Century 21 Took Our R20,000 Deposit and Has Not Refunded Us

I recently app**** for a rental through Century 21, and the process was handled by Chressina Langa. Everything started off smoothly — she communicated well, completed the vetting, and confirmed that we qualified for the unit.

On 20 October, we paid a R20,000 deposit to secure the property, which was supposed to be available in December. I kept following up about the signed lease, but there were continuous delays.

Then, on 26 October, Chressina informed us that the property owner had also been advertising the same unit privately, and that another person had already paid a deposit directly to the owner. She said that we would therefore need to be refunded by Tuesday.

I explained that we urgently needed the money to secure another rental and requested that the refund be processed by Monday instead. Christina said she would speak with Pelisha Naidoo, who handles accounts.

On Monday, I called to follow up and was told to speak to Philisha Naidoo regarding the refund. Since then, it has been over a week, and we have not received our R20,000 refund. We have been following up daily, but have received no clear feedback or assistance from the Century 21 team. The last email we got from Pelisha was on that Monday — and since then, complete silence.

This experience has been extremely stressful and disappointing. We trusted Century 21 to act professionally and safeguard clients’ funds, but this situation has left us with no confidence in their service.

We have since opened a case with SAPS and are in the process of reporting the matter to the Rental Housing Tribunal/Board so that we can recover our money. We’re sharing this to warn others to be cautious when dealing with this agency, especially when paying deposits upfront.