Non-paying tenants evicted from Kempton Village

Kempton Village in the CBD saw its tenants recently evicted from the social housing building after failing to pay rent.

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“We were evicted because of rental issues. We had concerns about the rates, especially water and electricity,” evicted resident Chester Mangena said.

He said the residents had tried to engage with the relevant stakeholders and those responsible for the building before the eviction.

Mangena said the issues began when the residents asked to meet with those responsible for the building.

He said the residents were dissatisfied with several matters, including high water and electricity accounts and incorrect meter readings.

“When the stakeholders did not want to fix the problems, we decided to withhold rental payments in hopes the property management company would engage with us. Unfortunately, it did not work, and instead, they took us to court,” explained Mangena.

He said the eviction had saddened many tenants.

Mangena told the Kempton Express that many tenants spent the night in the rain, and their children could not make it to school the next day because they could not bathe or cook food.

“It was heartbreaking to see our children not go to school and our furniture put outside. This is not how South African citizens should be treated,” he said.

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He said he believed the municipality had also failed the residents because the tenants had submitted a memorandum to the municipality on several occasions.

“When we went to the mayor’s office, he denied he had any knowledge about what was happening at Kempton Village,” said Mangena.

According to Greg Vermaak, a representative for the landlord, there is no rental subsidy in social housing.

Instead, the subsidies are used to construct social housing that, in turn, leads to a lower monthly rental.

Individuals are assessed for affordability, and a maximum of 30% of the monthly household income could be agreed as a rental.

“Regrettably, neither ourselves nor any other social housing institution or commercial landlord can control state-regulated costs for electricity and water.

“All of us, tenants included, are at the mercy of the state in this regard,” he said.

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He added that they had always acted in accordance with the pre-assessed rentals and carefully measured in respect of social housing, there were no variations on these amounts.

Vermaak explained that a group of people at their own admission embarked on a violent rental boycott and took over the access, assaulted and intimated their employees and tenants, and unconstitutionally conducted themselves.

He told the Kempton Express that all tenants had ample written opportunity to abandon the rent boycott and make rental payments.

He said even the court order permitted them to pay their rent and avoid eviction, which the tenants failed to do.

“It is not our position to provide alternative accommodation to those facing eviction.

“Given that those evicted were assessed for their ability to pay rent, there is no obligation even on the state to provide them with temporary emergency accommodation,” he said.

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Vermaak added that the eviction was not wrong and was endorsed by a full bench of three judges of the High Court.

He said the residents did receive notice of the eviction order, which they then attempted to stop.

“Ekurhuleni reads the main meter. Service providers read the individual meters. What is billed to tenants does not exceed the municipal charges, so no over-recovery is made by the landlord,” said Vermaak.

He added that rent is calculated according to the social housing regulatory authority regulations.

It is then assessed and agreed upon in advance, while administerive charges such as electricity and water are imposed by Ekurhuleni.

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“We have no control over such matters.”

He said that living conditions at Kempton Village were impeccable.

“This is a state-of-the-art social housing building with a community centre, parks, braai areas, CCTV top-end security and a host of amenities that make it a flagship building according to the Social Housing Regulatory Authority.

“We believe that this was an attempt at a violent hijacking of our property and criminal sanctions will follow in due course,” he said.