Abandoned houses in Bryanston become criminal havens

Ward councillor of Ward 106, Stephen Moore said houses in Bryanston and Petervale, priced about the R1 million mark, were abandoned after the drop in the property market made them hard to sell.

He said, “The property market at the moment is down and people aren’t getting the prices they want. They also don’t get their rates clearance forms, so after a while these properties are just forgotten and abandoned.” Many of these houses have become places for vagrants to live.

He added, “For me its a very interesting phenomena which has arisen because owners just forget about and leave these big houses.”

One house on Main Road in Bryanston between Bryanston Drive and Bruton Road has been put under 24-hour security watch. Over the years this property has been stripped of lighting cables, furniture and vegetation in the garden has been cut down to start fires in the house.

Freddy Masegu, a security guard at the home said he was hired to look after the house because residents in the area expressed concern towards the high number of vagrants it attracted.

Masegu said, “When the homeless people and criminals came they would go absolutely crazy. So one of the neighbours hired us to keep them out.”

These properties and the activities which have arisen have affected the suburb of Bryanston greatly.

Moore said, “First and foremost these properties become serious hotspots for crime and various illegal activities. And because of this the property value drops in the area and people don’t like the idea of living next to or around the properties.”

Spokesperson for the Metro police, Wayne Minnaar said, “There is nothing any government agency can do about these houses because its up to the owners to maintain them, they are private properties.”

The spokesperson for the Sandton police, Captain Kym Cloete said, “Occasionally raids are done by the police on these premises, and we check fingerprints and IDs and evaluate if there is criminal activity on the property.”