Lease renewal - Extra deposit wanted

[HunterGR]

Always on time - in fact i have a debit order with capitec that the rent is paid by the 27th, the lease states by 1st of each month

 

[ToxicBunny]

Get hold of the lease agreement...

If the deposit aspect isn't changed, then tell the agent to get fscked.... if it has, well then you either sign or you move.

BUT, what you could do, since you have notified the agent and the owner of the defects in the property that need to be rectified in April, that you will pay the extra deposit, but that the agent has until the end of June to rectify the issues presented or you will do so yourself and deduct the monies from the rent and present invoices for all work carried out in accordance with the listed defects.

 

[HunterGR]

BUT, what you could do, since you have notified the agent and the owner of the defects in the property that need to be rectified in April, that you will pay the extra deposit, but that the agent has until the end of June to rectify the issues presented or you will do so yourself and deduct the monies from the rent and present invoices for all work carried out in accordance with the listed defects.

Exactly what i've done.....

 

[gimpex]

BUT, what you could do, since you have notified the agent and the owner of the defects in the property that need to be rectified in April, that you will pay the extra deposit, but that the agent has until the end of June to rectify the issues presented or you will do so yourself and deduct the monies from the rent and present invoices for all work carried out in accordance with the listed defects.

Bad advice. If it's a standard agreement there will be a clause that a) no offsetting allowed and b) nothing can be done to the property without agreement from owner.

Also , since it's a new contract he could just tell you to vacate if you don't like the new conditions. If you then stay anyway , he knows he has you by the short and currlies.

As mentioned before a double deposit is not unusual. Although personally I haven't changed deposit amounts until new tenants come in.

You are probably correct in that he doesn't have cash to fix up , or just doesn't want to use own money. Try to make arrangement to pay the extra deposit over a few months and get agreement for repairs to be done now. Being polite normally works best.

Also try to get a feel how easy it would be for him to find a new tenant if you left - at the price you paying. That will give you an idea of what leverage you have in these or any further discussions.

Good luck.

 

[ToxicBunny]

If it'd a standard agreement there will also be a claus relating to a reasonable time to repair defects... whereupon the tenant is allowed to fix at the owners expense should the owner not be fixing them.

 

[KleinBoontjie]

What about interrest on your deposit? I get a letter with the new contract every year, that shows how much my deposit is worth at that time. They invested my desposit and now, 6 years later, after 6 increases in rent, my desposit is actually worth more than what my rent currently is. I think it is actually fair, if they can proof to you that they still have the money and can show what interrest it generated while they kept it. After all, it is a deposit, not a gift that they can squander.

EDIT, it's the law actually: http://www.law24.com/index.php?option=com_experts&view=question&qid=3144&Itemid=104

 

[Necuno]

Unless it explicitly says so for the agreement you have singed, e .g. " deposit must be same as rent " then no.

Check your agreement you have singed first, this normally slips in with the new one as of course it can't be on the old if it was not there originally and the old one came to an end.

I have been renting a house in the CPT northern suburbs for two years now, the lease is up for renewal and the new agent is asking for an additional deposit along with the raised rental amount.

There are a few things that need to be repaired on the house due to inferior materials used when it was built (the house is 9 years old) and then was extended by the owner. We made a list with the agent and he said he would contact the owner and discuss this. All this happened in April.

This morning i got an email from him asking me for the second deposit (the lease expires at the end of this month) and i replied asking on when the repairs would take place - especially on the one door that needs to be replaced.

I got a reply saying that the repiars would only take place once he had recieved the top-up deposit as he called it.


My question is this:

Why ask for a second deposit now? is he (the agent) trying to take me for a ride?

 

[KleinBoontjie]

Some more info:

By law, a landlord needs to keep the deposit in an interest-bearing account or in a trust account in the case of a managing agent for the duration of the lease.

http://www.property24.com/articles/rental-deposits-explained/19051

EDIT: so I think topping up deposit is fair, if your interrest didn't quite brought it up to the rent amount. But that's just it, they should show the investment and interrest and whether there's a shortcoming.

http://www.privateproperty.co.za/advice/tenant-advice/landlords/tenants-deposits-/415.htm

A landlord must invest a tenant’s deposit in an interest-bearing account with a financial institution. The tenant may during the period of the lease request the landlord to provide him with written proof of interest on such deposit.