Not honorable

In 2020 we signed to reserve a new home in Country Gardens Estate. The reservation was to reserve and fix the purchase price. We were extremely excited for what they were offering in terms of off-the-grid living. We told everyone about this unique new development and how it's going to change lives.

Then the delays started. At every point there was something new holding up the project. Then the news articles started popping up about evicted families from the land being claimed by Maxxliving for the development, the promises made and broken, and court orders to rebuild homes for those families. All things that the developer said right at the beginning they were handling amicably with the current residents. Apparently not. Then quality issues, council issues, ivestor issues ... and suddenly it's 2024 and phase 1 is yet to be completed.

Following a newsletter this month that things are starting to move again, we queried our original reservation as the newsletter mentioned price changes, which should be fixed for us, only to get a comment back saying our reservation agreement is "outdated" ... Maxxliving was not going to honor the agreement and pricing agreed to, citing various inflation and increase of costs of building supplies as reasons.

We were offered our reservation fee back from Maxxliving's own pocket (as this would have been paid to the realtor at the time (3sixty) and cancellation of our reservation, which we accepted as amicable resolution to our dispute so that we can move on. This was followed up with a mail asking to acknowledge the agreement. To date Maxxliving is now keeping quiet and has not confirmed the mail in any way. They have also not actioned the payment.

After final follow up on the 9th of this month (today), Maxxliving has taken the stance that we declined any proposed solutions based on a very emotional conversation with my partner, even though that very conversation was followed up with a formal email stating that we accepted the proposal for refund.

Their words "During our conversation, it became apparent that our attempts to assist were met with challenges. Request to remove your names from any association with Country Gardens Estate was received, though the manner in which it was conveyed gave us pause". Yes, my partner was upset. They changed the conditions of the reservation documents without notice and had no intent to honor the one we signed. So yes, she lashed out. But calm heads follow such conversations with written instructions, which I did. This is now conveniently being set aside and ignored. The fact that my partner and I are co-signatories, and my formal instruction is completely nullified by an emotional conversation with my partner seems like a convenient excuse by Maxxliving.

I do not find Maxxliving to be very honorable people. Quite the opposite. We will not be pursuing the matter further, as fighting a legal battle for a R5000 refund will cost more. So I am posting this as a warning to prospective buyers. Tread lightly around Maxxliving. Review news articles, talk to people who have been patiently waiting for the development to take off, and don't sign a reservation that claims to fix costs ... but doesnt.