Rental agent threatening to take my deposit

[StormieCloud]

Hi all

My husband and I are at the end of our lease agreement term. We have two problems with how our rental agent is handling things in this last month of our tenancy.

The rental agent informed us that he would like to do viewings for prospective tenants, we agreed to that. He then sends a very generic marketing email a few days later with viewing schedules for all their properies. There was no indication in the title or body of the email that we should check it for the viewings of our flat.
He then sends the email out to public without us even agreeing to the schedule days and times.
Afterwards we agreed to Saturday mornings at 11. The agent is continuing to pester us that we have to allow viewings on the Wednesday even though we indicated twice that we would be unable to. All he said was that we must make a plan.
So the viewing schedule is set up and they had a prospective tenant on one Saturday. The agent did not inform us that they had a prospective tenant for a viewing and he came to our flat. We were not available that day because we had no communication at all that they were bringing someone for a viewing.
The agent now says we are in breach of contract and he is saying that he is going to withhold our deposit because they don't have a tenant yet. He is accusing us of preventing them from getting a tenant before we move out.

This seems unfair to me, but I am not sure who is legally in the right. If the rental agency escalates his threats then I will take it to the rental housing tribunal. But I want to be absolutely sure of my facts.

As far as I'm aware the viewing schedule doesn't isn't the same as an actual viewing when they have a prospective tenant. So, should he not inform us timeously when he has someone to view or should be simply be at home every Saturday at 11 no matter if they have prospective tenants or not?
And can he legally take our deposit as a result of this?

 

[StormieCloud]

Also forgot to mention that two other people seemed to have problems with this same rental agency. They always seem to cite breach of agreement when they want to intimidate you. I'm not sure if I should mention the rental agency's name or not

 

[joker08]

I would have ignored his threats and sent him an email that he needs to arrange for viewing at an agreed time. For weekdays maybe arrange for a time during the evenings.
Let him hold the deposit for now and after you move out, take him to the housing tribunal. Remember the housing tribunal will take its own time to respond so you may need to make other arrangements for the deposit for your new home.

 

[StormieCloud]

I would have ignored his threats and sent him an email that he needs to arrange for viewing at an agreed time. For weekdays maybe arrange for a time during the evenings.
Let him hold the deposit for now and after you move out, take him to the housing tribunal. Remember the housing tribunal will take its own time to respond so you may need to make other arrangements for the deposit for your new home.

We tried to negotiate for other viewing times. We told him that we are available on Tuesdays but he hasn't responded to us.

I'm scared that he'll take legal actions against us even though I'm pretty sure we're in the right and we've been accommodating

 

[JC Heat]

Firstly, in my experience, a lot of rental agents and private land lords find every loop hole possible to not have to pay a deposit back. It is wrong, however, it happens. You seem to have enough substantial proof of their lack of communication. If they do communicate and you simply are making it "difficult" to arrange viewings, then you would be in breach of your contract. They cannot simply pitch without solid confirmation of a time and date. That is a total invasion of privacy. Thus, in legal terms, i am almost 100% sure you would win should you need to take it to small claims court etc. This process can take a while though so make alternative arrangements to not "rely" on that money right now. Good luck.

 

[adam_g]

They cant take legal action against you for not being available during their times

Seeing your lease has come to an end i would move out ASAP

I would do what Joker said you can use your own lawyers aswell once you have moved out to get your deposit back

If they do take legal action against you for whatever reason it will take months

And besides you are protected under the PIE Act http://www.derebus.org.za/slice-pie-understanding-act/

Hope this helps

EDIT: Make sure you do a damage inspection when you have moved out with the Agent/Landlord. Hopefully you did one before you moved in to compare them. Landlords often tend to fight tooth and nail to hold your deposit or take off it for damages.

 

[Fulcrum29]

You are required to allow reasonable access to their property, however, the rental agency and landlord must also respect your rights. As a tenant, you have the right to be present when a property is shown. In this respect, it is recommended to negotiate dates and times to be reasonable. Reasonability is core to your and the property owner’s rights.

The agency is unreasonable in my view.

They have no right to withhold your deposit. I assume that the agent is seeing the empty unit as damages, no. The Housing Tribunal is the best remedy.

Questions like these are best asked on the TPN Forum. They have very knowledgeable people on there in this regard.

 

[ijacobs3]

Hi all

My husband and I are at the end of our lease agreement term. We have two problems with how our rental agent is handling things in this last month of our tenancy.

The rental agent informed us that he would like to do viewings for prospective tenants, we agreed to that. He then sends a very generic marketing email a few days later with viewing schedules for all their properies. There was no indication in the title or body of the email that we should check it for the viewings of our flat.
He then sends the email out to public without us even agreeing to the schedule days and times.
Afterwards we agreed to Saturday mornings at 11. The agent is continuing to pester us that we have to allow viewings on the Wednesday even though we indicated twice that we would be unable to. All he said was that we must make a plan.
So the viewing schedule is set up and they had a prospective tenant on one Saturday. The agent did not inform us that they had a prospective tenant for a viewing and he came to our flat. We were not available that day because we had no communication at all that they were bringing someone for a viewing.
The agent now says we are in breach of contract and he is saying that he is going to withhold our deposit because they don't have a tenant yet. He is accusing us of preventing them from getting a tenant before we move out.

This seems unfair to me, but I am not sure who is legally in the right. If the rental agency escalates his threats then I will take it to the rental housing tribunal. But I want to be absolutely sure of my facts.

As far as I'm aware the viewing schedule doesn't isn't the same as an actual viewing when they have a prospective tenant. So, should he not inform us timeously when he has someone to view or should be simply be at home every Saturday at 11 no matter if they have prospective tenants or not?
And can he legally take our deposit as a result of this?

Legally they cannot withhold your deposit, they can for damages, but also only if a entry and exit inspection has been done

 

[StormieCloud]

You are required to allow reasonable access to their property, however, the rental agency and landlord must also respect your rights. As a tenant, you have the right to be present when a property is shown. In this respect, it is recommended to negotiate dates and times to be reasonable. Reasonability is core to your and the property owner’s rights.

The agency is unreasonable in my view.

They have no right to withhold your deposit. I assume that the agent is seeing the empty unit as damages, no. The Housing Tribunal is the best remedy.

Questions like these are best asked on the TPN Forum. They have very knowledgeable people on there in this regard.

Thank you, I'll be posting my question in the TPN forum as well

 

[Slootvreter]

****ing rental agents, no better than car salesmen.

Good luck. Been there, done that, left without paying the last month's rent. I've been blacklisted on the TPN (LMAO, like I care), that's about it. It's been 10 years already.

 

[Brawler]

Rental agents... The finest breed of them all.

 

[My_King]

****ing rental agents, no better than car salesmen.

Good luck. Been there, done that, left without paying the last month's rent. I've been blacklisted on the TPN (LMAO, like I care), that's about it. It's been 10 years already.

Jip. Funny how everyone are scared of a few words being mentioned

 

[Slootvreter]

Jip. Funny how everyone are scared of a few words being mentioned

Years ago four of my friends decided to buy a house together (mistake), and two ended up not being able to pay anymore. They decided to sell, and for some reason, then decided to not sell anymore (can't remember, it came down to something like they would lose out too much is they sold).

Estate agent sent them a letter threatening to sue them for loss of commission. We lmao'd.

 

[My_King]

Years ago four of my friends decided to buy a house together (mistake), and two ended up not being able to pay anymore. They decided to sell, and for some reason, then decided to not sell anymore (can't remember, it came down to something like they would lose out too much is they sold).

Estate agent sent them a letter threatening to sue them for loss of commission. We lmao'd.

Oh yeah, something something called rou koop in Afrikaans. LoL

 

[joker08]

You are required to allow reasonable access to their property, however, the rental agency and landlord must also respect your rights. As a tenant, you have the right to be present when a property is shown. In this respect, it is recommended to negotiate dates and times to be reasonable. Reasonability is core to your and the property owner’s rights.

The agency is unreasonable in my view.

They have no right to withhold your deposit. I assume that the agent is seeing the empty unit as damages, no. The Housing Tribunal is the best remedy.

Questions like these are best asked on the TPN Forum. They have very knowledgeable people on there in this regard.

Can u access this forum on tapatalk ? I cant seem to find them

 

[Fulcrum29]

Can u access this forum on tapatalk ? I cant seem to find them

I doubt it,

https://forum.tpn.co.za/

 

[joker08]

I doubt it,

https://forum.tpn.co.za/

got a feedback from tapatalk.

"The forum does not have a working Tapatalk plugin running on their site.
The forum admin would need to install Tapatalk plugin and publish their site on the Tapatalk App so you can find it.
Please contact the forum admin to do this as requests from members are looked into more quickly. "

 

[StormieCloud]

Thanks everyone for your replies. It helped me feel better prepared.

The rental agent has replied that Tuesdays are not an option for him so we are asking if Wednesday evening is an option for him, as per the suggestion of one of the replies I received here.

It's interesting to note that his tone in the first email was very hostile. After he received our reply, which stuck to facts, his tone changed. He wrote the email as if he was being reasonable and we were the ones who were a problem. He exaggerated the amount of times he tried to contact us, among other things. He is still insisting on us being available on Wednesdays. He even said that he was just trying to do his job and he had so many properties on show.

So, we rectified his incorrect statements once again, said we can accommodate him on Wednesday evenings and are awaiting a reply.

He is trying his utmost to put the onus on us instead of admitting that he was in the wrong, so we simply rectify him each time and put the onus back on him, and try to accommodate him when we can.

So we'll see what happens from here.