Deposit Withheld? How SA's Rental Housing Tribunal Helps

What Is the Rental Housing Tribunal?

The Rental Housing Tribunal was established under the Rental Housing Act 50 of 1999, which sets out the basic rules for residential leases in South Africa and creates a tribunal in every province to hear disputes arising from those rules. In Gauteng, this is the Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal, based in Johannesburg. The Tribunal exists because ordinary litigation is often too slow and too expensive for the kind of dispute that arises between an ordinary landlord and an ordinary tenant, where the amounts involved rarely justify a full court case. Both landlords and tenants may approach the Tribunal, and there is no cost to lodge a complaint.

What Counts as an Unfair Practice?

The Tribunal's jurisdiction is built around the concept of an unfair practice, a term the Act uses broadly. In practice, this covers a landlord failing to refund a deposit after a tenant has vacated, a landlord failing to maintain or repair a property, a tenant falling into arrears with rent, damage caused to the property by either party, a landlord cutting off electricity or water instead of approaching a court, a landlord evicting a tenant without a court order, discrimination against a tenant, and a landlord failing to provide receipts or account for payments received. If your dispute falls into one of these categories, or something close to it, the Tribunal is very likely the right first stop rather than a lawyer's letter.

How Do You Lodge a Complaint?

A complaint is lodged on the Tribunal's prescribed form, available from the provincial Tribunal office, and can usually be submitted in person, by post, by fax or by email. You will need to attach supporting documents, including your identity document, the written lease agreement or a summary of the verbal agreement if there was no written lease, proof of any payments made, and the contact details of both parties. Once a complaint is lodged, the position between the parties is effectively frozen while the process runs its course. A landlord may not evict a tenant, the tenant is expected to keep paying rent, and the landlord is expected to keep maintaining the property, all pending the Tribunal's ruling.

What Happens After You Lodge a Complaint?

The Tribunal first conducts a preliminary investigation to establish whether a genuine dispute exists and whether the complaint falls within its powers. If it does, the matter is usually referred to mediation, where a Tribunal official tries to help the landlord and tenant reach an agreement without a formal hearing. Many disputes, particularly deposit disagreements, settle at this stage once both sides see the numbers laid out clearly. Where mediation does not resolve things, the matter proceeds to a formal hearing, sometimes called an arbitration, where both parties are given a date to appear and the Tribunal makes a ruling after hearing both sides.

Is a Tribunal Ruling Actually Enforceable?

This is usually the first question people ask, understandably, given that the process feels informal compared to a courtroom. Once the Tribunal has made its ruling, that ruling carries the same weight as an order of the Magistrate's Court and can be enforced in the same way, including through the sheriff if necessary. A party who simply ignores a ruling is not left with an empty piece of paper to wave around. It is worth noting, though, that the Tribunal cannot itself grant an eviction order. If a landlord genuinely needs a tenant removed from a property, that still has to go through the ordinary court process under the Prevention of Illegal Eviction Act, even if the underlying dispute started at the Tribunal.

Whether you are a landlord trying to recover unpaid rent without falling foul of an unfair practice complaint, or a tenant chasing a deposit that should have been back in your account weeks ago, getting the process right from the outset makes a real difference to how quickly it is resolved. If your dispute has already become complicated, involves a large sum, or a Tribunal ruling has been ignored, it is worth getting proper legal advice before you take the next step, and our landlord and tenant dispute specialists can help you work out the most efficient route to a resolution.