Altered Inspection Report & Unfair Deposit Handling – Pam Golding George

My experience with Pam Golding Properties George, specifically Jodine Louw (agent) and Stephen Murray (branch manager), has been extremely disappointing and raises serious concerns about fairness and transparency.

During the joint exit inspection, I signed the inspection form in good faith. After my signature, Jodine Louw added further defects to the inspection sheet without informing me or requesting my presence — despite knowing that I lived minutes away and could easily have attended. A signed inspection report should never be altered afterwards without notifying the tenant.

Following this, the landlord—who owns a construction company—proceeded to carry out repairs using his own company, and Pam Golding accepted his self-issued quotation without allowing me the opportunity to obtain independent quotes, even though tenants are responsible for repairs and should therefore be allowed to make decisions regarding cost. This creates a direct conflict of interest, especially when the work was already completed before any discussion.

Several charges appear unreasonable (e.g., R825 + VAT to remove 18 wall plugs), yet no independent verification or market comparison was done.

When I raised these concerns, Stephen Murray adjudicated the matter completely in favour of the landlord, despite acknowledging the concerns about the landlord using his own company. No proper explanation was given, and no transparency was provided regarding how “reasonableness” of the costs was assessed.

Because of these issues — the altered inspection form, lack of transparency, refusal to allow independent quotations, and the conflict of interest in approving the landlord’s own company’s pricing — I have now escalated the matter to the Rental Housing Tribunal.

My experience with Pam Golding George, through the actions of both Jodine Louw and Stephen Murray, has been unfair, non-transparent, and dismissive of tenant rights. Tenants using this branch should exercise extreme caution at exit inspections and insist that no changes be made after signing.