Deposit Deductions Need Evidence

A deposit is not a renovation fund. It is the tenant’s money, held for the tenancy, and any slice taken off the end has to be explained. ManjeProp’s working rule matches the Rental Housing Act’s direction: if we deduct, we should be able to show the damage, the comparison with the incoming state, and the cost.

This is how that file is built. It is not a legal opinion on your specific deduction.

The three pieces that have to sit together

Incoming record — joint inspection notes and photographs of the room as it was on day one.
Outgoing record — joint inspection, same angles, what is different.
Cost — reasonable repair or replacement, with receipts or invoices the tenant can inspect, as the Act contemplates when a deposit is applied to damage or lost keys.

Miss one piece and the deduction becomes a feeling. Feelings do not survive a Tribunal file.

What is usually not a deduction

Ordinary wear: faint marks where a bed sat, light fading, a small picture hook if the lease treats it as wear. Cleaning within a normal handover if the tenant left the place in the condition the lease asked for.

What is usually in play: broken glass, a missing remote, a door kicked through, a burn on a house mattress, a tap ripped off, unofficial holes that need a carpenter, unpaid amounts the lease actually makes the tenant liable for.

We will not list every hypothetical. We will insist on photos.

How tenants protect themselves

Keep the incoming set. Report damage when it happens, on Report a fault, so the date is not “sometime in winter.” Attend the outgoing inspection. Take your own outgoing photos. Return the keys you were given.

Do not hide a problem with paint. Do not refuse the inspection. Do not send an identity document as if that were evidence of cleanliness.

If a deduction letter arrives with no receipts and no photos, ask for them in writing. If a large sum is still unexplained, use an adviser or the provincial Rental Housing Tribunal. The fault form cannot hear that case.

How staff protect the business

Do not type “room destroyed” as a close-out. Type the fitting and attach the pair of photos. Log the repair with the contractor invoice. Put the invoice where the deposit file can find it. Do not mark a cost on a repair and then lose the PDF on a personal phone.

Do not deduct for a stain that is on the incoming set. Do not deduct for a leak you failed to fix after a ticket. Do not deduct for paint you used to hide damp you have not diagnosed.

Do not store the tenant’s ID next to the deduction spreadsheet. Unit, name as on the lease, amounts, references.

Timing, in outline

The Act sets short periods for refunding a deposit with interest when nothing is owing, and a further period when the dwelling has been restored and a balance remains. Those periods are statutory. Check the current wording before you write a date on a letter. Do not invent “we always keep it for 30 days” if the statute is shorter.

Interest belongs in the account, not as a shrug.

What the desk is for

PropertyCare holds tickets, repairs and photos. It is not the bank and it is not the Tribunal. Paid invoices are rent or recoverable charges when the bank shows the money. A repair cost is an operations record. Reconcile them like an adult before you write to a parent.

A booking status change does not decide a deposit. Vacancy in the real world does.

Parents

If you paid the deposit, you still need the same three pieces. Ask to see them. Do not demand a refund on an enquiry form while the outgoing inspection is booked for Thursday. Do use the enquiry form if you are taking a different room and want to know how deposits are handled here.

If staff cannot find the incoming set, stop typing a deduction until they have looked again. A missing file is our problem, not a licence.

Evidence is how a deduction stays lawful and boring. Without it, keep the money in the tenant’s column.

Live damage still goes on the fault form. Phone +27 60 313 6961 if the damage is happening now.