Stephen K

Redefine are landlords, not people, an Undefined organisation

In principle this information needs to be shared with any current and potential tenants of Redefine Properties. When we first looked to leave a property in Stoneridge Office Park, we were assisted by Mr. Dom Mauvis. He advised on the lease, however, were were not well informed of the exit policy once your lease is up for renew or termination. From the initial experience, the office on the 1st Floor, Block B, Stoneridge Office Park was handed to us in an utterly filthy state, after a commitment was made to us that the carpets would be steam cleaned, walls washed and window sills cleaned. Before moving in and confronting the groundsman Louis at the time, they attempted to clean by carpet by sweeping it with a broom. This resulted in dust being distributed throughout the entire office. Only after further complaint were the carpets then steam cleaned. The balance of the work, we shared between myself the MD of 10ARK DIGITAL and my staff. We had to wash and disinfect the kitchen, walls and window sills. The air conditioner in our boardroom never worked since we took occupation, we were assured that it would be taken care of and that a representative would come through to sign-off. The air conditioner in my office never worked either. Eventually our central air conditioning also failed. Each time were were told that it was now for our account. After another complaint, the air conditioner in my office was fixed. The air conditioner in the boardroom, 2 years later a personal from Jaft Aircon told us that there was a trip switch and nobody from Redefine Properties was even able to tell us this piece of useful information which then resulted in the air conditioner in our boardroom working. No more than one year into the lease our hydro-boil unit failed and we had to pick up the bill for that as well. After our second year of the lease, our offices were broken into. All that the security company could say was... "oh, did it happen to you as well, it happened to the company in the other block as well". Redefine Properties did not have surveillance or security cameras fitted in the common property areas and once again informed us that it was our fault for not having an alarm system installed. The ablution facilities, urinals, toilets, faucets, basins throughout our entire lease period were always leaking, numerous water issues for which all tenants had to share the bill for repeated attempts to fix. During the COVID-19 pandemic that took place this year of 2020 from March 2020 onwards, we moved our staff to work from home. To date we not missed a payment to Redefine Properties. I contacted Tracey Teale to negotiate terms as our business was also affected by COVID-19. I had proposed paying a lower rent due to the facilities not being used, consideration that our account was 100% fully paid up and the fact they they still retained our deposit for 2 to 3 months. I had even proposed eventually that we would commit to paying the lease but at least requested that we did not pay for the parking bays. However, Tracey Teale stated that due to the fact that were were exiting tenants, i.e. not going to renew our lease, there was no value in assisting us, that we would only be assisted with a discount if we renewed our lease for at minimum another 12 months. They also offered my a discount that I would need to pay back with interest. This is how I as an individual and our company 10ARK DIGITAL were handled after having a 100% clean track record of payments. To add further insult to injury, we were told that per the contact, we had to reinstate the office before we could leave. We were never informed of any of this information by Mr. Dom Mauvis, who was only too eager to lease us the office premises. Now I understand Mr. Dom Mauvis, we are not placing blame on you here, we understand that your role is to sell. Informed reinstatement by Thandanani Ncube and Manuel Ngobeni. To date, Manuel Ngobeni is the only staff member from Redefine Properties who has admitted a degree of fault and apologised to me in person. This is a good man, do help him in the days to come, he had made an effort in whatever capacity that he could, to recognise the value of customer service. Thandanani Ncube told us that we did not welcome him into our offices. To this day I do not understand this statement, yes were were not the most friendly due to our previous experiences but in my humble opinion, we are the client paying the money, we should be the ones made to feel welcome, not the landlord and their people?! Now this expectation of reinstatement held by Redefine Properties took place during the lockdown period. If we could not move our office furniture out, they refused to inspect the premises further and tell us what needed to be reinstated. We could not move our office furniture due to lockdown and if we could not exit in time, then they would continue to prorata our lease even after it was due for termination. I understand the legal clauses, however, in principle, to hold an individual and small business to task during this type of even demonstrates ZERO, NIL, NO solidarity and is complete 100% extortion. Eventually between my wife, my 70 year old father and myself, we managed to dismantle and move all of the office furniture together with other parties that were willing to help. I am forever grateful to all people who assisted us through this utterly traumatic period. So no our lease terminated in August 2020 and we were billed another R25000 for reinstatement which we agreed to in order to terminate business relations and the lease. We requested our remaining deposit to be returned in September 2020 and were informed once again by Tracey Teale that legally they were going to continue to hold my deposit for 3 months and continue to deduct water and electricity that run in arrears. Whilst I understand that, that is a legal clause, once again according to Redefine Properties very own byline "We're not landlords. We're people" - they demonstrated ZERO humanity. Per numerous emails I had informed Tracey Teale that our business was also impacted by COVID-19, we had also taken cuts to budgets on our projects and that we simply needed the deposit funds to continue business operations and ease the suffering. Ending November 2020, I was eventually supplied with a Deposit Form to complete by Thabo Sekoma. After completing the form and submitting it I was informed that my bank account statement was not valid (it needed a bank stamp). I submitted the bank statement with bank stamp and waited for several days monitoring my bank account, nothing. This week Tuesday I queried Thabo Sekoma to find out why funds had still not cleared and was then informed that my wife had to authorise the payment to my account. After my wife sent an email authorising this, I was informed that it needed to be on a company letterhead. After supplying the authorisation on a company letterhead I was then informed that I would be informed if there were anymore issues and that if there were no issues, then my deposit would be returned on Thursday, 10 December 2020 by a person named Curly. Today is Thursday, 10 December 2020 and I there are no funds in my bank account. I have attempted to reach Thabo twice today and there has been no response. CCing Tracey Teale results in a message stating that she is on training. My consideration now is that Redefine Properties is of the intent to withhold our remaining deposit by any means necessary, whether it be by deducting random fabricated charges or continuing to give us the administrative run around. My wife and entire family has been affected by this traumatic experience which has stretch well from April 2020 through to December 2020. We can only pray that by the grace of God, they return to us our deposit which is rightfully due to us. We are not going to pursue legal counsel as we have little energy left after the happenings of this year. However, I believe it necessary to inform of this experience and of the organisation Redefine Properties and each one of their staff that contributed to this most awful and traumatic experience. I urge all individuals and businesses with existing or proposed leases to evaluate your decision very carefully before proceeding. In closing, we have now accepted the fact that our deposit may well be lost to greed and corruption, my last words are that all that has been visited onto myself and my people be revisited onto Redefine Properties and each one of its staff that contributed to our undermining in justice 10 fold over.