A man was defrauded of thousands of rands by a property agent who was allegedly operating illegally.
On July 1, Mr Nate Macmillan sought out a property in eMalahleni and visited various websites including Property24.
“Property24 on the face of it seems to have bona fide estate agents. I saw a few properties and sent a message for the agent,” said Macmillan.
Shortly afterwards he received a call from an estate agent from S&J Rentals.
The estate agent continued to keep in contact with Macmillan advising him on a number of properties.
“The agent I spoke claims to be backed by a Rawson agent in Cape Town, I found this out when I confronted her about her board registration,” said Macmillan.
By July 4, Macmillan settled for a property in Khayalami Estate on Gordon Road.
He was quoted R7 500 a month.
On the following Friday, July 7 he received a call from the agent saying that the property was going and that he should take it while he can.
“I told her okay and I transferred her R16 000 on July 8, which amounted to a month’s rent as well as the deposit and administration fee of R1 000. She then called and said that she will waive the R1 000 administration fee in exchange for a box of chocolates.”
We discussed this internally, laughed at the unusual request and saw it would save R850,” said Macmillan. On arriving in eMalahleni on July 8 Macmillan met with the agent who was accompanied by another agent.
“They said they had another property in the same complex but much better, as the property I had paid for had an issue with the front door and the on suite bathroom was too small. I moved into the property that day and conducted the bank transfer prior to signing the lease,” said Macmillan.
The rental for the new estate was R10 000 a month and Macmillan was informed that the paperwork would be ready that Monday, July 10.
“I found it odd that the agent and her colleague didn’t know how to unlock the door to the new estate as they struggled with a large bunch of keys, which they had gotten from a cleaning company. It took them about half an hour before we got into the property. It was dusty albeit the cleaning company had the keys,” he said.
Read the full article in the latest WITBANK NEWS.
ALSO READ:
https://www.citizen.co.za/witbank-news/93910/bringing-smiles-children-red-day-success/
