Couple left homeless after demanding what was promised by lifestyle development company

A young Johannesburg couple has been left in the lurch after being kicked out of their new apartment for requesting better living conditions from the managers of a new Johannesburg development called HOMii Lifestyle.

The building which was launched in Johannesburg December amid much fanfare was advertised as “uber-trendy living along with free Wi-Fi, access control with facial recognition, 24-hour security, CCTV surveillance and laundry facilities”.

According to its website: “HOMii is disrupting the South African property rental market by leveraging technology, a deep commitment to the community and creating aspirational, lifestyle-centric living spaces while allowing ease of availability to all.”

They describe their offering as “an eco-system of trendy co-living rooms, private apartments, daily suites, co-working, wellness and lifestyle spaces all stitched together with hotel amenities and events, all in a single building”.

They also have locations in other provinces such as Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Launching our new building in Durban tonight!! Hello @Homii_Living… one city at a time! 💐💕🎉 pic.twitter.com/MQNcsCgP3o

— Bonang Matheba 👑 (@Bonang) December 7, 2019

A young man by the name of Apinda Ximbi highlighted his experience with the brand on Thursday as well as the events that led up to him and his girlfriend allegedly being thrown out of their accommodation by the building’s managers for requesting the things they had paid for. 

According to Ximbi, he found out about the development ahead of their launch event last year in November while looking for a new place to stay. 

“I came across #HOMiiLifestyle and they were advertising fully furnished apartments and were opening in the following month. This was what they advertised and I was immediately hooked,” he tweeted. 

In November 2019, I was looking for a new place to stay. I came across #HOMiiLifestyle and they were advertising fully furnished apartments and were opening in the following month. This was what they advertised and I was immediately hooked. pic.twitter.com/keAmiFiTYD

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

Me and my girlfriend talked about It, she went to view and a decision was made to occupy #HOMiiLifestyleas soon as they opened. We called @mtimkulundlela @mphokoqopapi, @TheEllipsis_ZA and some more friends to help us move and we did. Boy, did we not know what was coming for us! pic.twitter.com/5Pd412GL8i

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

The application and payment process went smoothly and upon confirmation of receipt of their payment, Ximbi and his girlfriend were reportedly given the go-ahead to move in by whichever Homii representative they had been in touch with. 

They were, however, later disappointed when they were moved to a room that had none of the amenities they were promised. And it was not long before they and other tenants were met with a host of problems while living in the building. 

“Their pricing is very inconsistent. You’ll find that they tell one person that an apartment is R5,100 and they will tell another person that it is R5,300,” said Ximbi in an interview with the Citizen.

HOMii has no pricing listed publically and prices for accommodation are only provided upon request.

Ximbi added that in the process of trying to reach a resolution with HOMii, he and the other tenants learned some people were paying less for much larger rooms while some people in smaller rooms were being charged more in rent.

He also stated that the application process was practically non-existent and alleged that room availability was dependent on whether or not you could afford to make the payment on the spot.

Ximbi accused the building managers of not being very clear on what they advertised in addition to under-delivering or not delivering at all on promises such as unlimited Wi-Fi, furniture in rooms, cleaning services, free access to communal entertainment areas and so forth.

We picked and booked for the abovementioned "Furnished Bachelor" apartment and paid prior to us moving and they told us to come in on the 1st of December, after 12 and we'll get to a ready room. When we got there, around 2pm, they FORCED us to a different room with NOTHING.

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

Okay, cool. I started running up and down and a bed was delivered, the promised appliances also got delivered but now there was no fridge. We had no place for groceries and that meant living on takeaways until the 10th of December when they gave us a BAR Fridge #HOMiiLifestyle

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

Let me not drag this out too long. The problems we had after that were:

Rooms and toilets were not ventilated.
Rooms were not fully facilitated.
Electricity was faulty.
You had to SCREAM for someone to bring the lift to you#HOMiiLifestyle

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

At the behest of another tenant who had experienced similar problems, they banded together to compile a document containing a list of all the problems they had experienced which they presented to building management an effort to get them to fix it, but their pleas were reportedly not dealt with adequately. 

Among the problems tenants highlighted were fluctuating pricing, items not provided as promised, items provided in sub-par condition, safety concerns, incorrect room assignments as well as no ventilation in the rooms and bathrooms. 

https://twitter.com/apinda_x/status/1227883840418566145?s=20

And around the same time @LeeboKayy was harassed by one of the residents and she reported it to security alongside their building administrators. They literally asked her to forgive him and withheld the video footage. We had to deal with this as residents. #HOMiiLifestyle pic.twitter.com/2oTnEwITwy

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

In correspondence between Ximbi and a previous employee of the company who worked as a management executive, the unnamed executive acknowledged receipt of the list and responded with a list of his own detailing what problems building management had seen to as well as what problems were yet to be fixed.  

https://twitter.com/LeeboKayy/status/1227752206419550208?s=20

However, very few of the tenants’ demands seemed to have been adequately met.

After further correspondence, Ximbi claims the building management tried to placate angry tenants with discounts before informing him that they had opted to instead terminate their rental agreement with him and his girlfriend, leaving them with no place to stay. 

They were refunded their money but only given less than 24 hours to vacate the apartment.

He told the Citizen that he was not the only person who was kicked out as a result of this series of events.

I started sending emails requesting they either fix the ventilation or please move me to a new room and then BOOM! I get this #HOMiiLifestyle – https://t.co/eeo1Rsjayf

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

We currently have no place to stay, have to stress about a new apartment, bed, fridge, etc because a brand decided that they'd rather kick us out for having a problem with their service than to fix them.

— don pedro (@apinda_x) February 13, 2020

According to recent reports by Gauteng Newspaper, the building is still under construction and this had caused frustration among some of the residents.

Additionally, they are surprised with costs they claim not to have been made aware of such as a R100-fee they have to pay per guest they bring home. The money is only refunded on condition that a guest does not spend the night.

They also have to deal with noise and debris from on-going construction, an intermittent power supply that is not as a result of load shedding and an intermittent water supply which is linked to the power.

Various requests for comment from HOMii Lifestyle by the Citizen went unanswered at the time time of publishing.

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