In March of 2010 we approached a Shopping Center Complex situated in Westbeach Blouberg in view of renting office space for a new business we wanted to open i.e a Recruitment Consultancy, Time2Move Recruitment and Selection Specialists. The reason for choosing the specific complex was that over a period of time monitoring the available complex we discovered that there were a lot of empty offices in the complex available due to the fact that the Anchor tenant which occupied this small center, closed their doors some time back and we felt that there was a chance of renting some space at a better negotiated rate than we usually would have had to pay else where per square meter, as the premises were standing empty for quite some time. We met up with the appropriate Rental Agent Consultant of Rennies Properties at the time, discussed what our requirements would be etc, and was asked to put in an "Offer to Lease". The appropriate forms were emailed to us and we completed the necessary and forwarded it back to them as when we received it there were a few changes that needed to be made as per or discussion earlier. We offered a monthly rental of R2590.00 and requested that we rent the premises for a year period ONLY as it was a new business and we first wanted to monitor how the business is doing within its first year before continueing with a longer lease. We explained that we would have to have a small enclosed office on the premises where confidential interviewing can take place and asked if they would be able to do it for us. We were told that the landlord is not prepared to spend more money on the center and that it would have to be for our own account to do a dry wall partitioning but that they would in principal not have a problem with us doing so. Al said and done, we were asked to pay quite a large deposit of almost R12 000.00 for an office of approx 37 square meters in total. We paid this amount over to them as requested and got permission to start moving in during the month of March with the contract going to commence with effect 1 April 2011. Prior to us moving into these premises there were another tenant occupying the same premises called Pandora's Box, a small clothing boutique. When we initially went to look at the empty vacant properties at the complex, there were a slightly bigger office that we were keen on, but when we wanted it was told that Pandora's box already requested to move from where they were and that the bigger office space was then no longer available. Hence the reason why we decided to then take the next option of leasing the 37 square meters which Pandora's Box occupied, which in effect was actually a far better option to us than the one we were keen on. Everything said and paperwork done, we were telephonically informed about the amount to be paid as deposit and was told that our offer has been accepted. We started moving in and getting on with setting up our office in the said premises. We took over from Pandora's as is. Carpets were not cleaned by the Lessor, wall's were not painted etc etc. We attach a photo or two of what it looked like after we moved in there and also refer to Mr. Graeme Hyde's letter we received where he complimented us on what we have achieved at the premises and for adding a dash of style to the center's office front.
The deposit request covered the first months rental as should be the standard procedure with office rental, meaning that we paid for April 2011 upfront. In April another member of Rennies Properties arrived with the typed up contract to be signed and initialed as per normal specification which I did assuming that everything that was telephonically discussed and agreed to is now in the new contract. At the end of April 2011 I received my first invoice from Rennies, and immediately detected a difference on the invoice with regards the rental amount charged. In stead of the R2590.00 monthly rental suddenly an amount, increased with R400.00 appeared. I immediately queried this via email and told them that that was not the amount as initialy agreed on? I was then told that I am being charged an extra R400.00 for "sundries". I told them that if that is the case I need these sundries specified on my account and not just being reflected as: rental amount R2950.00 as I then do not know what I am paying for.I asked them to rectify my account by braking it down as: R2590.00 rental and R400.00 sundry costs, and specifying the sundries ceperate so I can clearly see what I am paying for in total.At this stage quite prepared to have to pay this amount if that is the case. However I then received a letter regarding my query back from a Mr. Graeme Hyde at Rennies which I attach for your perusal saying that "sundries costs" were actually the wrong choice of words as the reason for paying R2960.00 in stead of the agreed R2590.00 is that the Landlord specifically wanted R80.00 per square meter for the premises rental and that I have been misinformed? Now, ...I agree that that might have been the case, but in principal, I argued that if the Rental Agent new the Landlord wanted a specific rental amount for the said premises i.e R80.00 per square meter, why then ask me to complete an Offer to Lease and approve that and then at contract stage AFTER I have already occupied the premises come back to me, fist lie and trying to cover it off with something else and then turn around and tell me that this was the expected income required from the Landlord. Further more I wish to emphasize that these premises has been standing empty for long periods of time and some are still empty as of today and that everyone knew they were battling to find tenants for this center due to the withdrawal of an Anchor tenant almost a year prior to this? I have made several attempts to get this sorted but was getting no where as Rennies just insisted that I signed the contract and that's that. I told them that I was unhappy with this and that I will not be considering renewing my contract when it expired after a year as they did not stick to the original agreement before that is sorted and rectified and a new contract is done as per what I initially requested they should know that I will not even given a further lease any consideration. With the large deposit I have made I was advised to pay my rental whilst this dispute is going on as we were scared that by the end of the lease period they would simply deduct all that extra R400.00 off the deposit which we did not want to happen. Upon the signature of the contract and when we discovered that there has been a discrepency on the rental amount, we requested a copy of the Contract in order to take this matter further. We received the first copy of this contract almost a year later: dated 07 February 2011, from a Gabrielle Gottschalk, the Lease Administrator at Rennies and a person we have never had any dealings with before? The contract was made out in the name of JD Willmot Recruitment and Selection Specialists name and not the cc's name who has been trading their now for almost a year already Time2Move Recruitment and Selection Specialists? JD Willmot never rented the premises to start with and where they got the rest of it I could only imagine.? The said copy was hand delivered to us on the 23 of March by the Security officer at Westport Square. Where it has been from the date 07 February 2011 until 23 March 2011, no one can explain. In the interum, during the beginning of this year we have been informed twice about Rental Company's who would be taking over from Rennies and that there were chances of the building going into liquodation as well as ownership changes etc etc. Firstly we were informed that a Rental agency AVOCADO will be taking over from Rennies and all rentals to be paid into their account, shortly thereafter it changed again and we were informed via a writing dated 4 March 2011 that Pentz Properties has now taken over as and with effect 03/01/2011, at which point according to our records Rennies were still the Rental Agent? Nevertheless... we were concerned about all the movement and uncertainty and started questioning what happened to our Deposit monies and if that would still be safe and taken care of with all the takeovers etc, just to find out that no one could tell us what happened to the deposit made by ourselves of R12000.00. Even with our first meeting at the premises of Pentz Properties on their request on the 17th of March 2011 they did not know what happened to our deposit monies and were going to get back to us when we queried it? The anchor tenant everyone was hoping for that would have occupy the now almost two year empty standing premises at Westport Square has also simply been promises and hear say and is still vacant as of today. Such an anchor tenant would have meant ongoing extra business for all tenants in the complex as it would have meant exposure and passing trade, instead Westport Square became a delapodated graveyard of non activity which has been extremely bad for everyone in the center. The constant confusion of things changing and an Anchor tenant being promised to the center, the despute about the actual rental monies and not knowing what happened to your deposit and various different feedback recieved made us decide not to continue with our lease and leave at the end of April when our lease expired. We did not pay Pentz Properties for March and April 2011 as they at the time could not give us an explination as to what happened to our R12000.00 deposit and we told them that they can deduct the monies from the deposit as we did not want to take the loss should something has happened to our deposit. The Rental agent at Penz Properties then turned arround and expected us to give two months notice, which means she demanded that we pay them three months rental, I.e: March, April and for May 2011. Please refer to our contract and the one year lease we negotiated ending/expiring end April 2011 and prior issues that there was and that we then already informed the Rental agents that we would not be renewing the lease for a further period. I will attached as much information to this complaint as possible but believe it is getting so involved that it would only be able to be understood should we be able to get together to explain things in more depth. However we are of the opinion that the Rental agents are out there to look ONLY after their own pockets and that we as the Lessee in this case is having to bite off the financial loss due to incompetancy on their behalf and for errors that was made not being rectified. We are feeling strongly about this misconduct and unfair treatment and has also reported this to the EBBA. Please advise as to what we need to do next or how to go about sorting this issue, professionally and promptly. There has now also been claims from the new Leasing agents for "damages" according to them to the premises, but we wish to refer again to us being complimented on our offices in the letter of Mr Graeme Hyde which is contradictory to what we are being accused of, there is still an outstanding query from us on a electricity issue at the said premises referring to a geyser that was connected to our electricity board, and standing on for almost an entire year but in actual fact was next door in the empty standing premises previously occupied by the Anchor tenant Spar, and us being charged for it on our electricity consumption, etc etc. It seems extremely unfair that the "man in the street always have to be the victum of corporate greed and that estate agency's can just get away with "murder" and no one does something about it? I trust that my complaint meets all your requirements and that you find enough reason to investigate this matter in full. Best wishes Johann Willmot