A NIGHTMARE-PLEASE LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES

This is a complaint against REMAX Advance Bluff. Please read carefully and learn from my mistakes.I have no idea how I am going to resolve this issue.

1.After years of renting property and searching for a suitable home ,my brother and I finally purchased our own home on the 10 September 2019. It is an old home with wooden floors. The house seemed extremely well maintained. However, after moving in ,we noticed that there were insect droppings on the floor. At this stage I was so dissatisfied with the agents offer to help and then not deliverying on his promises , I contacted the Pest control company that issued the certificate of compliance and he insisted that whatever infestation he found when he inspected the house, he treated, and I will always find woodborer droppings in the house because the house is old. I subsequently called him twice after that and he insisted that there was no need to tent the house. The droppings have gotten worse and I had 2 independent pest control companies to inspect the house and they have both confirmed that the entire house must be tented. They say that the infestation is an existing one (meaning woodborer existed before I purchased the house)and the attached certificate should not have been issued without the house being tented. The cost of the tenting is R30 000.00.The timber in the roof has to be replaced and I have to engage the services of a structural engineer. I used all the money I saved for years to pay for Transfer fees and registration fees. I bought brand new furniture for my dream home. The wood borer will eat into the furniture. What is so devastating to me is that the seller is also an estate agent and this infestation of woodborer existed before the house was sold .As per the reports from 2 independent contractors that I hired the wood borer infestation was an existing one and the house should not have been sold without being tented. . I cannot confirm for sure if the emtomologist that issued the Certificate of Compliance(coc) is part of the SA Pest Control Association.I called them and confirmed that the company is not on their data base(perhaps they trade under a different name).If the company is not registered Surely it is the duty of the Estate agent to ensure that the woodborer inspector they use is registered with the SAPCA.The COC says that there was an infestation and it was treated and the house needs to be fumigated every 6 months ,if this was stipulated in the offer to purchase I would not have bought the house because the very fact that the house requires fumigation every 6 months and there was an infestation would have alerted me to the fact that there are existing problems.

2.Another point is that the Agent promised that since I purchased the house on the 10 September the pro rata rent( The tenant had already paid the seller rent for the month of September .So the money from the date the property was transferred in my name -10 September to the 30 September should come to me as the new owner) as well as the security deposit from the tenant will be deposited into my account by the end of October 2019.As a new landlord and a new homeowner who depends on the rental to pay my bond ,this has created a nightmare for me ,as to date I have not received the security deposit . REMAX bluff should have ensured that the tenant was screened ,that I received my security deposit ,that I received my Pro Rata rent before they closed the sale. REMAX continued to make promises whenever I raised concerns, but they never honoured any of their promises. Despite contacting the agent in writing I did not receive the pro rata rental because the seller says the stove and console table in the kitchen amounts to the pro rata amount. This was not stipulated in the offer to purchase.I also let it go because at that time I was so grateful to have found my dream house. A house that I thought did not need any major repairs before I moved in(this was before I learnt of the woodborer infestation ).The seller’s refusal to pay the Pro Rata rental should have been told to me at the outset and the reason should have been stated in the offer to purchase. The agent did not ensure that I had received the security deposit ,he claimed not to know until I told him that the tenant did not have the money to give me.Closing the deal and handing over the keys means that the purchaser has to be completely satisfied. He should have assisted me to sign the lease with the tenant not just handed the lease over and left.Once he handed over the keys he was of no help.I escalated to the Principle of the agency and as yet 07-01-2020 @ 14h07 he still has not replied