‘Landlady from hell’
Tenant says she was hit with a stick and a wrench when she demanded her deposit
ASSAULTED, deprived of water and security and left to live in fear. That’s what a single mother and her teenage daughter from Phoenix are claiming happened to them over the past two months at the hands of their now former landlady.
A bitter dispute over who was responsible for paying the rates on the rented property had spiralled out of control, with the mother claiming her young daughter got caught up in the middle.
The 13-year-old’s head was slammed against a car as they were moving out on July 2, she alleged, adding that she, too, was hit with a stick and a wrench when she demanded the refund of her rental deposit.
Both women have opened criminal cases against each other at the Phoenix police station.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele confirmed a case of common assault had been opened after a 34-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted by a known suspect.
Mbele also confirmed that the suspect – the landlady – had opened a case of assault, theft and malicious damage to property. Both matters are being investigated. Names are being withheld to protect the identity of the minor child.
The mother claims the landlady had assaulted her daughter twice on the day they were vacating the house – once when she banged her head on the vehicle and another when she pushed her to the ground.
POST has seen video footage of the incident.
“My daughter went to stop her because she hit me and she grabbed my daughter and hit her head against the vehicle. Her head was cracked and I even have the doctor’s report to prove it,” the mother said. “My daughter still gets headaches.”
She had rented the house for the past two years but things got out of hand in May when she questioned her landlady on the rates as she felt it was not her responsibility.
“She didn’t like that I questioned her. I asked for my money back and she got angry and refused. She then came and cut my yard gate out,” she said.
The tenant also claimed her water supply was cut off by her landlady. It was then that she decided to move out. “She was absolutely a landlady from hell,” she said.
“We lived without the gate. We were scared, waking up at all parts of the night and due to the stress we were under I decided to contact the rental tribunal.”
The mother, who used to run an Uber cab service, said the matter was raised at the tribunal on June 7.
The landlady claimed that the tenant had been aware from the outset that she had to pay the rates. She said the water was cut by the water utility as the tenant did not pay her bill.
On June 23, the tribunal ruled in the tenant’s favour regarding the rates dispute.
“When we went to the rental tribunal and they said it is against the (Rental Housing) Act, I accepted,” said the landlady, who owns the property but rents elsewhere.
“But on the accusation of the gate, I explained to them that I was planning to move into the two bedroom home on July 1 and that I took the gate out for repairs due to the extensive damage left by (the tenant’s) dogs and they accepted it. The gate was put back on the weekend that (the tenant) left,” she told POST.
She also claimed that after the tenant’s Uber business went under, she had stopped paying rent.
“I always got attitude from her. I was hoping to move into that house after my lease was up but she refused to move, saying she needed to find a place first. I even looked for places for her to move to and sent her adverts but she stayed. I could not afford an eviction notice.”
The landlady added that while they were cleaning the house, they noticed damage to the property. She estimates damage to the house to be around R60 000.
The landlady also claimed to have found heroin and other types of drugs in the home since the tenant moved out. The tenant claims these were “planted” by the landlady and now wants to sue her for defamation.