Unknown plumbing charges

<p>Last year i bought a bachelor flat in Rossettenville with the hope of having it as an investment. I was working at a church and only getting an allowance and miraculosuly was awarded 100% homeloan. The agent i bought the property through did not tell me that the property had plumbing issues for years. From the first month i had the property rented out the tenants kept on complainig and i had to pay a lot of money to get the pipes fixed, little did i know that the problem would be resolved for just a few weeks because it's something that was there for years. The plumber told me that the only way to resolve the issue was to get permission from body corporate to remove the paving and fix the pipes which would cost a lot of money. Late last year we had a meeting with the body corporate and they proposed increase of levies and 90% of the owners disputed and i didn't because i wanted the plumbing issue resolved. I made my point clear that i was willing to pay extra for levies if they would fix the plumbing issue and they told everyone that one of the reasons they were increasing the levies was to fix things like the pipes which affects only 3 units. Unfortunatetly - it's almost a year now and nothing has been done. Three months ago i received my levies statement with extra charges for plumbing that was done. That very month, my tenants called me telling me they had a problem with the pipes. I called the caretaker and asked her if the body corporate would handle the problem and i was advised to get my own plumber. I'm currently not working and i pay levies from my own pocket. The rent only covers the homeloan. I told the body coprate that i had my own plumber go to fix the pipes and i paid him the same amount that they charged me. To make maters worse, they said they sent out a plumber but my tenants still have the problem. I told them that I dont have the money to pay double for a plumber and also considering the fact that they didn't notify me or my tenants about the plumber coming through. The problem is still there - a year later after levies have been increased and nothing has been done. I have never given them issues with paying my levies even though i had not been working because i dont like debt. They acknowledged that i was a good payer and decided to split the plumbing bill to half which i paid last month and this month they have billed me again. I dont know what they want me to do - after i told them how unfair they were in making me send my own plumber then send out their own plumber without notifying me and of which the work is not evident because the problem is still there and me and my tenants still have to look for ways to fix it so that they live comfortably. I don't know what to do anymore...when i asked them when are they going to fix the problem they gave me amounts that the building owes which has nothing to do with me because i was told to pay more for levies to have issues resolved and nothing has been done. All i want them to know is that they need to be considerate of people - i feel as though my money is going to cover for other people's debts. Maybe they saw that i never gave them issues with payment and saw an opportunity to exploit me and it's not right. I live in the west in a 2 bedroom townhouse and my sister is paying same levies as me and gets a lot of benefits from her body corporate (security at gate, gardening, plumbing, etc), whereas the area where my property has low value and i never see the services, there's no garden, no security guard and we get charged for plumbing. They need to review their services and be more considerate on clients that dont give them problemes with payment.</p>