Inspector failed to arrive for outgoing inspection-shocking unprofessional customer service

My mom was renting a unit at Pretoria East Retirement Village through CSI Rentals. When she fell and fractured her hip, we gave 1 month's notice. CSI Rentals makes use of Gelbry Consulting to do their exit inspections. We were repeatedly informed that the outgoing inspection had to be done on the last day of occupancy, 30 April 2019. I stood proxy and arrived for the scheduled appointment at 11:00. No inspector arrived. At 11:20, Gelbry Consulting phoned me to inform me their inspector was late as the previous tenant had been late and they would only arrive at 12:00. I informed them I had to be at work and would not be able to wait. CSI Rentals was informed of the problem, they asked me to leave the keys at reception and they would do the inspection in my absence. When I reminded them that that was not permissible in terms of the Rental Housing Act, they quickly tried to insist we reschedule the inspection. I stated that they should have a contingency plan in place for tenants who arrive late as you cannot penalize the tenant who is present and on time.

I contacted the agent mainly dealing with Pta East Retirement Village to arrange for collection of the keys as reception refused to accept them. The estate agent phoned me back and proceeded to scream at me over the phone that this was not her job nor problem. Later that afternoon, an agent came to collect the keys at my place of work and I received a mail from CSI stating that as I was not prepared to reschedule the exit inspection, I forfeited my right to one.

I requested an upper management contact person and I mailed a Mr Kleyn with a written complaint stating that according to the RHA, an outgoing inspection needs to be conducted prior to the vacating of a premises and rescheduling means others have had access to the property. He proceeded to yell at me over the phone on how difficult I was being and that they insist on a rescheduled appointment. Every time I brought up specific sections of the RHA, he would continue to interrupt me and change the subject.

I repeatedly asked for documentation indicating that I was obligated to attend a second inspection if the inspector had failed to arrive. We however rescheduled the appointment for a week later. The Gelbry inspectator arrived with no copy of the incoming inspection report. He took photos of everything and at no point did he address me regarding any problems in the unit. He had no outgoing report for me to jointly see what the problem areas were, merely a little piece of paper saying he had been there and they only work as an independent company and have nothing to do with anything. All queries must go to CSI Rental. I refused to sign as cigarette ash was all over the floor, the kitchen counter was dirty and a window was open, so someone had clearly been in the unit after I vacated and I called the validity of a report, completed a week after vacancy had been relinquished, into question.

I got the report back a considerable time later, stating that the panic button and roasting pan was gone. They cited cigarette ash on the floor etc. They wanted to deduct a R1500 alone just for the panic button. I told them it was left in the cupboard and no roasting pan was ever in the oven. They had no incoming photos to prove that there had been. I threatened to go to the Rental Housing Tribunal and that according to the RHA they had failed to attend the outgoing inspection and the Act is very clear that an inspection be done 3 days prior to vacating to afford the tenant to correct any problems. The price of the panic button mysteriously quickly dropped to around R700. They told me I was welcome to go but they would still be taking around R2000 in deductions.

Fortunately for me, CSI Rentals then made a deposit that far exceeded the initial deposit amount. The next day, the whole tone of their communication towards me had changed, they stated that we could keep the full deposit amount if we would only kindly pay the additional R1900 they had transferred. I paid the difference back with not so much as a thank you or any acknowledgement back from them.