5 Months in Hell

Beware when renting property…

I am writing this to all of you to make you as aware as I am now.  At the End of January this year my landlord had informed me that he needed to take occupancy of his home back and that I had to move.

So myself and a friend decided let’s get a house together instead of us living in two separate flats. This sounded like a great idea because technically we should save together instead living separately. So we missioned to find a house. We searched all the property places on the internet, Property24, Private Property, GumTree, and then the local papers.

I went and saw some very small pokey places claiming one thing in the ad, and wow some owners really have delusions of grandeur when it comes to the price of a property. Mind you it is also the market. So we looked at some really nice houses and some really nasty ones. But there was one house in Vorna Valley that we just fell for. But it wasn’t the house it was the garden we fell for should I say.

It seemed perfect, 4 beds, maid’s quarters (if we ever wanted to get a domestic), lapa, pool, even jungle gyms for all our friends’ children. It was going for R10,500 per month excluding water and lights. We jumped at the house, we signed all the legal documentation, paid the deposit and the rent and the place was ours…

We took occupancy the Saturday the 25^th February 2012, giving my old landlord also time to move back into his home. We off loaded the trucks and bakkies and started trying to find each piece of furniture’s new home.

In the first hour we discovered our dream home had plumbing issues, we would flush the toilets and nothing would go down, we would run the tap and water wouldn’t empty out the basin, shower, or bath. So we spoke to the new landlady, informing her of this issue. That night we went to bed and my buddy battled to sleep as she is a light sleeper and there was something in the ceiling. She told me the next morning and I said I heard nothing as I am a very heavy sleeper. Needless to say I went home after work and heard the noises myself; on a closer examination outside I could see rats/ mice tails sticking out of the roof where the tiles and wall meet.

Again we informed the owner, we also then filled out a snag list of all the issues within the house when we took occupancy, we were supposed to get a copy of the owners and previous tenants list but for some reason we never did. Probably because they were not done by them. As you can see by the list we listed many things wrong.

After being promised that these things would be amended we continued to unpack and prepared to live in this house, looking back now I ask myself why? But in that moment we took the landladies words on good faith that she was keen to keep us as her tenants and keep her home in a good order. Boy were we wrong.

The plumbers that came out were not your normal run of the mill plumbing service like Rotor-rooter or something. This was two very old very over weight Afrikaans boys who arrived with a plunger to remove roots from the plumbing and it ended up taking them over 3 hours to this job instead of it taking a max of 30 minutes.

The landladies ex husband/ boyfriend came over to fix the lapa lights and threw rat poison in the ceiling and slowly the rats ate that and started to die… once the silence came so did the smell of rotting rats and mice in our ceiling, Maggots started falling through the light fittings in the lounge and this started happening the day before we opened our home to our friends so they could see our home.  Spraying doom frantically to kill the maggots hoping none would fall onto our guests….

Our House warming was the 31^st March and the night before Johannesburg and Pretoria had a freak storm and we woke up to 5 cm of water in our house, Ruining the TV cabinet, the power had tripped, and we had no idea the extent to the damage of the electrical appliances yet, we let the Landlady know and she came over to see what she could do. We started mopping up and trying to save what we could of the furniture.

Her plan was to knock a hole through the wall. Making the water run upstream (which doesn’t normally happen) up the gradient, over the step and down the drive way instead of straight into the lounge. What a joke? Anyways, the only way I proved this theory unsound was with the hose pipe as it never rained again whilst we stayed there to test my theory on its failure. Anyways, just before I forget no, maggots didn’t fall on anyone but did fall on the couch and were noticed.

That night when we tried to put on the lights they didn’t come on, I assumed it was water from the rain or the rats from before. Then we discovered my T.V didn’t work, obviously it didn’t work it got fried between the water and electricity, thankfully I bought an extended warranty with my TV which was two years old. That extended warranty allowed me the privileged of having my TV inspected by the maker to see if it was fixable, to be fixed if fixable, or replaced. The mother board had fried and so on the TV wasn’t fixable. So I had to get replacement T.V.

Then I tried to use my iBurst internet which is another blog all on its own, but it didn’t work due to signal and well I wasn’t and am still not about to purchase some extra booster without knowing and seeing it working, seeing as I bought into their product originally without seeing it or knowing it working and it doesn’t... So from experience I don’t trust them. Anyways... so we noticed there was a Telkom plug in the main room, so we asked the owner was there a phone and would she put the fixture in place and we will pay the rental and the internet we then got to go with the line. She asked us to do all the leg work, do all the research and we did it, hoping that spoon feeding would move it along and basically making it so that she only had to Call Telkom and order the line... But finally when it came down to it, she pleaded poverty, saying she is a single mom, and if we want it so bad we must pay for it and just cancel the line when we leave... This response did not impress us, why would we add features to someone else’s home?

Then my friend plugged her pc in and it too started beeping and wouldn’t work, so she took it to her office and asked the I.T guys there to have a look at it and guess what??? The mother board is fried.  So now she has to upgrade and replace the parts damaged by the power surge.

When we again tried to speak to the owner about the issues still un-resolved she gave us an ultimatum, which usually blow up in people’s faces, anyways, our options were foot stoets and or leave, so we gave her our notice for the end of June.  We also contacted Alan Levy Attorneys after I did some research online about the new Consumer Protection Act, as well as our normal rights as tenants.

I came across The Estate AgencyAffairs Board website, and there they have a page where you can type in the estate agency that did your lease and who we dealt with from them, the agent. Not to my surprise they weren’t registered. So I began the process of asking them to do an investigation. Sending them all the proof and documentation plus we took photographs of the house, and all the other problems us to girls never saw when we looked at the house. Exposed wiring, shoddy roof and wiring work. Quoting the handyman saying,” this house probably isn’t earthed and he doesn’t think it’s safe.” Alan Levy wrote us a letter informing the owner and Rental agent of our notice and that we had the right to take matters up legally and are awaiting our request to proceed.

Again we had to search for a home, trolling the internet websites, seeing lots of houses, and discovered a little treasure closer to what we feel is civilisation after our experience in Midrand.  This time we paid more attention to the house, and less to the garden, all we looked at was size for our two puppies.

Since we have moved we have been hassled and had accusations of theft of something we have no clue what they speaking of, I have gladly offered to take a polygraph test at the owners expense to prove our innocence in their so called accusations, as well basically requesting hand outs from us. We have also been informed that the Estate Agency Affairs Board is doing a full investigation into the going on of the rental agency that keeps changing names every time this house has a new tenant.

All I ask of all of you looking at a home. No matter buying or renting, Know a lil about your rights, I know you think you do but really most of us don’t. Do your homework, make sure where you’re moving to allows what you currently have to continue to work or run, i.e. Internet, mobile phone signal and so on. Also really look around before you sign that offer to purchase or that lease. Make sure you have checked inside the ceiling, wiring is a big thing, you don’t unwanted fires, or sorting/ power surging, also view the house more than once. Go as many times as you want. Take pictures. Don’t take a home on face value. You will be sorry.

Go onto the Estate Agency Affairs Board website and check to see if the agent is registered and actually allowed to work. Instead of someone de- frauding you. Also use the internet to Google the agent or agency you’re dealing with. If they legit they have a website, business cards with a registration number on them, There name will come up on property searches, use Facebook to see if you are dealing with someone who says who they say they are.

Good luck, may your home experiences be better than this one.

Property24 has an article on knowing your rights as a tenant, I suggest you read this as well.Knowing your rights

WHAT’S EMMISSION TAX?!?

What I hear you saying?

The government wants us to pay more tax?! Well in a short word…YES!

What is emissions tax? This is a new tax we’re expected to pay when purchasing our new cars.

Why do we need to pay this tax? Well it’s simple, we here on earth create pollution in everything we do and use. And one of our biggest contributors to the pollution level that we all contribute to, is driving our cars, Transporting our goods. So this new tax on vehicles is designed to curb the CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) emissions.

How are they going to tax us?

Well apparently we will be taxed on our new vehicle purchases. And obviously the more gas they guzzle the more tax you will pay because the more gas you guzzle the more Carbon dioxide your vehicle pumps out into the Atmosphere causing what we in Johannesburg can already see in the air. All the smog and smoke, that lurks in the air around us. When walking sometimes you can taste the Carbon dioxide in the air, especially at peak times during the day.

So how this is all going to work is as of the 1st September 2010. When we purchase a new vehicle we will have to pay for the amount of Carbon Dioxide the car emits. So from my research and understanding, I have summed this all up as follows.

We will pay R75 per gram per kilometre for each g/km above the 120g/km. So what this really means is that vehicles emitting between 300g/km and 450g/km of carbon dioxide like our 4x4s and our large engined luxury cars will be forking out an extra R13 500 to R24 750 extra ontop of the retail price. The Treasury hopes to increase the national revenue by R450 million in the upcoming financial year.

How this will help the environment at the moment it is introduced?

It wont except maybe make people re-look at the 4X4 and if it can be worked into the price and then the consumer pays it off. I don’t see this whole thing working for the environment much.

Petrol

Petrol does play a huge part in what we emmit out into the air through any vehile, including myself on my bike. Yes we have unleaded but South Africa’s fuel is nowhere at the quality it needs to be at for us to emit less Carbon Dioxide than we are now. And from my understanding we are years behind in the greener petrol, which our overseas friends already have, as well as their Hybrid cars. At this present date Toyota is the only vehicle manufacturers to have brought out the first Green car out in South Africa and it’s called the Prius. And this is the only passenger vehicle on the market where you don’t have to pay this emissions tax.

At this present moment in time, our government is still working on a flat rate for all our transporting companies, whether its busses or trucks

Pride Pride Everyone is full of pride

On Saturday the 3rd of October 2009 over 15 000 people came out to march or support their friends and loved one in the 20th Annual Gay Pride in Joburg, which is a record topping 5000 more people that came out last year .

We arrived at Zoo Lake just after 9am and there was thumping music beating its beat into our souls, Ear-gasmic tunes making your feet just move to the music like they have a mind of their own, as we walked across the field to the clubhouse which we had pre-booked as we wanted to have running toilets. Once we were in the clubhouse we surveyed the field full of stalls, colours and people.

The March started at 11am leading the March was the 94.7 Float with Jeremy Mansfield dressed up as a sailor followed by the supporter’s then Johannesburg Fire station lent one of their fire trucks. Sadly it never sprayed anyone with some water. We joined the march, started shouting with everyone else hoot if you have pride, waving our flags and drinking our sprite we had decided we had to have, Waving at the crowds building up in and around Rosebank.

Once back at Zoo Lake the party began. Watching 15000 people move on a field like a bunch of ants running to the front of the stage like it was made of sugar to watch people like Jeremy Mansfield, Pabi Moloi, top SA DJ and a few drag acts. We danced and drank until we couldn’t anymore. I haven’t partied like that since last year’s pride. I had an absolute party.

Everyone I spoke to said it was the best so far, So I would like to thank the Pride Organisation for arranging such a successful event, To the Joburg people who came out to support us, James Small who came out to share in the festivities, To 94.7 for the advertising, the support and the music, to all the press for covering such an event and getting the message out there that it’s ok to be gay, and that no matter who you are, where you come from, what road you have travelled we are all free and have equal rights. To see pictures of this event please follow this link:

Joburg Gay Pride 2009

Thank you Joburg for the time of my life, now I’m tired and need a week to recover.

I Wanna Know...

I Wanna Know why the traffic lights in the UK work when they snowed in and why ours in South Africa don’t when we get any sort of rain? And I why no one within the government has thought to ask how they manage to and how we can possibly look at following in their foot-steps’, lighten motorists stress levels?







I Wanna know how we are supposed to Arrive Alive when the highways are so dangerous with two different levels of tar, no lights, men working waving small batons you only really see when your right on top of them? Then on almost every road there is at least one pothole which grows with each tyre that rims it. By my work for example is a pothole so big, so dangerous someone filled it with sand. I Wanna know why is no one going out to fix these?

I Wanna know how our President can expect the tax payer to pay for all his wives and children which is a cultural belief to follow and his choice to follow, But as country Governed by law, and the law states that it’s illegal to have more than one spouse. Why as legal tax payers following the law are we paying for and condoning the multiple marriages our President has and when our hard earned money could be going to pay for something such as feeding and homing the poor, filling the potholes, investing in waterproofing our traffic lights, Educating the children. But no instead we pay towards what?


I Wanna know how ready we really are for this Fifa world cup. Seriously I look around and the roads are a mess, our public transport a joke, construction sites everywhere, Crime so high everyone is being warned of how dangerous it is here. And lately our country has been rocked with racism controversy with Julius Malema and ANC Youth League and his short temper. When honestly we should be standing together not as some colour, some culture, tribe, province but we should be standing together as South African’s, we should be getting ready to welcome the very brave visitors who will visit our shores and help them enjoy their stay safely and so they can return with fond memories of our beautiful country. Like the memory of every car within South Africa having their Countries flag on their cars. Thanks Mini Cooper who brought this brilliant idea to us and for free. And thank you to the clever person who figured the flag clip for your back window so you can still support your country.