Du Preez family criminals / con artists preying on landlords and property owners

The Happy Home is run by a family of con artists - John du Preez - the father - David du Preez - the salesman, and Joshua du Preez - the mastermind.

They scout for victims using Gumtree and other property websites looking for listings and victims in areas where they know they can easily con home and apartment owners who are looking for better rental returns based on a short term rental business model.

I first got to know John du Preez when we had multiple complaints in our apartment complex about noise. We noticed that the quality of tenants of our direct neighbours had deteriorated over time and found out John was the manager.

At some stage we advertised our place on Gumtree and was contacted by David. He promised us the best returns ever for our place in Cape Town CBD. We had an immaculate Airbnb with two perfect sets of bedding and towels and thought we'd give him a chance. It was quiet due to Covid and David was full of promises.

When I did the handover I explicitly told David that we have a spare set locked in a cupboard and that they must look after it.. David promised they would.

The first problem encountered was that we found out that his father is John, the person directly responsible for putting in terrible tenants in our apartment complex bringing the value of the block and our investment down. This was a big warning bell but we carried on for a while thinking perhaps this is just a bad co-incidence.

The second big problem was the opaqueness of the pricing. We asked them to give us the number in terms of what they are charging per day but of course David is an expert at avoidance.

David and his family operate behind many different systems and if you request information there is always some kind of excuse. We again asked for the information on pricing on multiple occasions but they were never able to give it to us.

Then we found out via the internet that they are charging a completely different rate than we receive in fees, including after their deductions.

Payments also suddenly came late instead of the 1st of the month with some vague excuse.

The third big problem was we saw another of their listings, which had our beautiful Airbnb photos. Yep they didn’t even bother to get their own pictures and falsely advertised a place using our photos. Another great way to con poor tourists and short terms renters looking for accommodation.

At one stage David revealed to me his technique for advertising short term rental - when the listing gets poor reviews he just starts a new listing. I should have run..

The final straw began in July when we received an electricity bill for R 8000.

We asked David to attend and he assured us he'd been around and checked everything, including the underfloor heating.

In August we received another electricity bill for R 7700. I want to point out that in 4.5 years that apartment never saw an electricity bill for more than R 2000. But it was in fact the underfloor heating, and David lied about attending to it. He wasn’t even there.

David du Preez doesn't take responsibility for his actions, nor for his family business. When faced with difficult situations he runs away or pretends to be too busy.

When we cancelled the contract, the following happened:

- All our bedding and towels were stolen. David claimed there wasn't any and anyhow he recommends owners don't keep it there. He had a long list of excuses and started avoiding us.

By repeatedly visiting them at their Pizza business office and telling them this is unacceptable they finally gave us a cheap set of replacements.

Other issues post contract cancellation:

- The apartment was left in a terrible state

- David stopped responding to our calls and ignoring us and we reverted to John

- We asked John again for information about the fees charged and data of the guests who stayed there but was then told our listings had been deleted.

Two weeks later new random guests arrived at our apartment to come stay. Not once, but twice in a row. In fact, the listings had not been deleted.

The Du Preez family have no control over their business and you will do yourself a disservice by associating with them.

We've started legal proceedings against them and I invite anyone who has had the same experience to contact me to join our lawsuit.

These con artists will be stopped.

Apart from the commenter on the Facebook link to the post, you'll also see in Google Hotel reviews where they caused other problems. There is an existing police case against them also and there will be more soon.

I feel sorry for another legitimate business in Cape Town also called “Happy Home” as their name and reputation is being ruined by these con artists.