Central Development drops the ball

I have lodged numerous complaints with the rental administrator and last week Monday, 13 August 2018, I lodged another complaint requesting to be contacted by senior management by the end of the business day Tuesday. A received a message and phone call informing me that my complaint had been escalated to senior management and to date no-one from senior management has contacted me.

The estate manager of Boardwalk Heights did coincidentally contact myself to inquire as to why we had served notice for end of August but had no knowledge of my complaint. Once I explained the situation to him, he went on to explain how they had appointed one manager who had no experience in the said field and the second one was unable to cope in his role. He had now taken over but that he and another colleague were not getting to everything. I explained about all the administrator issues as well and he told me that human error will never be eliminated and then proceeded to try convince us to withdraw our notice.

Below are some of the issues which have arisen: 1. At the end of May, Central Developments attempted to deduct a higher rental amount via debit order. A final letter of demand was then issued. When I queried this, I was told it was a system error on their part and they would correct it on the following invoice. On the next invoice, they attempted to charge us for the issuing of the final demand letter. At the beginning of August, I received an sms stating that the leasee's TPN credit rating had now been positively restored and thanking us for paying the rent on time. Central Development had gone ahead and made a listing without even informing us of the intention to list, never mind that they had made the error on their part and the rent had in fact been paid in full. 2. The rental amount gets increased by an undisclosed amount as no-one is able to clarify by how much the rent will be increasing by and they have a policy whereby they increase rent during a lease period which is in fact not legally permitted. Our original contract never gave permission for such an arrangement and each time the lease is renewed I bring this to their attention. 3. We have given notice for end of August, they acknowledged receipt thereof and then promptly sent us an invoice for rent due in September. When I queried this, I was told it was another one of their infamous system errors. 4. The noise level at Boardwalk Heights is akin to living next to a concert hall. Music and televisions blare throughout the day and frequently in the evenings as well. Cars are washed with the car stereos blasting. In 2016, a mail was sent out attempting to address the noise levels and cars that had supposedly been damaged by children playing. In 2018, not much appears to have changed. 5. Our parking is frequently unavailable due to other individuals parking in our space. Security will at times attempt to assist, but are not always able to find the unwelcome occupant and then it is up to the tenant themselves to take on the role of Sherlock Holmes. 6. The common areas are frequently dirty. The stairs are hardly ever washed and ******* lies strewn around. One set of neighbours' dumped their ******* right outside their door. It lay there so long that maggots were emerging and to this day there is still a permanent mark on the tiled floor. We were even lucky enough to come across a used ****** one morning on the grass. I did once witness the stairs being washed but the water was so dark brown in colour, they could have rather left it. 7. Children run free. A child was recently bouncing across the top of the arched zinc carport roofs. Another child on a bicycle rode right in front of my car, thankfully I missed him, and he then proceeded to slam into a brick wall, I assume cause he failed to apply his brakes in time. A huge board with all the rules are up at the entrance but no-one enforces them. 8. Last week there was again someone parked in our parking space. Security refused to come out of his office and proceeded to scream at me through his window. I attempted to call the state manager, but he did not answer. I then went looking for the estate manager at his office only to find all the offices vacant. 9. On a positive note, initially the water and electricity was frequently an issue. You usually only had one and not the other. This does appear to have improved.

To Central Development, there is no longer any need to respond to my complaint. Had you been interested I have no doubt that you would have responded to my written complaint by now. I did afford you the opportunity to resolve this issue privately. If I can offer some advice to retain good tenants; respond to complaints as promptly and efficiently as possible. Don't make excuses, offer possible solutions to problem areas and implement them as soon as possible. Don't allow a situation to escalate to such a point that a tenant feels they have no choice but to give notice. This review is now merely to inform prospective tenants of our experience to date so they can make an informed decision.