Remax agent Centurion, Edward Lallyett

Any company is as good as its weakest link. This is certainly true of Remax. In 2020 I moved to midrand to assist my son. I rented out my property. A gentleman, Edward Lallyett of Remax was recommended to me. He insisted on painting the unit and offered to put up the awnings I had bought at a cost of R6000. I paid the money and trusted the work to be done. He then duly found tenants before covid and all went well.

After the year, the tenants wanted to sign for a second year, and as I had to relinquish my head is school post, being 60, I moved to Johannesburg to be closer to my mother.

Within a few months the tenants ran into difficulty and following Edward's advice, I released them from their contract. Edward said the house was left as it was found and I should return their full deposit plus interest, which I did.

On finding new tenants, Edward decided not to charge me his fibers fee again as it had only been a few months since I'd last paid him. This was his suggestion and now requested by me in any way. New tenants were inserted at a much lower rent so that I was making a loss each month of over R1000. As I was now planning to remain in Johannesburg, I asked Edward to sell my property. I gave him sole mandate.

My property remained on the market for 2 years with no interest, although he claimed he was showing it every week. In June this year I decided to revoke the sole mandate so the unit could get more exposure. Edward then informed me that the unit wasn't selling because it was dated and I should renovate using someone who he had found who quoted R10 000. I said no. He assured me that there was nothing wrong with my house, just it was dated.

On 1 September I contacted him because I had not received rent and utilities. He forwarded me a message from the tenant claiming that First national bank was not releasing her money. This sounded far fetched to me. I was told by Edward that I must use the deposit to cover my costs. Unfortunately the deposit was less than the rent and could only cover the bond. The utilities were R3000 for which I was expected to find money. I still have not been paid the difference between the rent plus utilities and the deposit but the result is that I do not have a deposit to cover breakages or the final utilities bill when the tenant moves out at the end of November.

During September the agent, Edward Lallyett, sent me an offer of a loan of R13000 to renovate the unit and a document to give him some mandate again. I began to get suspicious about things. When on 1 October I had not received rent and Edward was rude to me for asking about it, I decided to dismiss him.

My daughter drove me to Centurion to meet with him. We were supposed to inspect the unit but suddenly in the day that was cancelled. We met with Edward and told him we no longer needed his services. We would manage the unit on our own. I asked for the tenants contact details as, up till now he had never given them to me. He said he first needed to speak to the tenant.

We only received the contact details about 24 hours later. My daughter contacted the tenant and made arrangements to see the unit. When I got there I was dismayed. My unit was trashed. The side gate was ruled off, the glass door had huge cracks in it, the bathroom basin was damaged, the towel tail was hanging off, there had been a fire in the kitchen resulting in the cupboards being damaged, there was an unreported leak under the sink resulting in extreme damage to the shelf beneath, there was an unreported drain blockage or leash in the shower resulting in water damage to the wall. None of this was ever reported to me. I had to find it upon inspection.

The tenant claims she reported it all to Edward as it was how she found the place but refuses to forward the emails to us. Edward refused to forward the emails as well and is threatening to take us to the rental tribunal - i'm not sure what for as he was managing the unit until the beginning of October.

The whole matter is extremely unsettling and suspicious. It is very disappointing that a Remax agent would behave in this ********* way.