Disgusting behaviour from John De Melo

My mother-in-law and I were in the process of purchasing a property- 6 Jackson Terrance, West Turfontein. We submitted a purchase offer to the owner with an offer of R400 000 through the leasing agent Roger De Sousa with RE/MAX All Starts- Team Khaya.. The offer was accepted by the owner and we went to Remax and met with Roger and John De Melo. John took us through everything and how the process would unfold going forward. He said we could put down a deposit to secure our offer and the rest would be paid just before the registration of the property. We agreed to an amount of R100 000.00 to be paid by 21 November 2023.

John also called the conveyancer in front of us to find out when the property can be registered, she said we can register by the 20th of December or the end of Jan once everything is open. We asked for the registration to be completed quicker so we selected the 20th of December. The deposit was paid on the 15th of November 2023. We sent an email to John and Roger informing them that the deposit has been made and they can now remove the ad from Property 24. On the 17th of November, John responded that he would issue the formal property instruction on Monday and the ad would taken down in a few days.

On the 20th of November, we received the first update from Remax that the transfer attorney had been instructed. On the 21st of November, Mechelle Cordero from CORDERO INC sent a communication that she would be handling the registration of the property and she requested some information which I sent. Then there was silence. My husband was in constant communication with John and Roger via email and WhatsApp asking for an update, asking when should get ready to pay the remaining amount etc, but there was no clear response from anyone.

We called the conveyancer MECHELLE CORDERO and she never answered one of our calls. We started getting suspicious and my husband WhatsApped John again. On 4 December 2023 John responded that the property won't be registered in Dec only mid-February and that was it. We left it at that. Then on the 20th of December, we asked a friend to call about the property and she spoke to John, John said the property is still available and there haven't been any serious offers made for the property. The price at R475 000.00 and was nonnegotiable, he also informed her to request a viewing via WhatsApp. We recorded the conversation.

So we called John immediately after this incident and asked him what was going on because at this point we were frustrated that no one was communicating with us or updating us, and the lawyer has never answered one call so now we are very suspicious. He proceeded to scream at us over the phone and tell us that we are tricking him and that he was canceling the sale and refunding the money. He dropped the phone as we tried speaking to him civilly and then sent us a message that he was canceling the sale and it was not negotiable. I didn't respond to his text as a legally binding document was signed so he can't just wake up and decide that he feels like canceling the deal.

We called Roger and he didn't know what was going on so we arranged to meet him the next day and go to the conveyancer. When we met with Roger on the 21st of December the truth came out. John was lying to us and hiding the fact that the owner of the property owed a shortfall to the bank of around R160,000. So John was trying to buy some time. This made us even more upset because of the manipulation and lies that were told to us to try and cover John from this mess. As a professional, this is serious misconduct and it is very disappointing that such a reputable agency can have a representative who can lie, manipulate, and deceive customers to this level. Instead of being forthcoming and telling us what was happening, he manipulated the situation to seem like we were the wrong ones so he would cancel the deal and refund us. A professional should be very well aware of the fact that a legally binding document was signed and you can't just decide that you don't feel like it anymore so the deal is off. On the day Roger explained what was happening we stopped by the Conveyancers offices as she was also playing a game and not answering any of our calls, and she claimed that she never received any calls from us. When we got there she explained the shortfall problem and said she had informed John to inform us over a week ago. She thought that was already sorted but obviously, we wouldn't have been there if that was the case. We asked her to refund the money and she did on 21 December 2023.

This entire situation was extremely unprofessional and John's behavior was disgusting. Honesty is so crucial and John wasn't only dishonest, he was manipulative, rude, and aggressive because he got caught in this little game he was playing. This whole situation made sense as to why the ad was never removed, I am sure John knew about the shortfall a while back and he was still trying to get more offers on the property as he tried to figure out how he could get out of this mess at our expense. Disgusting behavior, being screamed at like we are kids and all this behavior from a so-called professional. We have some recordings of the conversations that took place as well if required.

I would like this agent to be dealt with accordingly for misconduct. I am not sure how the PPRA deals with such complaints but I have reported him as no client deserves to be undermined because I look like I'm illiterate or because of my race etc.

I am a professional myself and I could never think of conducting myself in this manner in my professional space as I know that the repercussions from my Council will not be light.