Latest / Anele and the Club on 947 / Who pays the electricians call-out fee? The landlord or tenant?

Transcript

Who pays the electricians call-out fee? The landlord or tenant? · Anele and the Club on 947

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wake up with a bang.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Hey, wake up! On Saturday, I'm busy doing my makeup
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: for Joburg Day. Get a voice note from a friend
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: who says, oh, babe, I need you. I said, at
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: your duty? What do you need? And he's like, I'm
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: having an issue with my tenant, but they listen to
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: your show. I know they listen to your show. So
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: I want to send you a voice note, but you
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: have to change my voice.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: And then you've got to talk about it on the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: show so they hear. I love this. I love this.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Passive aggressive. Just move off note. So then I was like, okay, fine.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: So I sent the original voice note to Ryan. And
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: I say, Ryan, can you use the AI to change
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: this voice? And Ryan is like, oh, let me see
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: what I can do. This is the best that he
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: could do.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: We have a tenant.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: So she calls in a panic that her unit is
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: the only unit in the entire complex that doesn't have electricity.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: So I call an electrician.
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Note, it's a Saturday and the call out fee is
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: a thousand two hundred and fifty rand. So we have
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: to do proof of payment first before he can go out.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: And we just do the proof of payment. And she
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: calls saying, oh, no, don't worry about it. I went
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: down to the DB board and for the complex. And
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: I saw my unit had tripped. I just switched it
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: back on. I was like, OK, well, if they don't
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: refund us, then we're going to have to charge you
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: for that. Oops, I mentioned the name. And she said, oh, no,
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: I disagree. What do you think?
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: So the question is, should the tenant be liable for
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: the call out for the electrician?
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Yes, the tenant should be because they didn't check the
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: DB board from word go.
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: But only because the payment had already been made, right?
• 1:58
  Speaker 6: Right.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So I, oh, I'm so bad at this. I would
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: say go half.
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: No! But I know that if the tenant phoned.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: and said, this is what's happened.
• 2:09
  Speaker 5: My husband would have said, have you checked the DV board?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Have you? So as the owner, he would have asked
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: all the questions. Are you sure it's just you? Let
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: me come have a look.
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: And then he would have phoned the electrician. I would
• 2:22
  Speaker 5: go half, but I know that he would say, no,
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: the tenant's 100% liable for it.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, guys. There is no way you can send us
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: on a wild goose chase when all you have to
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: do is go check whether the switch thing is down,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: switch the switch thing up, and then we're fine. Now
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: we 1,250 ran in because you.
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: Panicked before you did all the right.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Checks no pay for it yeah but you see now
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I mean if I'm I am a tenant so if
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: this had to happen to me I mean it's your
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: house hey so I'll just phone you hey Yes, it's
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: your house.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: But nothing was wrong. The fact that as the landlord,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: I then got you an electrician who's going to come
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and check it out. And then you're like, ah! My bad. No,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: not your bad. You're $ 1, 250.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you see, so I am a tenant and I
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: also have a tenant.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: And you're a landlord.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Yes, I know. It doesn't make sense. I know, right?
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: But in both situations, we sort of have an unspoken
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: deal that you get the electrician out.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: And you pay the electrician and then I pay you back.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. But if my tenant had to phone me
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and I'd say, just get an electrician, because also now
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: it's tough. Now I must play middleman between, are you
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: home or are you not home? He's outside. Yeah, you
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: get it and then I'll refund you later. And in
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: that case, I just would have said, ha!
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Tim Beghele, how would you run this?
• 3:50
  Speaker 6: As a tenant.
• 3:53
  Speaker 7: So, as a tenant, I understand that, well, based on
• 3:57
  Speaker 7: your contract, there are things that are absolutely the responsibility
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: of your landlord, right?
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Because they also don't want you fiddling with everything else.
• 4:03
  Speaker 7: However, not checking the DP board is such an amateur move.
• 4:08
  Speaker 7: It's the first place you're supposed to go, even at
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: your own house, before you decide what the problem is
• 4:14
  Speaker 7: or whether you need an expert to come in.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Because... So I do think the tenant must pay.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: From this voice note, you can check that she checked
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: with the other people because she said, I am the
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: only unit that doesn't have electricity. So you have the
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: presence of mind to check with the other units in
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: the complex, but not check the DV board. So you
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: were checking. You just didn't check all the way.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Can I have a question about this though? Because what
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: is his name? What are we saying? Kenneth.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: Name is definitely not Kenneth, but let's go with Kenneth.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, Kenneth. He says in his voice note, it doesn't
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: sound like it's her house DB board. It's like the complex.
• 4:49
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: So at the main, main DB board.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: At the main switch.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: The main switch. That's where you check. Where all the
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: switches are.
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: No, I would just check. If I checked in my house,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: that's where my responsibility ends. Like walking out the door.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: But she ended up checking at the main one. So
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: she knows to finally go there. Why didn't she just
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: go there immediately?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I see. Because it's a costly oversight, Frankie. You can't.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: not do the basics and then expect someone to pay.
• 5:14
  Speaker 7: What I would have done, actually, if I were the tenant,
• 5:16
  Speaker 7: I would have just waited for the electrician to arrive
• 5:18
  Speaker 7: and have them discover that there's nothing wrong with the
• 5:20
  Speaker 7: DB board.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: That's where she got it wrong. I would have just
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: played dumb.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: Because now both of us are down $ 1, 250 and the
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: electrician is smiling because they had to do nothing, nothing
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: to get that money.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: But even if you had waited for the electrician, the
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: electrician would have phoned the owner and said, hi, it
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: was the DV board.
• 5:37
  Speaker 7: Yes, but at that point, it's no longer my problem.
• 5:38
  Speaker 7: It's now a transaction between my landlord and the electrician.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: And the electrician has had to work for the one. Guys,
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: the electrician is actually the winner here. They got $ 1, 250
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: for doing nothing. Not even a little petrol.
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, but maybe the owner never told her initially that
• 5:51
  Speaker 5: there's a DV board inside your house and then there's
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: a main one for the complex. Maybe it's the first
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: time living in a complex. And as the homeowner, he
• 5:58
  Speaker 5: could have said to her, have you gone to check...
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: The main DV board. So maybe she spoke to a
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: neighbor and the neighbor said to her, go check. And
• 6:05
  Speaker 5: then she finally said, oh, look.
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: You see, all of that you should have done before
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: you call.
• 6:08
  Speaker 5: So let's go half as a first warning. And then
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: the next time this happens, it's on you.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: 011-8838-947 is tenants versus landlords this morning. Stand on one
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: side and one side only. Oh, I'm always on the
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: side of the landlord. Who should pay the $ 1, 250?
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's too late now. The electrician's got his money.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Is it the winner of this entire thing? Is it
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: the tenant that is liable for this money or is
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: it the landlord? Have a listen to the voice note,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: understand the situation and then weigh in.
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: We have a tenant, so she calls in a panic
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: that her unit is the only unit in the entire
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: complex that doesn't have electricity. So I call an electrician,
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: note it's a Saturday, and the call-out fee is R1, 250, 000.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: um so we have to do proof of payment first
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: before he can go out and we just do the
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: proof of payment and she calls saying oh no don't
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: worry about it i went down to the db board
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: and uh for the complex and i i saw my
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: unit tetrapped i just switched it back on i was
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: like okay well if they don't refund us then we're
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: gonna have to charge you for that Oops, I mentioned
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: the name. And she said, oh, no, I disagree.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: What do you think? Go half because he should have
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: asked these questions. Definitely.
• 7:45
  Speaker 8: My only question is why wasn't a thorough analysis done
• 7:47
  Speaker 8: between the owner and the tenant before calling out an electrician?
• 7:51
  Speaker 9: That's not why we have caretakers that get paid a
• 7:55
  Speaker 9: stipend to look after these things.
• 7:58
  Speaker 8: Why didn't the landlord ask all the right questions of that?
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Because I should think that as the landlord, your first
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: price is for you to not pay anything.
• 8:06
  Speaker 8: Unfortunately, the owner needed to tell the tenant about the
• 8:10
  Speaker 8: cost before going ahead with it. You can't charge someone
• 8:14
  Speaker 8: unless you've explicitly explained it to them and that it
• 8:17
  Speaker 8: would be for their account if they get there and
• 8:19
  Speaker 8: there's no problem.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: Why are you saying it like that's the law, lady?
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: She was right.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Why is she sounding like that's the official law in
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: the book of tenants and landlords? Gerard, good morning. You
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: and Kyle are me.
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 8:35
  Speaker 6: How are you?
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: We're good. How are you? Good.
• 8:39
  Speaker 10: Thanks.
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Talk to us.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 8:42
  Speaker 6: We have a similar situation.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: A little bit different.
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: We were renovating our house and we did some work
• 8:50
  Speaker 6: in the bathroom. And the contractors drained the geyser to
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: connect some pipes. And it was a Friday afternoon. They
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: switched the geyser back on and they left. By the
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: time the geyser filled up, hot water was spurting out
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: in the overflow. So we phoned them and they're like, no,
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: we didn't work on the geyser. So we called plumbers out.
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: The call I threw was 2,380 rand because it was
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: after hours. They climbed into the roof, checked, and something
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: was left open to cause water to spurt out the overflow.
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: And we said, sorry, we are deducting that amount off
• 9:36
  Speaker 6: what we owe you. And they had to live with that.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: The builders did?
• 9:43
  Speaker 6: Yes, the builders.
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, not a similar situation, but I hear what you're saying.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: You're right. The builders were the negligent ones and they're
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: the ones that must pay this money. Because why would
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: you leave the Giza open?
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: Exactly.
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: So in this case, I also think the tenant was
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: a bit negligent because if you were living in your
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: own house, you would have footed that bill anyway. Oh.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: And you would have checked everywhere.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: That's actually a nice point.
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: Because it's your own money that you're wasting. Yeah.
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: Oh.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: You see, so if it was, let's put the tenants aside,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: if it was your house, you would be paying. Exactly. Exactly.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: But, okay, now let me just hop on over to
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: the tenant's side and say, but it's not my house.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: It's yours.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: And that's why people prefer to rent because then most
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: of the cost falls to the owner.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying? And the owner doesn't mind paying,
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: hence Kenneth paid immediately. But the thing is, check everything before.
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: You can't just be like, oh, oopsie, I was wrong.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Nothing's happening, but we've paid the money already.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah. T's and C's apply.
• 10:45
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 10:45
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Think about it. Jade, you're in Florida Lake. What do
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: you think?
• 10:50
  Speaker 11: I completely disagree with you, Agnele.
• 10:53
  Speaker 9: Hi, guys.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Morning.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Cut it off.
• 11:00
  Speaker 11: So my sentiments are, as the landlord, it's like Wi-Fi.
• 11:08
  Speaker 11: If your Wi-Fi goes down and you call your provider,
• 11:12
  Speaker 11: the first thing they're going to say is unplug. Did
• 11:16
  Speaker 11: you check that all the plants are working? Before they
• 11:20
  Speaker 11: sent anybody out.
• 11:23
  Speaker 12: The landlord should have then.
• 11:24
  Speaker 11: Taken it upon himself and said.
• 11:27
  Speaker 12: Because it could be somebody that doesn't know about anything.
• 11:30
  Speaker 11: About electricity or to check TV boards or whatever the
• 11:33
  Speaker 11: case might be.
• 11:33
  Speaker 12: So it was on him to then say, Please check
• 11:40
  Speaker 12: the DB board or make sure, because it's the only tenant,
• 11:43
  Speaker 12: you're the only one, so.
• 11:44
  Speaker 11: Surely there must be something up.
• 11:46
  Speaker 12: Check the DB board, check whatever, before he then went
• 11:49
  Speaker 12: out and paid that car.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: How did she know? How did she know she was
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: the only one whose unit doesn't work?
• 11:54
  Speaker 11: She would have asked the neighbours.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, so she knows how to do some sort of
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: investigative work.
• 11:58
  Speaker 12: Yeah, but not investigate the DB board.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: But, I mean, Jay does have a slight point here
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: because some people know nothing about these things. And if
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I'm renting, I don't want to.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: Well, do you know what?
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: If you're renting, the first.
• 12:10
  Speaker 12: Thing you're going to do, you're going to phone your
• 12:11
  Speaker 12: landlord and this is your problem.
• 12:13
  Speaker 10: Listen here, I have a situation.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Well, now you've learned the hard way. You see, this
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: is the thing about becoming a tenant. It's a nice
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: little step towards becoming an owner. These are the things
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: that you must learn and know.
• 12:23
  Speaker 11: No, no, no.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: The tenant had the presence of mind to go to
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: the other places and ask other people and all of that.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: Why didn't you just go to the DB board whilst
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: you were at it? And also, it's like a flippant. Oh, okay. Sorry.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: My mistake. I didn't check the DB board. We're back
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: on now. We're groovy. Don't worry about it. Tell the
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: electrician not to come. But now we've paid already.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: And the electrician's on his way.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: No, he's not coming because there's nothing to fix.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: He's like, oh.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Dunsies.
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: The guy that was having the most beers at Stone's
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: this weekend, that's the electrician.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: The landlord should have gotten in his car and gone
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: there to go check first.
• 13:02
  Speaker 9: What?
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: Before he calls out the... I mean, sorry, I don't
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: know who this guy is, but you say I know him.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling weird throwing shade at them. I'm just saying,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: you should have gotten in your car and gone check first, buddy.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Frankie says a full pot so there's money.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: But here's the thing. What if your landlord lives in Germany?
• 13:20
  Speaker 8: What?
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Fly from Germany to come check your TV board.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, different conversation.
• 13:24
  Speaker 9: Why?
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: No, because if you're living in Germany, you've got the euros.
• 13:28
  Speaker 13: This is.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Small change. Small change, man. This is the price of
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: a cappuccino to call out that man. We have a tenant.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: She calls that her unit is the only unit in
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: the entire complex that doesn't have electricity. So I call
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: an electrician and the call-out fee is R1, 250, 000. And we
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: just do the proof of payment. And she calls saying, oh, no,
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: don't worry about it. I went down to the DB
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: board for the complex. My unit had tripped. I just
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: switched it back on. I was like, OK, well, if
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: they don't refund us. Then we're going to have to
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: charge you for that. She said, oh, no, I disagree.
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: Oh, guys, I troubleshoot. I'm no electrician, but I would
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: have tried.
• 14:16
  Speaker 10: I think the electrician needs to bring back the money
• 14:19
  Speaker 10: because they didn't do anything.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 14:22
  Speaker 10: They can take like 100 bucks for their troubles.
• 14:26
  Speaker 9: Nope.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: The landlord is wrong. He should have thought of checking
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: the DV board first before running to the electrical engineer.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: No, he's wrong.
• 14:37
  Speaker 13: Surely you are also on some sort of complex group.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: So before you react as a landlord, surely you also
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: do a little bit of due diligence. I'm on my
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: way to becoming an electrician. And in this situation, I'm
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: just smiling because electricians make money for doing nothing. But
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: if he doesn't refund, the landlord should pay. Yeah, also, electricians,
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: come on board here. Surely you should give back some
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: of the money. Something. You can't just bank $ 1, 250 for
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: doing nothing.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Well, if I haven't left my house.
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: But if I'm halfway to your flat.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Then it's 600 rand. No.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: It's half a call-out fee. Then it's the call-out.
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: No.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: You've made me drive there halfway and I'm going to
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: turn around and drive back. No.
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: Actually, new enemy. Electrician, you're going down. Sumelo, you're in
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: front of Bell Park. Good morning.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Anil and the club.
• 15:30
  Speaker 11: How are you guys?
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: We are divided. Divided. What do you think? No, man.
• 15:36
  Speaker 9: This is a simple thing.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: I believe that the landlord.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: Is at fault himself. And also I believe the biggest
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: culprit within this whole thing is actually the electrician. And
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: you cannot be paid for a service that you did
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: not render.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: But also not to go against my landlord because you
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: guys know I am on the landlord side. But as
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: a landlord, do you not have like your electrician, like
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: your guy, your trusted guy that you use all the
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: time where you guys have a relationship where it will
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: be easy for them to be like, you know what?
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: It's okay. Let me just give you back the money
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: because you're my guy. I use you all the time.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: No, because as a responsible landlord, I make sure that
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: my property is in good standing. So I don't need
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: an electrician often. Maybe once in a blue moon. Okay.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying?
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: Okay, back to the landlord side.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: Frankie, but how are you then a landlord that is
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: not going to do the due diligence first? Because you
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: have an account that you can write it off to
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: if you don't get the money back. That's reckless lending
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: in itself because now that same lady that was doing
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: the call out, she was not doing it maliciously. She
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: was just informing the landlord, look, there's a situation. I'm
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: the only unit. And then she did call back And
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: she did explain that look problem found, everything was fine.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: Yes, but guys, a tenant is not a child. They
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: did not look properly. It's your house. You stay there
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: and then the day, yes, I'm responsible for it as
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: the landlord. But you go and look what, maybe your
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: hair dryer was on and then you tripped the DB board.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's your toaster. It's not the DB board in
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: the house. The hair dryer would trip the DB board
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: in the house. Something's overloading to the big main box. Clumelo,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: you know who should be paying here? Who? The complex.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Because it's their DB board.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: It's a body corporate.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: It's a body corporate she'd be paying.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: Everyone's to blame here.
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: It's a body corporate.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: You know who else? The security guard.
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: Well, he didn't check, did he?
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: He just threw everything in. Everybody's in on it. Justice
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: and Krugerstub, what do you think?
• 17:41
  Speaker 9: Good morning, Alele and the club.
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: Morning, Justice. How are you?
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I'm well, thank you.
• 17:45
  Speaker 9: Now look, man, I think I'm more leaning with Cindy
• 17:50
  Speaker 9: because if you can check, both these guys handled the
• 17:52
  Speaker 9: situation poorly. Number one, the landlord has to have what
• 17:56
  Speaker 9: we call SOPs, Standard Operating Procedure. You don't panic in
• 18:00
  Speaker 9: every situation. I mean, I understand why would the tenant panic.
• 18:04
  Speaker 9: The trauma of load shedding, you know, it's bad.
• 18:07
  Speaker 10: Now, after you realize.
• 18:09
  Speaker 9: From the group that, hey, I'm the only one here,
• 18:11
  Speaker 9: when you call, you're on panic mode. Because the first
• 18:13
  Speaker 9: thing would have been, as per the SOPs, what do
• 18:16
  Speaker 9: I do as the landlord? Okay, I'm going to call
• 18:18
  Speaker 9: the Chapter Snow Body Corp. or I'll have a manager
• 18:21
  Speaker 9: on site who will oversee emergencies. You must have always
• 18:24
  Speaker 9: that point of contact. But equally, the tenant panic, and
• 18:28
  Speaker 9: I don't know if it was, because that was not
• 18:31
  Speaker 9: common sense, not to check the board. And lastly, I
• 18:34
  Speaker 9: would want to tell you, if you see a rat
• 18:36
  Speaker 9: and you are a tenant, You will call and pay me. Wait,
• 18:40
  Speaker 9: there's a rat here. The landlord can't say, hey, I'm
• 18:42
  Speaker 9: going to get Mr. Pech to come immediately. No, it
• 18:45
  Speaker 9: must be an investigation. How long have you seen it?
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: How big is it?
• 18:51
  Speaker 9: You know, you can't just throw money in problems, guys.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: That's SOPs.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: No, but okay, Justice, totally get what you're saying. But
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: now moving forward, when you call your landlord to be like, oh,
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: this is happening, do you know that that landlord is
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: going to spend four hours making you now do due
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: diligence on everything, check this plug, check that plug, check that,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: check that, check that, because of this wastage? From here onwards,
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: the landlord is going to take much longer to react
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: to your situations because of this.
• 19:22
  Speaker 9: No, it comes with the territory of being a landlord.
• 19:25
  Speaker 9: I mean, you must know that I'm receiving rent. At
• 19:27
  Speaker 9: the end of the day, it's a give and take.
• 19:29
  Speaker 9: So if you have SOPs, you then refer to that
• 19:33
  Speaker 9: thing and say, oh, wait, have you checked ABCD?
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Are you sure it's a leak?
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: What is going on?
• 19:38
  Speaker 9: So as to when you go to external forces, because
• 19:41
  Speaker 9: you can't just go.
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: Outside as a first point.
• 19:43
  Speaker 9: Of resolving a matter. Look internally first. What's wrong with you?
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: What's wrong with you? is Kenneth. Justice just gave him
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: a nickname, Mackenzo. Guys, I just, I feel tenants are
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: not kids. You must check everywhere first before....
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Ultimately, I feel it's the landlord's responsibility, this stuff.
• 20:12
  Speaker 8: No.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: It's your house.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: Yes, the tenant didn't check. Maybe you should have asked them.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Okay, because we all feel passionately about this and no
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: one is willing to change. What does the ombudsman say?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: Isn't there like a rent and tenant and landlord ombudsman?
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: What is the legal use? Yes, yes. I was talking
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: there about standard operating procedures for you. You got a manual.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: First time in my life.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: We have a tenant.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: She calls that her unit is the only unit in
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: the entire complex that doesn't have electricity. So I call
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: an electrician and the call out fee is a thousand
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: two hundred and fifty rand. And we just do the
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: proof of payment. And she calls saying, oh, no, don't
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: worry about it. I went down to the DB board
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: for the complex. My unit had tripped. I just switched
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: it back on. I was like, OK, well, if they
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: don't refund us, then we're going to have to charge
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: you for that.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: She said, oh, no, I disagree. Now, you asked the question,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: what does the law say?
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: What does the law say?
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: What does the law say?
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Because now you're right, I'm right, we're all right. But
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: what does the law say? Kerry, you are an estate agent.
• 21:27
  Speaker 13: Hello, yes, I am.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Okay. Tell us who's wrong.
• 21:31
  Speaker 13: Okay, so I'm an estate agent and I've also managed properties.
• 21:38
  Speaker 13: And unfortunately, from my experience, we have to clearly explain
• 21:42
  Speaker 13: to the tenant that that should we send somebody and
• 21:45
  Speaker 13: it's found that it's their fault or, in this case,
• 21:48
  Speaker 13: it's not really an issue, that they will then be
• 21:50
  Speaker 13: liable for that call-out fee. And we have to tell
• 21:53
  Speaker 13: them the amount because... I used an example earlier when
• 21:57
  Speaker 13: I was chatting to the producer is that a tenant
• 22:01
  Speaker 13: will phone me and say, my shower is clogged. And
• 22:04
  Speaker 13: I'll say, okay, well, have you checked if it's from here?
• 22:08
  Speaker 13: Because if I send someone and they find it's here,
• 22:11
  Speaker 13: it's from your usage, you're going to be liable for
• 22:14
  Speaker 13: the call-out fee. And then I'll go, wait, hang on
• 22:16
  Speaker 13: a second. Then they phone back up. Don't worry, I
• 22:19
  Speaker 13: fixed it. So you have to give them the chance
• 22:23
  Speaker 13: as well. But I do agree. I mean, it should
• 22:25
  Speaker 13: have been discussed. All the different things should have been
• 22:27
  Speaker 13: checked before sending someone or paying such a high fee
• 22:31
  Speaker 13: for a call out.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: It sounds like this is your way of doing things.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Is this the law? Is this in the manual that
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: you have to ask them all these questions before calling
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: for help?
• 22:42
  Speaker 13: Well, the thing is, if it went to a rental
• 22:44
  Speaker 13: housing tribunal, the owner would lose. So that tells me
• 22:47
  Speaker 13: it's the law. Yes, because you.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: Have to explain. Because you can't just give someone, and
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I think that's where Kerry's saying is right. You can't
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: just say, I'm going to call a plumber, and then
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the plumber charges 10,000 Rand an hour. Like, you've got
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: to tell me what my liability is. You can't just
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: send someone.
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: Also, I must tell you that this is how much
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: it's going to cost. And if you're in the wrong,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: you pay for it.
• 23:08
  Speaker 12: Yes.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: Because for me, the fact that, Carrie, let's say we're
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: at the tribunal and the landlord then says, but she
• 23:15
  Speaker 2: called and said, I've gone to the neighbors. I'm the
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: only one. I've checked everything type of thing. Why must
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: the owner even know that you must go to the
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: DB board outside?
• 23:25
  Speaker 13: Well, he would say, yeah, he would just need to
• 23:27
  Speaker 13: say to her at that point, if we get there
• 23:29
  Speaker 13: and we find that it is your fault.
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 23:34
  Speaker 13: We'll even have it where someone's complaining about the electricity.
• 23:38
  Speaker 13: And we say, okay, we can send someone to check
• 23:41
  Speaker 13: the meter, the geyser. But if we find nothing wrong
• 23:44
  Speaker 13: and it's just because you're using 10 plug-in heaters, you
• 23:47
  Speaker 13: will be liable for the call-out fee. And then tell
• 23:49
  Speaker 13: them what that fee will be. Unfortunately, it's not fair, right?
• 23:53
  Speaker 13: I think she is wrong. She should have checked everything.
• 23:56
  Speaker 13: But legally, at the end of the day, if this
• 23:59
  Speaker 13: went forward, he would probably lose.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: Let's go to court, Kerry. I'm confident.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: This is the interesting thing, Kerry, because the DB board
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: is the outside one. It's not the inside one.
• 24:10
  Speaker 13: Yeah, I mean, I would never know to go check that.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: Etienne is in Alberton, and he says he's a caretaker,
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: and he says, actually, the DB board outside, it's a
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: bit of no man's land. Etienne, talk to us.
• 24:22
  Speaker 10: Good morning, guys. Okay, so the DVR board on the
• 24:25
  Speaker 10: outside is usually the body corporate responsibility because that's a
• 24:30
  Speaker 10: separate switch that's isolated from the inside DV. It's usually
• 24:34
  Speaker 10: a 63-amp breaker. It should be locked away. It's usually
• 24:38
  Speaker 10: the same place that the body corporate would actually do
• 24:40
  Speaker 10: the electricity measurements depending on how they've got it, if
• 24:44
  Speaker 10: they've got analog post-bite or if they've got If they
• 24:48
  Speaker 10: had prepaid, they wouldn't have that. So they'd actually have
• 24:50
  Speaker 10: the boxes locked up.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: So what are you saying, Etienne?
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Is it the body corporate has to pay?
• 24:56
  Speaker 10: Look, I wouldn't say the body corporate has to pay.
• 24:59
  Speaker 10: Like the previous caller actually clarified, there has to be
• 25:03
  Speaker 10: stipulated that there's somebody being sent. The body corporate actually
• 25:07
  Speaker 10: had to specify or give access to the box.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the box.
• 25:12
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: So maybe the owner should have checked with the body
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: corporate first. Is that what he's saying? That is correct.
• 25:17
  Speaker 11: So then how did.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: little tenant get into the DB board that you're unable.
• 25:22
  Speaker 9: To get into?
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: She went to Etienne, the caretaker, and said, I've got
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: no power.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Aha! That's what she should have done in the beginning.
• 25:30
  Speaker 10: That is correct. The owner shouldn't have access just to
• 25:33
  Speaker 10: those boxes. Those boxes shouldn't be freely accessible.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: So who's to blame, Etienne?
• 25:41
  Speaker 10: I would say it's depending on the body corporate side
• 25:44
  Speaker 10: and the tenant itself. The tenant itself should have actually
• 25:48
  Speaker 10: gone in and checked with the body corporate, checked who's
• 25:51
  Speaker 10: on site, double-checked your neighbour, had electricity, why don't I
• 25:54
  Speaker 10: have electricity?
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Hey, Etienne, now you've just thrown another spin at it.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: Do you know what, Etienne? At this point, I'm going
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: to pay for it.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: This feels like that Spider-Man meme where they're all pointing
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: at each other. This is that Spider-Man moment.