence — if the flood-prevention and drainage systems were not regularly maintained, or the necessary precautions were not taken ahead of a rainstorm, management may be held liable to compensate.
- Force majeure — if the rainstorm qualifies as a “force majeure” event (such as a once-in-a-century downpour) and management had already taken reasonable precautions, this may be treated as a circumstance that relieves management of liability.
- Insurance coverage — some car owners hold comprehensive or natural-disaster coverage, under which an insurer may bear part of the compensation, though this is usually considered alongside how liability is apportioned with management.
Following the 2022 flooding, many car owners with damaged vehicles filed claims against their condominium’s management, and some cases went through legal proceedings. Under guidance from Thailand’s Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB), car owners are advised to gather relevant evidence — including photographs of the vehicle damage, insurance documents, and the condominium’s management agreement — to support a claim.
Have a question about this guide? Leave a comment below, or ask Zagdim directly.
Your first stop for international property and global living.
Research and insights. Know what’s changing. Understand what matters.
