********* and ******** estate agent practice

<p>Our company rented a commercial premises from Permanent Trust 3 years ago. We were told a mandatory 3 months depost + 1 months rent up front was required which we paid. The first couple of months we would receive exorbitant water bills of between R600 - R700, this concerned us as our other larger store would only use R80 - R100 of water a month. We were told all the shops in the building received one bill and that bill was split between all the tenants and the large water bills would be taken up with council. Although unhappy with these amounts, and although we were given no proof / reading of actual water used (nor did it state in our lease that we were liable for a % of a total bill) we continued paying these bills out of good faith. After approximately one year these bills reduced drastically to no more than R100 a month and after a conversation with the caretaker he informed us he had found a leak in one of the other shops in the building. We received a small rebate once throughout that period but not nearly as much as what we had been over charged. We decided not to take this further at the time. Fast forward 3 years and we decided to vacate the building, we gave notice and were told there was a penalty for lease cancellation, we found this a bit unfair as we were tenants who always paid their rent and never requested one bit of maintenance but to keep the peace we agreed to the cancellation fee. We were then told we would have to have the building ready for inspection 3 days prior to the end of the month for which rent had been paid for in full, this was not possible as our business still needed to trade and our shelving was still up till the last paid day. We offered for the estate agents to collect the keys and inspect at 6pm on the 31st day of the month, they requested we leave the keys with the tenant next door and the next day received an email claiming the building was not in the same condition as what we received it in. We were refused our deposit refund without any proof / invoices. Only 7 weeks after vacating the premises and many emails back and forth requesting our deposit or proof of damages were we given hand written invoices (from a company who doesnt seem to exist) for damages to walls and carpets, damages we denied resposibility for. Now we are left we no other option but to take matters further in order to receive the money owing to us and to expose a company for its poor ethics. </p>