Righthaus Will Charge You the Earth and Moon, Let You Live in Squalor, and Then ***** Your Money

Much like the previous poster, I would give Righthaus in Emalahleni 0 stars if I could.

To make a long story short: if you rent through them, they'll ***** you around every corner and you'll end up living in a slumlord situation.

We moved into a property rented by Righthaus about two years ago. There was no incoming inspection but we were later sent an inspection sheet as if there was. Upon moving in, we realized that there were mice living in a hole in one of the kitchen counters (a hole we didn't see when we moved in because the previous tenants' washing machine covered it up). We got rid of the mice ourselves, but it took about 6 months before the agency could get the landlord to "fix" the hole. I say "fix" loosely because they just stuck a piece of wood over it.

On the same day, we realized there were only two plugs that worked in the entire house, which meant that if we wanted to watch TV, we needed to connect it to a plug using a lead plugged into a plug in the main bedroom. There were zero plugs that worked in the living room and of the two plugs that did work, one was in the main bedroom and the other was in the kitchen (bear in mind this was a two bedroom apartment - the second bedroom didn't have any plugs that worked). The agency also took about 6 months to fix this and blamed the owner, who we were never allowed to personally get in contact with, for the fact that the repairs were completed half a year after the problem was discovered.

Other issues noted when we moved in included: the shower door not being connected to the shower (it was loose and just standing in the shower), a broken window in the lapa, multiple windows that didn't have latches so you couldn't close them properly, the curtain railing in the second bedroom was partially pulled out of the wall, etc. etc. This isn't even a full list of all the problems, but it gives you a good idea what we were dealing with.

Another interesting tidbit: the "handyman" Righthaus will send to fix all of this will be the owner's son in law. Make of that what you wish.

Just to put this all into perspective: we were paying R8000 per month for a 2bed 1bath in Del Judor with 1 garage. So we expected things to be maintained at least a bit. They weren't.

After our contract was nearly over, the agency let us know the owner wanted to sell and we needed to make ourselves available for viewings. At this point, I told them I wouldn't be renewing the contract when it ended (which, at this point, was about 60 days notice). They ignored this message. I reminded them again at the 30 day mark that we wouldn't be renewing. Their agent ignored this message too and I had to literally bombard her with calls and messages to get confirmation that she knows and accepts we won't be renewing the contract.

About two weeks before we are meant to move out, they start panicking and bringing 1000 renters to view because the place still hadn't sold yet and now they were rushing to replace us. It was inconvenient to have 2 viewings per day on some days, but whatever, we lived with it.

When it was time to move out, again, it was a hassle getting an exit inspection done. When we finally did get an agent to come do one with us present, she noted (on a signed form and everything) that the place was in the same condition we received it in and that it was clean.

So, you'd think two weeks down the line when I asked when we'd get our deposit back, we'd get a solid answer.

No, dear reader. You'd be wrong. I've been living in a house I purchased for about a year now. I still haven't received my deposit back. According to them, they spent R8000 replacing light bulbs, fixing a hottub we never used (and which wasn't tested at the entrance or exit inspection), and replacing a shower door (which was broken when we moved in and fixed half-assedly using old parts by the agency owner's son in law).

Now, the law says that without an entrance inspection where both the tenant and agent or owner are present, deposits can't be held back. But Righthaus doesn't give a **** what the law says.

Just to be clear: moving in, between the admin fees, deposit fees, key fees, first month's rent, etc. etc. we paid about R20k that first month (again, for a 2bed 1bath 1 garage with a very small wrap around garden, no JoJo, nothing fancy, hasn't been painted in 20 years, you get the point) and for 12 months thereafter we always paid our rent early. That means, in about a year, we paid about R108,000 in rent, deposits, fees, etc. And for 1/2 of that year we were living in a house that only had 2 working plugs - a house that was infested with mice when we moved in and that's kitchen counters were falling apart (obviously because they had mice living in them).

So, long story short: if you like losing money, being **** to and cheated, then Righthaus is the agency for you. If, however, you'd prefer not to be *****ed, I'd recommend steering clear of them.