Hi I am from South Africa. Ive recently moved into a new appartment in January 2020 and ran into trouble. So m tv electricity was cut off for two nights and three days, when I enquirerd by my agent what went wrong she told me that I missed the notice from officials stating when they would come to check my meters. I told her I never recieved or saw a notice.
It turns out A notice was put up on t he building in December. 2019, but I only moved in on January 2020. By that time the notice was no longer there and I was not in the property during the time they would check. I would like to move out and cancel my contract that is a year, but i dont want to lose my deposit. My contract states that the landlord is entitled to the deposit if I as tenant terminate the lease contract unlawfully before the agreed upon time of renting.
So my question is, arent they breeching the contract and do I have and legal ground to say that they breached the contract and I am not terminating the contract unlawfully and that I will receive my deposit back?
Termination of lease
Legally you cant do anything.
It cannot be the fault of your landlord that you wasnt there..
You want to move out because the power was off for 2 to 3 days?
Are they charging you a reconnection fee?
Sounds like an honest mistake on part of the management, they of course should of been in contact with the house manager to know that it was up to them to allow the meters to be read.
Since you had not physically taken possession of the property when this happened.
No, I would say you will not get your deposit back for breaking the lease and if it went to court you wouldn't win and you would also have to pay for court costs.
If that is the only issue with the flat then just move on, I would hope though that the agents would pay for any reconnection fees with the power if there are any to pay.
In the future be aware that they post downstairs either on a board or the front door area to inform the house about meter readings. They come from each co. at least once a year to look at the meters.
If your meter is inside your flat you have to let them in to look.
If you were renting it already in December, they didn't breach the contract, it's your duty to receive all those notices and comply with them.
Sunika wrote:So m tv electricity was cut off for two nights and three days, when I enquirerd by my agent what went wrong she told me that I missed the notice from officials stating when they would come to check my meters. I told her I never recieved or saw a notice.
Who is listed as being the contact for the power? You? The house agent? Other?
The power company is required to send that registered contact person an inscribed letter (that is they must sign for it) before the power company can shut off power. If the registered contact was not available after three tries to deliver said letter, then they can unilaterally shut off power.
The first meter reading is free. If the registered contact was not available, that contact often has to pay for a new scheduled special inspection. But that all is spelled out in the inscribed letter.
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