Phuket officials have inspected two properties in Patong and Ratsada over rooms let by the day without a hotel licence, two days after the province asked the government to make those licences easier to obtain.
Deputy Governor Romdon Hajiawae led the inspections on Wednesday, October 21, with Mueang Phuket district chief Siwat Rawangkul, administrative officers from Mueang Phuket and Kathu districts, police and other agencies.
The provincial administration said both premises were being used for purposes their building permits did not allow, and that neither held a hotel licence.
At Lucky Residence Phuket Town in Ratsada, officials were acting on complaints that rooms were being let by the day with no hotel licence registered at the Mueang Phuket District Office. The property was advertised for booking on online platforms.
Officials inspected the site and gathered evidence for possible proceedings, and nothing has been filed so far.
The second property, in Patong, has not been named, and no detail has been given of the building-use breaches found at either address.
The inspections came two days after Romdon put a set of licensing proposals to an anti-corruption meeting at Government House in Bangkok on October 19.
Those proposals asked for five areas of law to be reviewed, among them the rules on condominium rentals, where Phuket wants a clearer line between letting a property out and running a hotel.
Letting rooms by the day as a business without a licence is an offence under Section 15 of the Hotel Act of 2004, which carries a fine and a possible prison term.
Phuket has run inspections of this kind through the year. In July officials began proceedings against a condominium operator in Wichit after finding rooms let daily without a licence, following complaints from residents, and five properties were raided the same month in a parallel nominee inquiry.
Officials said they were still collecting documents before deciding on charges, so no operator has been named as a defendant. No date has been given for that decision, and the licensing changes Romdon proposed have not been adopted.
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