WARNUNG: DO NOT STAY AT THE MADISON, UMHLANGA

My name is Phumelele Bohlela - tenant at unit 33 Madison Umhlanga. I am lodging a complaint against my landlord, Dr Parag, and the caretaker of the building, Mervin. I have just relocated from Port Shepstone to Durban and made arrangements with the landlord to move in on the 3rd of February 2020 on a 6 month lease as per our mutual agreement. The disgusting service I have encountered between the landlord and building manager is what has led me to lodge this complaint.

1. I was not informed by the landlord that I could not move in after 16h30. Upon my arrival with the movers I was denied access by the security company. We went back and forth between the landlord, building manager and security guards on reaching a compromise. The landlord acknowledged that the lack of communication was his fault and the best he could offer was for me to bring my stuff to his practice in Sydenham and sleep over there then move into the apartment the following day. I raised the concern that I would incur additional costs for the travel between Sydenham and umhlanga as well as the hired trailer and movers, so it did not make sense for me to go this route. I ended up saying at a hotel and parking the van and trailer at the hotel underground parking; with the 4 movers sleeping on the floor in my "new" apartment. I absorbed all these costs which came to an additional R2500. (R1100 hotel + R400 trailer + R250 per moving contractor). 2. The following day I arrived with the items and was told to pay R500 for the moving of my stuff. Mervin apologised for the inconvenience caused and asked that I leave a copy of the trailer's invoice with him for the landlord to sort out. I was also informed by Mervin and Sbonelo (the guy who was to accompany the movers during the move) that my parking bay is Level -1 Parking Bay 43. I took note of all of this and left the movers with the building manager. The agreement was that Mervin would contact me about the keys and reimbursable of the deposit when the movers were done with my move. I was in alignment with this arrangement and made my way to the office at 9am. 3. I was contacted by the movers at 12pm to tell me they were done with their move and were back to Port Shepstone. They then told me that Mervin said he would keep R100 of the R500 deposit because a door was damaged and a wall driven into. Something which the movers said did not happen and were concerned about Mervin keeping this money for no reason. I was shocked to hear this and after my meeting at 1pm contacted Mervin to get his side of the story and understand what happened. Mervin was very rude and said he was doing me a favour by letting me in the apartment since yesterday I had arrived after hours. I enquired about the supposed damage to which Mervin said "it is fine don't worry about it" to which I insisted I get the real story of what happened as I was not comfortable with the accusations and no proof nor being informed. Mervin said that the day was not yet over and he was still going to call me. The manner that our conversation went after that ended up with him swearing at me saying " I am not your ****ing boss" and "Contact your ****en landlord". Soon after that I received a Whatsapp text that said my parking bay was now Level -1 Parking Bay 89. Littl3 did i know that this bay is outside the lockable gate at The Madison . I was also told by Mervin that my keys and R500 deposit were with the security guards. I collected this after returning from work.

4. I contacted Mervin in the morning about the the parking bay and also made the landlord aware of this. I requested a 3 way meeting with Mervin, Dr Parag and myself - to which the landlord agreed and said he would facilitate. 5. I texted the landlord in the afternoon to find out when we would be meeting as I needed to plan my afternoon. He responded to me via email saying he works until 7pm and I called him immediately when I saw this email to which his response ws I must drive to Sydenham if I want to see him as he is a doctor and works very late.

I then made a decision that I will be moving out of the unit at the end of the month (29 February 2020) as I cannot live in a place that treats customers in this way.

I am raising this with the body corporate as I personally feel that the manner that the building manager and landlord handled this whole matter is unacceptable and should be attended to as a matter of urgency. I have incurred additional emotional and financial costs and would appreciate having this dealt with by the body corporate of the Madison. I have all the correspondence but can’t attach here.