‘Landlord’s deteriorating property is unsafe for us’

I RESIDE in Sherwood, Durban, in a three-bedroom house on a property that has another building with three sets of tenants.

I live here with my almost 50-year-old mother, after we moved here on November 12 last year.

I will keep this brief but this could well be the beginning of a good soapie.

Basically, our landlord only “attempted” to fix the many problems that we had to face when moving into this house, as in fix the easy things, but the more expensive tasks, such as stabilising and securing the backyard, which is slowly being weakened by rainfall and crumbling away, creating a three-centimetre drop near the clothesline. I repeatedly told him that my mother suffers from seizures and if one had to happen to her while hanging up the clothes, she could fall and get seriously injured. Four months after moving in, this has still not been sorted out.

Another main issue is that the house is infested with wood borer, clearly a problem that plagued it before and had been merely covered up.

All this has stressed my mother and caused her to be hospitalised, which has led to her not being able to pay this month’s rent.

Since then, the landlord has been endlessly harassing and intimidating me, trying to get me to leave the house immediately.

I work during the day, so finding another place has been extremely difficult and having no power has made it basically impossible. I cannot charge my phone, use my computer or make arrangements for other places to stay. A Fredericks

Georgie: The reader makes some serious allegations. The property doesn’t sound fit for habitation and they’ve only recently moved in. Wood borer infestation can destroy the structural integrity of the roof and cause a significant threat to safety, and the drop-off on the property is of serious concern. My advice is to get out of that situation as soon as possible – rather fight the landlord at the Housing Rental Tribunal or Small Claims Court (if the value is less than R15 000) for the deposit.