Promised the damp would be fixed. Five months of black mould with our baby, and it never was...

In February 2026 my wife and I moved into a house in Bluewater Bay with our baby daughter, rented through Pam Golding Properties Port Elizabeth. Five months later we moved out of a house that the office's own inspector described as having "dampness coming through the walls throughout the house", with almost none of the promised repairs done. I'm sharing what happened in between so that no other family goes through it.

We didn't view the house in person, because we wanted to apply before the viewings. Before we signed, the marks on the walls were explained to us as fresh plaster and paint that hadn't dried yet, and we were told they would be repaired. We trusted that, signed the lease and paid.

The mandatory disclosure form, the document that is supposed to tell tenants about known problems, said "No" to damp, wet walls and mould. We were only handed it to sign on moving-in day, after we had already signed and paid.

On that same day the promises were put in writing. The office's ingoing inspection recorded damp lounge walls that the owner "was to repair before a tenant moved in but has been delayed". The office's own checklist said the damp walls in the lounge, entertainment area and passage were to be replastered and painted, and the inspection noted the garage door would be replaced by 15 March.

Instead, four days in, I was reporting black mould on two ceilings. By mid-March the damp was spreading around the plug points and our TV burnt out on one of them. Two assessors told us it wasn't unfinished paint at all, but a leak inside the walls. The mouldy ceiling at the front entrance was opened up and then left exposed for over a month, right by the door we carried our baby through every day.

In late March, when a new contractor visit was being arranged, the agent said "I will let you know". Over two weeks later nothing had been arranged, so I sent a formal written demand. In April we were told the repair was a two-phase job: lift the paving, waterproof the foundation, then fix the inside. The principal told us the house was probably not suitable for a family with a young child, and in late April he emailed that the office would revert on the outstanding issues "asap". We heard nothing more about the repairs before we gave notice in July.

In five months the only repairs were the entrance ceiling and part of the roof in late April, and a toilet seal. By July the mould was back on that same ceiling. Meanwhile we had water running down the walls and a ceiling leak. We were allowed to leave without penalty, but finding another home took three months, so we lived with it until August.

At handover, the office's own outgoing inspection recorded "Dampness coming through the walls throughout the house". The garage door that was due by 15 March still had not been replaced, and a bathroom lock the inspector noted "was supposed to be fixed when tenants moved in" still didn't lock.

To be fair, when our electricity was blocked in the first week because of old municipal arrears, the office paid them the same day, and our deposit was refunded less an agreed deduction.

Complaints to the PPRA and the Rental Housing Tribunal are still open. My advice to any tenant: view the house yourself, get the signed disclosure form before you sign the lease or pay a cent, and get every promised repair in writing with a date.