KZN RENTAL HOUSING TRIBUNAL
- Tenants must be given an opportunity to read and understand all terms and conditions of the lease before signing an agreement.
- Tenants and landlords need to understand and agree on who is responsible for water & electricity bills.
- Both parties need to sign the lease agreement which must have all the particulars of a landlord and tenant. i.e. names & addresses, description of property, amount of deposit and rental & escalation rate if any, lease period, to name a few, in terms of sec(5)(6) of Rental Housing Act.
- Landlords may require tenants to pay a security deposit which serves as a protection to the landlord in case the tenant damages the property. In the event of such a deposit being paid, Section 5(3) (d) of Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999 provides that landlord “must invest such a deposit into an interest-bearing account with a financial institution…”
- Both parties (tenant & landlord) should conduct a joint inspection before tenant occupies the premises and the identified defects should be noted down as an annexure on the lease agreement.
- Parties should agree on how such repairs will be effected and such commitment should be
- in a form of a written agreement.
- Both tenant and landlord must be clear from the on-set of their respective roles in so far as maintenance is concerned, i.e. who does what?
KZN RENTAL HOUSING TRIBUNAL, YOUR GATEWAY DISPUTE RESOLUTION BETWEEN TENANTS AND LANDLORDS
Contact the KZN Rental Housing Tribunal or your local municipality (Human Settlements unit)
for more information or to lodge a complaint:
Physical Address: KZN RENTAL HOUSING TRIBUNAL9th Floor Eagle Building (Murchies Passage),353-363 Dr. Pixley ka Seme(West Street), Durban, 4001Private Bag x54328, Durban,
Tel. No: (031) 372 1800/3/4/6
Email: info.rht@kzndhs.gov.za
Website: https://www.kzndhs.gov.za/index.php/pages/rental-housing-tribunal
