The rules of the game regarding rental deposits are the same whether you are renting a residential property or holiday accommodation. However, many holidaymakers often find themselves out of a deposit refund.
The rules regarding rental deposits are the same whether you are renting a residential property or holiday home.
“According to the Rental Housing Act, a holiday let is no different to any residential lease agreement,” says Michelle Dickens, Managing Director of TPN, South Africa’s only specialist property credit bureau and developer of the industry’s first rental payment profile of its kind.
Dickens advises landlords and tenants of the following procedures:
- The landlord and tenant must perform a joint incoming and outgoing inspection.
- If the landlord fails to perform both inspections it will be considered an acknowledgement that no damage occurred to the property during the tenant’s stay.
- If there are no damages, the deposit must be refunded within 7 days of expiry of the lease.
- If there are damages, the deposit must be refunded within 14 days of restoration of the property. The Rental Housing Tribunal interprets this to mean that the landlord must action the repairs with urgency and refund the tenant within 14 days of the finalisation repairs. However, if it appears the landlord is dragging their feet with the necessary repairs, the Tribunal could rule the deposit should be refunded within 14 days of expiry of the lease.
- Should the tenant fail to meet the landlord at the outgoing inspection the deposit must be refunded within 21 days of expiry of the lease.
The landlord determines the damages caused by the tenant by comparing the incoming and outgoing inspections, and has to obtain quotes for reasonable repair costs.
“The deposit is not the landlord’s bonus to upgrade or perform maintenance he is responsible for. Further, the landlord may only deduct repairs from the deposit once the repairs have been performed and an invoice supplied. The tenant has the right to copies of all the invoices for the repairs performed,” says Dickens.
Landlords cannot contract out of the above mentioned obligations and are legally obliged to perform the inspections, even if their lease agreement states that it’s the tenant’s responsibility to complete and submit a defects list.
Landlords also need to know that a clause in their lease agreement providing the deposit refund of 30 days is not legal either.
“If the landlord engages the services of a rental agent –then the rental agent must fulfil the landlord’s obligation in all the points above,” says Dickens.
Readers' Comments Have a comment about this article? Email us now.
