Refundable Deposit

Refundable Deposit

I signed a 1 year lease agreement with Pick-a-home from the 1-12-2017 and then a month to month rental afterwards with the owner herself, named Betsie. Since I received my water & lights statement from day one, I had to query it, because I was charged for previous tenants charges and or even charges that belong to the landlord. I queried it with Betsie, the owner of Pick-a-home real estates and she said I should query it with the Body Corporate who issues the statements. I called the body corporate and spoke to Ria, who informed me that she e-mails the statement to Pick-a-home and they then forward it to me. I stood my ground and called Betsie and requested an explanation why I should pay charges that is not for me, she then marked the charges on the statement that I should pay for of which I said it is okay, because it was explained to me. The bill came to (R500.00+). As the months went by the charges for the Sewerage and Refuse removal started to fluctuate and the bill came to R758.00+ until I received the statement for the 1st of May 2019, reflecting amount owed R2658.51. I admit that I was in areas with amount R946.71 for March 2019 and made a payment of R1790.00 into her personal account as this was the account furnished to us when we signed the Contract with Pick-a-home on the Pick-a-home Letterhead and she will then pay the money over to the Body Corporate. On the 4th of March 2019 I messaged Betsie to inform her that I made the payment of R1790.00 of which she said Thank you. then on the 30th of March 2019 i received a message from her stating that I owe R758.21. We then had an argument and I told her that I refused to pay for charges that is not mine and she must do what she think is right. She then gave us notice for the 31st of May 2019. I accepted, because I did not have the finances to budget every month for unnecessary charges.

I vacated the premises on the 31st of May 2019 as requested to do so. Betsie never called me to make arrangements for the keys, I had to call her on the evening of the 1st of June 2019 about the handing over of the keys. We arranged for it to be handed over on the Monday 3rd of June 2019 after work. I then asked her about the refundable deposit and she was not very happy about it and said it should be paid out to me at the end of June 2019. I said to her I don't agree with that, because she was the one who gave me notice. I called her last week to ask if she requested for the final statement and she informed me that she was out of office, but at the same time she informed me that she had given the office instruction to request a final statement.

I just feel it is very frustrating and unfair for me to wait for my deposit, since I had to budget on finding ways for a new deposit. This made quite a huge impact on my budget.

I want this sorted out as soon as possible , as this is creating a huge inconvenience for me and my family .