Tenant Who Just Won't Budge

SCAM: DESPERATE HOMEOWNER SAYS RENT DEFAULTER USED FAKE DOCUMENTS AND PAYSLIPS

- Adriaan Kruger

South Africans are no strangers to bureaucratic indifference. But sometimes a single story reveals just how deeply systemic failure has set in. A Moneyweb reader, at her wit's end, shared her sad tale of losing more than R500,000 after a tenant moved into her house under false pretenses, then refused to pay rent and won't leave.

The e-mail describes the owner's serious dilemma and highlights the risks of investing in rental property. She said the elaborate scam involves fake documents, visa violations, falsified payslips and a brazen abuse of legal processes.

The reader owns a R4.5 million property in Parkwood and she said almost every institution charged with protecting honest citizens—including the Rental Housing Tribunal, the police, SA Revenue Service (SARS), the department of home affairs, banks and the courts—has failed to act.

"This isn't just about me," she said. "This is happening to people all over the country. Just because we are ordinary South Africans, we are expected to absorb the loss and move on.

"Must we accept that this is just the way things are? I have the evidence to show how to thrive illegally in this country and get away with it."

The facts are straightforward. The owner leased her property to a man who arrived in a Land Rover, claiming to run multiple businesses. He promised to pay six months' rent upfront into a trust account. Needless to say, that never happened.

"He paid rent for the first three months. Then nothing. After a protracted battle, I managed to extract another three months' payment. Since then, for more than seven months, not a cent.

"Meanwhile, rates and taxes have gone unpaid, my bond with Investec is under pressure and my overdraft facility has been threatened," she said.

The reader said she had to sell her car, take on extra consulting work and drained her savings to keep the house from being repossessed.