Central Developments Property Group
Reviews and Complaints

To whom it may concern, my name is nombongo nanise I reside in manhatton lofts, I moved in last year in October, ever since I moved there, the small gate that is supposed to be used by pedestrians does not work wen there is load shedding, I'm a nurse I work 12hrs, I get home I can't go in due to incompetency and no proper planning for ppl who don't own cars at these apartments, ppl hv to go around and passing an open space that is very dark, anything can happen, whether you are a man or a woman, South Africa has been proven to be an extremely violent place so maybe until something happens to one of the tenants the issue will be attended to, again yesterday and this morning the small pedestrian gate is not working, no communication was sent regarding the matter, I was late for work yesterday and today due to this inconvenience, wen it comes to money related issues, your management is too quick to send emails and very prompt, but the gate issue has been a long standing issue, and soon someone will get hurt, I wud like to see how are you gonna handle being sued for such negligence

To whom it may concern

Kindly note, I hate complaining, and yet I am writing to you regarding a matter which shouldn't even be a problem. I am residing at Route 82 village 2, unit 66, I have been here since April 2022 and I do not have access to the finger print gate, and yes I have spoken to someone at your offices about it way too many times, it's starting to become a chore... it's exhausting. Could we maybe have someone sort this out. Thank you

Good day

as a new tenant at EAST ON 82 KIBLER PARK UNIT 560 FROM THE 1 APRIL 2022 i am extremely disgusted in the level of service received.

Around the 10th of April as this units are newly built i noticed the geyser pushing water out and thought nothing of it as it started happening daily it became a concern as it would be all over the ground to the entrance of my unit and also realized that everytime this happens common sense is the geyser needs to replace the water and boil it again.

i do apologize to the person handling this in advance for any swearing on the 15th i recorded the water coming out and immediately notified security this went on up to the 18th of may when the issue was only resolved. #NB PROBLEM NOTED AND RESOLVED.

i then went to the office and was assisted by CLARISSA SCHLOMS clearly she thinks im stupid i requested a daily consumption report so i can show her that im not a stupid p**s from the 1st APRIL 2022 my daily usage was averaging +- R33 complex average at the time was about R22 from the 10th day it started my average almost doubled all this is based on the information from the system the electricity usage on the graph clearly matches up with the videos and photos and complaint times where there is a sudden spike in usage right after also odd times who uses +-R40 -R50 electricity at 3 in the morning or 11 at night am i seriously being mad when i pointed this out to this rude so called CLIENT LIASON OFFICER - CLARISSA SHE THEN PROMISED ME FEEDBACK LATER THE DAY AS I REQUESTED the stupid [censored] only got back to me after a week as i went daily requesting feedback everytime she is either out or not available i am disgusted in this and also the less then 10 word email response i received advising i will not be refunded yet i have all the proof so i have to pay for someone elses poor quality of work according to the daily figure from the 1st to the 10 April it was way below what it went to from the 10th when it started there is no way that this can be denied that it is not true and the fact that we 2 working adults in the house at work all day and the spike in usage at odd times when nobody is home says it all i pay alot for this places i expect nothing but the best service and quality in the unit i stay. i have again requested confirmation from her to advise if she is sure that is her final feedback regarding the matter and yet no response. i have made the choice to know follow the complaints process and require urgent update regarding this.

I am en expectant mother who is paying rent MONTHLY at The Junction Village 3, I live with my fiancé inside the complex.

Months ago in 2021, without any prior communication which is the norm for Central Development, our fingerprints just stopped working.

Currently, as I’ve had no time to register my fingerprint again, I have been scanning the barcode to enter the complex and if the barcode put up by Central Development is damaged and you cannot scan it then a paying tenant is told by Security to enter a damn code which is unacceptable.

Today at 17:45 14 March 2022 I could not enter the complex because I had run out of data, the female security officer simply said she cannot assist me and wanted a paying tenant to park outside the complex with no way into the complex where she lives.

I refused to reverse my vehicle because it is pouring with rain and cannot get home due to Central Developments that has prevented security from assisting its residents and tenants.

The female security guard pressed a panic button, kept telling me to reverse and park outside as of I’m a visitor and while also holding a clamp ready to clamp my goddamn vehicle instead of actually assisting.

And her male colleague proceeded in writing down my registration.

The assistance and concern at this complex is appalling, no wonder so many people move out before even a month has passed.

I've been renting at Route 82 security village 1 for 2years now. I decided to buy a unit through Jessica Chauke (cosmo) who said she and rental are one and the same.
Jessica got what she wanted and now I'm left stranded with debts to pay. She did not communicate enough and clearly don't care about their clients.
I should be moving out from the rental in 2 days. They took the October rental money. I need to start paying first installment. There are taxes and fees to be paid for September and October in the new place. I still don't have the keys to move in. There's termination of lease penalty as well.

The rental does want to help with anything. The only thing I'm getting from Jessica is "sincere apologies "

I don't know how I'm going to sort this problem out.
Everyone involved is benefiting from all this besides me the client.

Good day,

I have a complaint by a certain consultant hes name is Simphiwe, he said he is a manager. He had offered me a 2 bedroom apartment last week at Bronx sky city, which he requested I pay a R1000 to secure it and come the next day to sign the lease agreement, which i did not sign any contact or lease agreement, however i had sent him a communication to say i wont be taking the apartment anymore due to work commitments and refubd me the R1000, as no contract nor lease agreement was signed. Numerous whatsapps were sent to ask him the turnaround time to do a refund but hes been intentionally ignoring my communications and i called him today and he said he will look at my whatsapps, which he still ignoring even though he is online on whatsapp. Now this makes me wonder if this was not some kind of a scam. The estate agent has not communicated to me on the turnaround of my refund but keeps dodging my whatsapps. I am not find joy in this matter and would like this matter dealt with accordingly and to get my refund back.

I have been renting with my husband for about 2 years, with Central Development
And now that i am due to leave they are saying the double deposit i paid was credited to rent whereas that is not true as they always demand rent from us and switch of our lights and lock us us, as i speak i am currently locked out of my apartment.

When we moved we paid double deposit and we were informed that the first month is free rent.

Below is the conversation i have with the Junction Village3, Melissa.

1. Kindly note that the first month rent free promotion was valid only for U208.

When you moved to U279, the double deposit was transferred from U208 to U279.

Please note that we were not informed of this change to the double deposit changes, as we only moved due to ****roaches and they said because the problem could not be fixed they will move us to another unit. This should not be our problem but management should account for this issue, as they moved us to a place which was full of ****roaches from day1(as we pointed them out to Donacld before we moved and he assured us they would be sorted, therfore we cannot lose money due to the negligence of the rental agent). (we moved because of an issue not because we wanted to)

2. You moved in in the beginning of January 2020, and haven't paid rent for January 2020, hence the rental amount was taken from the double deposit.

This is not true we paid the rent hence i sent you the payment confirmations to central Dev (refer to previous email)

3. And due to maintenance charges, there was a short fall on the remainder of the deposit (R4317.52) of R1282.48.

We were only informed of the 1282.48 which was due for maintenance no one informed us of any shortfall, Management should also be accountable for not communicating any of these details. you cannot touch our money without our consent.

4. The Proof of payment for 2020/30/25 for the amount of R5500 was allocated to your account for April' 20rent.

The Proof of payment for 2020/04/25 for the amount of R6100 was allocated to your account for May' 20 rent.

The Proof of payment for 2020/04/09 for the amount of R1200 was allocated to your account for the outstanding maintenance amount from U208.

What do you mean the above in green was allocated to my account?there has never been an allocation to my account i am the one that paid - this is unclear kindly clarify as you are the one giving this breakdown

5. There is no double deposit. Only a single deposit and currently your rent is still due for March '21.

Point of correction, There is double deposit(as mentioned we moved due to a health situation, not willingly). I am aware of the rent due, and that is not the query i have

Also if you are going to highlight the transactional history you should start from when we paid the double deposit of, 11900 which we highlighted to you in my email.

I moved in the property by December 2020 stayed here for 2 months the rent now has increased.
I asked the agents why didn't they read the clause that rent may increase at any given Time they also didn't know that the clause exists.
Everyone in the complex is having there same problem, but they trying to buy us out by giving us electricity, and we buy electricity but the electricity we buy runs out without being used. I went home for December and I had electricity everything was off but when I got back there was no electricity

The Madison - I have moved in on the 01st of October 2020 and have been several defects that need to be fixed,

some they tried to fix but still experiencing the similar issues ( while we have been given 3 months to note everything that is not working)

I have send several emails with no acknowledgment of promise to come sort out the issues

• Window leakage ( This has been reported several times and it seems there is no resolution)
• Toilet water pressure ( this as well has not been fixed as yet since October)
• Shower pressure ( not fixed as well since October)
• Main bedroom cracked wall
• Main bedroom wall need to be painted (next to the small window)
• En suite bathroom ceiling to be painted (this was done before but the paint is off again) and the tile cracked in the bathroom
• Staircase tile cracked
• The wall on the staircase needs to be redone correctly (pic attached)
• Garage door to be varnished
• The kitchen cupboard to be filled with silicon ( see attached)
• Tile in the kitchen to be replaced
• Kitchen tile crowd needs to be filled
• Scratches on all toilets ( this needs to be sorted as this house is still 3 months)
• Bathroom taps are loose

I will attach some of the pictures taken and videos.

Good Day,

Kindly note that since I have move into this Central Development Property it has been nothing but a Nightmare from Management more specifically.

My rent was agreed on R 6 900.00 to move in the apartment on 01 July 2019, after a month is living they my rent was increased to R 7000.00, queried same only to be told that they can increase same when they deem fit.

Subsequent to this, the Geyser stopped working, an Electrician was sent after 2 days to get it fixed and once fixed started pulling more electricity than being used to.

Geyser breaks for the second time and an electrician sent through twice because the one initially sent didn't know how to fix the issue, inquiring on this became an issue for management and all we receive is a level of rudeness.

Electricity is filled but electricity does not come on, phone and get it sorted after a whole day.

Electricity emergency top up is used and do an eft for electricity and no electricity for another day despite trying to get it sorted with Grid Rod, they don't pick up, get a hold of Central Development who get the Manager to get a hold of me who screams at me on the phone when I try to explain the situation telling me I should not be filling am emergency top up and says his going to remove this option because I should not be using it further states that I should not fill 100rand electricity at a time.

When posed a question of who he thinks he is to tell me how much I should or should not fill as I merely want the issue sorted out proceeds to shout on the phone.

I pay my rent on time, cause no nuisance to anyone in the complex but to merely attend to matters of necessity we get this level of service.

Please advise on the steps to be taken as this raises huge concerns.

Good day

My name is Pontsho Phukubje and I'm a residence at East on 82 unit 108. I have been staying on this unit since 01 October 2019. I have a problem with electricity that is being depleted quickly. On the the 17th of December I bought units from ZAR1000 and on the 19th December I received additional units for ZAR200. I had expected this units to last me through December and January as I have been staying alone during this period, ensuring that the Geyser is switched off to save me electricity.

With my surprise I received an sms today (9th Jan) saying my units are depleted, this doesn't make sense to me. I immediately topped up with ZAR500, the ZAR500 that I topped up with says its forecasted to finish by the 12 January 2020.

This then tells you that the problem is not with me or my usage, there's a fault with your meters. When I called the grid control department, the lady advised me that I was using a lot of water, that this was the cause. I can attest to the fact that they haven't been any water leakage or running taps at my unit.

Please advise how I will be compensated for this as I cannot keep buying electricity over the building/Unit glitch.

the above was an email which I had forwarded to Client support as well as Grid control. I then received a technical response from from Mecheline on the 10th Jan. He basically showed me graphs of my usage which the figures on the graphs where not not making sense.

Please see below response;

I received your complaint and had a look at your consumption:

Your Layout from October is as follow:

Date

Electricity R

Elec kWh

Water R

Water kL

Total Con

Average pd

October

R 687.99

418.931

R571.00

26.097

R1258.99

R40.61

November

R1031.07

592.513

R828.77

32.616

R1859.84

R61.99

December

R 438.61

273.559

R174.26

13.532

R 612.87

R19.77

January

R 218.79

136.466

R 72.98

6.918

R 291.77

R32.41

Your consumption in October and November is higher than normal.

I can see that your consumption has gone down tremendously from December 2019

Your current available balance is: R1232.68

Kind Regards

I then immediately responded with the below response:

Dear Mecheline Brits

Thank you for your response,

This is proof that the is a problem with the meter reading at my unit, meaning I have been paying more than I should have. Please see below breakdown of the units I have paid for thus far and let me know if this is normal for a person that stays with her 4 year old daughter, whereby my brother visits me every now and then.

04 October - ZAR 250
13 October - ZAR 500
12 November - ZAR 500
24 November - ZAR 200
27 November - ZAR 500
17 December - ZAR 1000
19 December - ZAR 200
09 January - ZAR 500

I see you have my consumption higher in Oct and November, please explain what happened to the units I have purchased in December for ZAR1200 as yesterday (09th Jan) I received an sms saying that my units are depleted. I then top up ZAR 500 and to my surprise the units that I had just topped up said that they were forecasted to be depleted by the 12 January 2020 and my available balance was ZAR 60. I immediately made a call and to Grid control and your agent confirmed that it was the case, that it shows a high usage of water in my unit that I needed to log a call with maintenance.

My call was logged but till now no one has visited my unit to check. The ZAR 1200 balance that you have in my account was not there yesterday, this is something you guys have just added and I'm refusing to accept the units as they are not close to the amount I had purchased. Please note from the ZAR 1700 I have purchased between December and January, I cannot be left with ZAR1232 balance, it is not possible that I have used up such units in such a short space of time.

I believe on average one can use up between ZAR 750 to ZAR 1000 of electricity and water in a month, but based on my consumption, I have spent more than the average, meaning the is a problem with the meter reading at my unit and due to this I am being penalized for something that Central Development needed to fix, which I find really unfair. May I please be reimbursed additional units of electricity I bought yesterday (9th Jan 20) and to also look in how I can compensated for the extras that I have been paying in the past 3 months.

Regards
Pontsho Phukubje
[protected]

I have since been waiting for feedback and no one is reverting back to me. The consultant at East on 82 by the name Edwin also tried to assist in escalating the matter since he also witnessed the drastic change that took place in my invoice. He too was surprised to learn about the ZAR1200 balance which appeared in my account while the previous day it was sitting on R60 balance. Edwin was most helpful compared to everyone I have been dealing with.

kindly note I'm requesting for your urgent intervention on this matter for technician to check if all is well with the meter reading and explain on how I'll be reimbursed additional units which I have purchased on the 09th Jan 20.

Regards
Pontsho Phukubje
C: [protected]
E: [protected]@gmail.com

For the past 3 weeks I have been the one following up with the leasing Agent Etienne de Villiers from the mentioned company above regarding my application for a unit i had viewed with my partner in Midrand. Filled the applications on the day of viewing, the next day we submitted the supporting documents. I am annoyed as he did not let us view the initial unit we applying for, he had lost our applications and does not provide feedback. I am really disappointed as i was looking forward to a better service than what i had received. I too am in property management and have never treated my prospective at such behavior. on that note, we viewed the apartment alone and he could not even assist as he was in his office. I am lost for words. The company should look into how they assign their leasing agents as they need to assist them at any given time. I would like this to be an opening eye to the business with all those they would like to rent from them.

I'm writing with a heavy heart and I am losing sleep as heavily pregnant as I am. I'm really regretting deciding to rent with Central Development. I moved to Lemon Tree Apartments on 6 September 2019 and my experiences from there have been rather unfortunate and unpleasant. At first I thought I should just let it go for my sake and unborn baby's sake but then I ask myself how is it solving anything if I keep quiet? And if there's an opportunity to speak do so and leave it in the hands of those who have to deal with it.

I would have emailed client services but my previous experience is discouraging with bad attitude and no desire to assist from by the people that answer the phones hence I am using this platform. I was assisted by Hanco Benade from the day I went to view the apartment till I signed the contract. I must say he is hard to get hold of and takes time to respond to emails or even smses. Whe I moved into the unit 241 the water meter was on a negative and as a new user of such unit I didn't know and kept buying vouchers which was useless cause apparently every time I bought it was kind of "paying" the negative balance that was already there. After a lot of struggle and the customer service told me there's nothing they can do I need to get hold of the service provider that provides the unit to assist as as central development they have nothing to do with water meter. I'm a new client renting with Central Development, was I not suppose to get to the unit with everything on par and ready for my own use?. Anyway Natatcha from the office helped me and sorted it and I appreciate her help so much.

My problem now is with how I feel Hanco Benade misled me in terms of the lease signing. At first he offered 50% off first rent, no admin fee, free 100 MB wifi (t&c's applicable), R7300 deposit. At first I made a huge misunderstanding and did not note the R 7300 deposit part and I immediately paid R2500 to secure the unit since this deal was so good. Later when I went to sign after paying the ‘remaining' R1 150 he brought it to my attention that I needed to also pay R7 300 deposit. I explained I had no money at that point I honestly missed the part of the deposit cause if it were so, I would have budgeted for and not leave the place I was living in mid month to secure that one, meaning I had to also pay prorata rent where I stayed. He advised that I should pay 50% of the deposit (laybye) atleast to be able to move in and I committed to paying the remainder today, 13 September 2019. Based on this I signed the contract and amended lease period from 12 to 6 months and he told me to pay it by Monday 2 September before 12 to avoid losing the offer and I did just that. To my surprise yesterday I received a statement that says I owe R14 600 and some cents. This statement includes rental for October which I agree with and not reputing but also noticed that the 50% off first rent wasn't effected and I needed to pay it. My initial reaction was to call Hanco, he was not available and was told by the office he was offsick. I called Elsje the lady that sent me the statement and she was on site but another lady was also helpful. I also sent an email reputing the statement highlighting the issue about 50% off first rent

Later on I sat and looked for a copy of a contract and I noticed that the 50% off first rent was scratched off and I signed next to it together with the amendment of the lease duration. I acknowledge that this is my signature, I may have signed not paying attention but I feel that Hanco did not explain the contract fully with me and during the signing it was just sign here and here and there. I am pregnant and my have a "pregnancy brain" moment I definitely would remember if this was explained. It was ignorant of me to just sign but I trusted and believed the only issue we sorted out was the deposit issue not knowing that I also lost or what i thought was also the "good part" of the deal.

I wrote another email to Hanco and Elsje apologizing that I didn't read the contract but I still do feel that something was not done right or I was denied an opportunity to make a final decision to either continue with the lease or go somewhere else. My 13year old daughter who was with me there also heard the same thing I heard and believed so it cannot be pregnancy brain. Our desperation takes advantage of by these agents and it's going to ruin the company name slowly destroying it

So I moved into Lemon Tree apartments in La Montagne Pretoria East in November 2017.

Was dealing with an agent by the name of Stefan...and that's partly where all my issues started.
Desperate to move in, I filled in the necessary documents, obviously not reading the ‘fine print' much and some important details, which I also thought that an agent should make sure that you are AWARE of certain things.
I was given amounts that needed to be deposited, which I did and I also communicated payments, which I thought all was in order, more so because I was allowed to move in, in no time.

I think it was in December or January 2017/18 where I started getting arrears letters and letters of demand.
I queried this only to be told about an amount on my rent which was NEVER agreed on, as the lease states, and other amounts that yes, I obviously didn't read about but went by what my agent was telling me.
And also believing that all was in order because I was allowed to move in.
I also didn't read that a debit order will be going off my account every month on the 25th.
A crazy amount went off my account in Jan or Dec which I reversed at the bank and only to find out that it was a wrong rental and arrears that they tried taking off my account.
I went to speak to Stefan and he said that I sighed a debit order form which states that on the 25th rent will be deducted.
Again, I didn't read the fine print...
So since then until to date, amounts have been increasing.

For the VERY FIRST TIME SINCE I've been living here, I had a problem with paying my rent because my bank card was cloned.
I sent Bianca an email which she forwarded to Suzie who deals with arrears.

I get home yday just before 6pm only to find that I'm locked out of MY house.
I go to the office, and Gift helped me. Thank you for that.

The person that could have known about this couldn't be reached and that was Zaine.
I spoke to him now, this morning and I asked him who instructed him to lock my door?
He said no one in specific.
He gets a message on the system to lock the unit.

Never had an issue paying rent before.
I COMMUNICATED AS TO WHY I'm able to pay just yet.
I COMMUNICATED.
And I get my door locked.

Problem here is, companies like these DO JOT know that as tenants, we have rights to.

My daughter and her and family have been staying in Boardwalk Heights for almost 1 year now and it’s not pleasant at all! There has always been issues with their water and electricity. The water is off so many times and if the water is not off, then there is no warm water, every night when they get home she has to worry if there will be warm water to bath her 2 year old son and themselves. Sometimes this happens a few times a week. Sometimes during the day the water is also completely off. The major problem is the mold in their kitchen cupboards and my grandson's room. a Few months ago, she complained about it, but nothing was done about it. I then sent an email to Brendon, who is in charge of maintenance and complained about the ever growing mold, as my grandson fell ill due to it and he had to be taken to the doctor. The doctor confirmed that he fell ill due to the mold problem. Since then, they only repainted the affected areas, but did not solve the problem. She had to throw away her Tupperware because they were full off mold! Her pots and pans etc. are standing all over the kitchen, because they are not allowed back into the affected cupboards. Last week Thursday, my pregnant daughter fell ill as well and had to be hospitalized. We are awaiting the test results to confirm whether it is also due to the mold. When you stand in the kitchen, you can actually smell the dampness. This morning I was sent photo's of the mold now appearing quite a lot in my grandson's room, adjacent to the kitchen. Early this morning I sent various emails to Brandon regarding the matter and explained the urgency thereof. He has read them, but has not come back to me at all. I am very fed up with situation there and this has now caused my daughter and them to look for a better place to stay. They will be moving at the end of the month, but this now causes unnecessary money to be spent for the move etc. I was also informed that they have to wait for up to 14 days to get their deposit back, which means they have to borrow money, to pay the deposit for the new place they are moving into. I will definitely not recommend anyone to move into this complex at all!

I moved out of the apartment at little manhattan on the 30th April 2016, served my notice 2 months before moving out. the apartment was spotless when i moved out and nothing was broken. I paid an amount of 4400 deposit when i moved in, and i was only refunded R2710.00 . What happened to my R1690.00 ?

I sent Andrea an e-mail following up on the matter, called Bongani at the office and i was told that i cant be assisted. I also sent an e-mail to Tawanda the marketing manager who said he will follow up for me. I want my money as soon as possible.