Tribunal mends relations between tenants and landlords

Many tenants do not know that their landlords are, by law, supposed to keep their rental deposits in an interest-bearing bank account where they grow and earn them interest until the lease agreement expires.

Makoanyane Lefosa, owner of TTM Corporate Consultants in the south of Johannesburg, had to approach the office of the Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal in 2017 after his landlady refused to pay him back his R6,500 deposit when he moved out of the property.  The matter was swiftly settled and the tribunal compelled his landlady to pay him the deposit including the interest his deposit accrued during his two-year tenancy.

Lefosa and his family had been renting a two-bedroom house in a complex in Ormonde from 2015 and he  decided to move out in 2017. 

He then approached the tribunal office to settle the matter. Lefosa had expressed dissatisfaction with the official who was handling the case and it was escalated to arbitration, where the landlord lost the case and was ordered to pay him his deposit plus interest within seven days.

“The process of the dispute resolution was explained from the initial stages. I was happy with their swift action,” said Lefosa.

The tribunal’s chairperson, Brenda Madumise, told Sowetan that her bench, comprising of eight lawyers and property law experts, was hearing about 10 matters a day since lockdown started in 2020. The tribunal is empowered by the rental housing act to subpoena individuals and companies for hearings and to make legally binding orders. Her office, which represents interests of both landlords and tenants, falls under the municipal human settlement department. Their services are free.

“Covid-19 disrupted the rental property space a lot because many tenants could not pay rent due to retrenchments and salary cuts. Landlords still cannot evict non-paying tenants unless they can show us why it is necessary for the tenant to vacate the property. Even before that process starts, in our mediation stage the tenant will be given options such as paying reduced rent for a certain period. Most landlords were willing to take reduced rent but unfortunately some tenants abuse the lockdown rental legislation and we have to step in,” said Madumise.

The tribunal has received a lot of backlash on social media and even has a 1.9 rating (out 10) on product and service rating website Hellopeter.com for various reasons but mostly slow turnaround time for cases, lack of responses and unanswered calls and emails.

Madumise said they started having virtual hearings in July.

“We are having capacity and resources issues which we have escalated to the human settlements office. Sometimes the phones don’t work and we also have staff shortage and technology problems and cannot respond to emails efficiently. I accept the criticism we are receiving and these issues are being taken care of,” said Madumise.

Among the issues they deal with are disputes over the payment of estate agents and wear and tear matters in the property.

“We have seen a lot of cases where landlords would charge tenants for wear and tear and in some cases even cut their lights or withhold the deposit. Maintenance is the responsibility of the landlord. Tenants are entitled to withhold rent payment if maintenance is not being done but they have to show us that they have been making such requests, hence it’s important to document all communication with the landlord,” said Madumise.

The Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal can be reached on (011) 630-5035 or on these emails: betty.kgobe@gauteng.gov.za, zain.mclaren@gauteng.gov.za and keletso.makeng@gauteng.gov.za 

Practical tips for tenants and landlords 

Tips for tenants

• Create a master file for your lease agreement, the form of communication and correspondence with your landlady/landlord, receipts, rent statements and joint entry inspection checklists.
• Establish upfront whether rent is inclusive of municipal services.
• Your deposit should be kept in an interest-bearing account held by a financial institution and tenants have a right to request a statement of the interest earned on the money at any time during their tenancy. The deposit and its interest should be paid out to the tenant when the lease agreement expires.
• Use tribunal information offices situated in different municipal offices across Gauteng for advice.

Tips for landlords

• Act immediately once a tenant fails to pay rent by approaching the tribunal for an order instead of resorting to self-help mechanisms that are unlawful.
• Issue receipts as proof of payment of rent.
• Keep a record of municipal statements.

Types of disputes received by the tribunal  in 2021 

Non-payment of rent = 37.78%    

Deposit = 13.7%

Eviction = 10.94%            

Cut off of services = 9.67%

Lockout = 7.5%

Lease = 7.38%                  

Charges rental/services  = 5.7%

Maintenance = 3.29%      

Attachment = 2.47%        

Damages = 1.56%