Take no accountability for the agreements they manage, always passing the buck. Totally shocking service!

I have had a lease agreement managed by Jawits Properties in Table View for a few years now. For the past year and a bit I have had many issues with the tenant(and Jawitz), who initially did not pass my specifications I had made to my agent Maria Thomas but was advised that the person had been vetted and she was sure he would make a good tenant.

Rent has never been paid on time, sometimes not paid at all. I received complaints from the Body Corporate and Caretaker that there were domestic disturbances and my flat was being *******ly sub-let to another individual. I had someone go and take pictures of the property for me as I had relocated to another province and the images I received back were horrific.

I advised Maria Thomas my agent at Jawitz Properties as well as her manager Corne Davidtz. Maria Thomas told me that she did not know what the Body Corporate had against the tenant Ric Bachala and that he was a good tenant and she convinced me to overlook this.

The rental payment issues persisted and on a number of times the tenant was given an eviction notice, Again Maria would ask me to give the tenant a chance and on one occasion I asked that the tenant be made to sign a letter that stated he gave us authority to immediately evict him should he fail to pay rent again. The letter was drafted by Jawitz and signed by the tenant and Maria Thomas agreed that this a legal document and would protect me in such a case.

Needless to say the payment issues persisted and we agreed that I should expect the rent to paid by the 5th of the month which I again accepted, when this still became a challenge I asked Jawitz Properties to remove this tenant as they had drafted a legal document signed by the client to evict him only to be told that they cannot evict him. This is after the contract term had ended, and as per the lease agreement the contract would now be on a month to month basis and according to the contract the terms of the original contact did not apply. This is after Jawitz had drafted a document they agreed was legal, and now claimed it wasn't. Why was this document put in place in the 1st place if Jawitz knew it would not hold or serve its purpose?

It is now January 2018 and the tenant has not paid rent for more than 3 months, but has enjoyed accommodation at my premises, and profit from *******ly sub-letting. This has cost me almost R 20, 000.00. Jawitz tells me there is nothing they can do, and I must spend another R 20, 000.00 on an attorney to have the person evicted from my property.

If Jawitz has acted on the information of the ******* sub-letting they denied as well as other allegations they would have had the grounds to terminate the agreement. Instead they protected the culprit and failed to provide me as their client a service I pay for. I have sold my property and the new owner was due to move in November as Jawitz had told me they served the tenant with a notice and he would be out by September. This did not happen as they tenant simply refused and Jawitz again say it is out of their hands. The incoming owner has had to incur accommodation costs as tehy are also relocating to Cape Town and I have lost rental income for months.

When I call their office, there is no escalation process. The manager Corne Davitz is never there and does not answer her cellphone nor get back to me. Their stuff is rude and dropped the phone on me, an understandably frustrated client looking for service and solutions. I entrusted my property to an agent as I was relocating so it would make my life easier and I would not have to deal with this and any other issues and was made all sort of promises to sign Maria Thomas as an agent but when the problems start there is absolutely nothing that they take accountability for, and nothing is their fault or within their control.

What do rental agents do if they cannot protect property owners who pay for their services besides receiving money from one party and transferring it to the other? Why would they produce a document to be signed that protects me as the client if they know this document holds no authority? Why would an agent protect someone who is conducting ******* sub-letting of a property they are not even paying for? At one point an excuse that the property is not in a good condition was raised by the tenant through the agent and I agreed that money be taken from rent due and reparations be made in September or earlier and I am made to understand that this was never done.

Absolutely useless. The tenant has seen that Jawitz does not care about my property or me as a client and is now taking advantage of the fact that I am in another province and know that Jawitz will do nothing about it. If I am going to spend money on an attorney it would rather be against Jawitz because they got me into this mess and refused to take action and denied information of ******* acts taking place in a property they were managing and informed of.