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Home buyer wats R170k back - estate agent's sale falls through

Aa estate agent in Tshwane is accused of keeping the purchase deposit after the "home owner" decided to withdraw the offer to sell.

The agent has therefore acted contrary to the Estate Agency Affairs Board's code of conduct.

In April last year, Mbazima Manyike, 51, sought to buy a house for his two children who are studying at the Tshwane University of Technology. He says he was trying to avoid exorbitant rental fees and transport costs.

After seeing an advert for a house on sale, Manyike travelled from Giyani to Pretoria to view it.

He loved the house and did not hesitate to sign the contract before transferring a deposit of R100000 into the business account of Serage Properties.

He says he saw this as an investment for his family as they also do not have a place to stay when they visit Gauteng or their children.

He says Thabiso Serage told him there was lots of demand for the house and it was on a first-come, first-buy basis.

Manyike says he paid the deposit at the end of April last year.

He was promised he could take occupation at the end of May, but was later told the seller of the house had changed their mind and withdrawn the sale.

Instead of refunding his money, Serage Properties' manager Mpho Serage looked for another house that was on sale and offered it as a replacement.

Manyike refused because he had not seen or agreed to buy the second house.

"They are the referee and the player at the same time," he says.

The sales agreement which Manyike signed cites Serage Properties as the seller.

It also states that if the seller is in breach of contract, he must immediately refund the buyer his money plus the accrued interest.

Manyike says the Serages acted dishonestly and unfairly as they did not invest his full purchase amount into an interest-bearing account as required in terms of the Estate Agency Affairs Act.

"It's a year now since they have kept my money when they should have acted in my best interest," Manyike says.

In the meantime, he is still renting a property for his children.

He says Serage Properties told him they will not refund his money as they were rectifying the matter by offering him another house.

"They are just offering me what they want with no regard to what I want as a buyer," he says.

The act compels the estate agent to keep the buyer's money in a trust account and to pay it out when the agent is lawfully entitled or instructed to make payment to the person entitled to it.

"They are unprofessional and have taken me for a ride because they knew I would not be constantly knocking at their door," Manyike says.

Efforts to get comment from Thabiso Serage of Serage Properties proved futile.

He does not respond to e-mails or faxes and did not answer calls for the past two weeks.

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