New landlord does not want to honour terms of the lease agreement

[Butho]

Good day All.

Not sure if someone have had such an experience.
I fell inlove with a certain place which was a walking distance from my children school,to be precisely about a kilometer from the school.The place was advertised by Agent ABC.Agent ABC showed us the place and we decided to take.Agent ABC happened to be the letting agents as well as managing agents of the place.We took occupation in the second week of September 2018.In the beginning of October 2018 they presented us the lease to sign which we realized that the lease was for a four month period expiring end of January 2019.The lease had a clause stating that after the expiry of the four month initial period, we will be automatically entered into a month to month lease with an escalation of 10% unless a 20 business day notice is given by either party to terminate the agreement.There was another clause that states that while in month to month contract/lease after every quarter the lease will go up again with another 10% in otherwords this means the rent will go up approximately 3 times a year.When realizing this we refused to sign the agreement as we were looking at long term occupation rather than short term.We met with the agent ABC who were acting on behalf of the owner according to the lease (they had all the rights to act on behalf of the owner and sign any documentation on owner behalf).We agreed that on expiry of the 4 months initial period (31 January 2019)l will renew the lease for a 12 month period with my rent going up to xxxxx and that after the lapse of this 12 month period my rent will go up by 10% which we had no problem with-this arrangement was done in writing in the last page of the 12 page lease agreement which l and the agent ABC signed.
Now 31 January 2019 came we were expecting to sign the lease renewal according to the terms which are in black and white.It did not happen that way,instead we were served with a letter from agent DEF stating that the services of agent ABC have been suspended and agent DEF have taken over the responsibilities of agent ABC we were instructed not to communicate with agent ABC and we should not pay any rent to agent ABC.Agent DEF will be in contact with us and tell us the way forward and how rent will be paid.We were requested to hold on to our January and February 2019 rents till the transition is completed.It was only last week that we recieved official communique from agent DEF giving us a quote for the new agreement and to our surprise the rent went up by more than 300 percent.The quote also requires me to pay a deposit equal to a month rent,key deposit plus lease fee,the amount to be paid if we are to continue with the lease will be almost 600 percent to what the agreement that we signed states.We tried to negotiate with agent DEF but they refused.We told them that we have a lease that is due for renewal and there are terms which we signed with agent ABC which was representing the very same owner which agent DEF now represents.They refused to honour this agreement.Now my question is though we acknowledged that the initial lease expired although there is a clause on the lease stating that WE WILL BE RENEWING on expiry of the initial period for an xxxxx amount isn't the new agents (DEF)supposed to honour this agreement as obviously its between us and the owner of the house.Now they are threatening to have new people sign the lease which we were supposed to renew and they have already started sending prospective tenants to view the place.Now our question is what are our rights in this regard?.Can't the landlord or its agent be compelled to honour this agreement or arrangement?.By the way agent ABC is no longer reachable.This issue is now causing a pain to my family physically and emotionally

Thanks for your advise.

[AmithS]

If the owner of the property and yourself signed the agreement, NOT the agent then it does not matter even if the agent changed to my understanding.

The main question that comes to my mind is, what does the original contract say about renewals i.e. the terms or renewal - is there a cap on the increases on renewal?

[Butho]

If the owner of the property and yourself signed the agreement, NOT the agent then it does not matter even if the agent changed to my understanding.


The main question that comes to my mind is, what does the original contract say about renewals i.e. the terms or renewal - is there a cap on the increases on renewal?

Hi AMith

Thanks for your response.In response to the two questions you asked l have replied below word for word as per the lease agreement

QUESTION 1: If the owner of the property and yourself signed the agreement, NOT the agent then it does not matter even if the agent changed to my understanding.
The lease states the following l quote word for word

RESIDENTIAL LEASE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN
ABC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
(‘the landlord”)
Herein represented by ABC Property Management (Pty) ltd
(Reg number xxxxx /zzzz/xx as duly authorised letting agent)
and
Mr xxxxx
(“The Tenant”)
ID No: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1.1.5. The Landlord shall mean ABC Property Management.

2.The tenant hereby acknowledge that ABC Property Management (Pty) ltd is the duly authorized Managing Agent of the Landlord and that it may exercise on behalf of the landlord all the landlord’s legal rights and claims in terms of this lease agreement until written notice to the contrary shall have been received by the Tenant from the landlord.

QUESTION 2: The main question that comes to my mind is, what does the original contract say about renewals i.e. the terms or renewal - is there a cap on the increases on renewal?

0n page 12 of the 12 document of the lease it states the following I quote word for word

“Mr xxxx will be signing 12 months lease after elapsing of the current lease (initial period of 4 months).His rent will increase to R xxxxx for 12 months ,then his rent will increase by 10%”

I then signed and the managing/letting agent signed.

Where the agent signed it states the following l quote word for word

THUS DONE AND SIGNED by the LANDLORD at JHB this 16 day of October 2018
WITNESS: xxxxx
LANDLORD: xxxxxxxx
(Herein represented by ABC PROPERTY MANAGEMENT as duly Authorized Managing Agent on behalf of the Landlord.)

[Dave A]

I was going to ask if you had a copy of the contract, but your post above indicates you do.

Don't lose it whatever you do.

[Butho]

Hi Dave

I have made about 5 hard copies and scanned some to soft copies.Do you think l should register a case with the Housing Tribunal Department?, or let me rather say if they would accept to hear my case although the initial lease has expired though there is a clause on the lease in page 12 of the 12 paged lease agreement which is a confirmation that l will be renewing

[Dave A]

It would have been better if there was a simple extension of the contract beyond the initial period. However, you have a document that establishes expectations and obligations as minimum that seem pretty clear for at least the following year. Thereafter, who knows how often the 10% escalation is supposed to be implemented. In the meantime, you seem to have grounds to refuse the attempt to unilaterally change the terms.