Future Estate Pty Ltd *******ly withholds rental deposits

Future Estate Pty Ltd is *******ly withholding my husband I's rental deposit. My husband and I rented a property (we saw on Property24) from Future Estate Pty Ltd for 6 months. Before moving in, we signed the lease, paid our refundable deposit and one month's rental at their office in (Shop 12 Florida Arcade, Opposite Florida Square Pharmacy). After moving in we made a long list of the defects in the house and sent it through to Thando but we never heard back from them regarding fixing any of the defects. We decided to fix some of them ourselves and just move on.

During our stay we did not miss a single payment and always paid days before the rent was due. Two months before our lease expired we indicated to Future Estate Pty Ltd that we were considering moving out as we were spending too much on transport to and from work. We asked whether they had properties to rent near my workplace but they did not have any so we did not move out until the end of our 6-month lease. A month or so before the end of our lease, Thando from Future Estate Pty Ltd emailed us that our deposit would be refunded after moving out and proceeded to ask whether we were still moving out and we said yes. A week before the end of our lease we communicated to Thando that we had not found the right house to move into and we asked to extend our lease for 4 days or so (without a promise to pay for all 4 days). Thando refused our request and suggested that we start renting one of their other property which was pricer, far away from work (yet again) and had less amenities. We communicated to her that the suggested property did not meet our family's needs. Thando was upset and demanded that we move out by the 12pm on the dot at the end of the month (contrary to our lease). Unfotuantely, my husband and I still hadn't found the right house at the end of the month so we ended up over staying by 4 days or so (as we predicted). After moving out and returning the keys, we wait a whole 19 days before emailing Thando to ask about our deposit refund. To our surprise, Thando emailed us back to inform us that she had decided to keep our deposit because we overstayed. We email her back to inform her that accordingly to the Rental Act, it is ******* to withhold a tenant's deposit and we indicated that we had placed a complaint with the Estate Agency Affairs Board. We will be placing a complaint with the Rental tribunal this week as we have not heard back from the owners Thando T and Willy S. This has been a great example of poor customer service hence we saw it fit to warn others against doing business with these two and their company Future Estate Pty Ltd.