Question posted in the Landlord Tenant Law category relating to KwaZulu-Natal
Good evening Sir/MadamI am Zanele Paliso a tenant at 19 Pickering Street South Beach Durban I have been unlawfully evicted from my room, they forced entry by breaking a new lock a bought a week back after my room my broken into beforeThe self appointed committee of the flat opened my room, to put a new guy to rent it to them. I am a student at Unisa and because of exams, end April I had to temporarily spend weekdays at my boyfriends place often to get electricity since the flat has no electricity. We have been staying together there at 19 Pickering Street since 2019 in that room and he got a better place and left it for me to useWhen I alerted them about not spending much time there because of exams that they told me to pay rent of R500 so they can keep it for me, that I refused to do because no one pays rent there we are all tenants without a landlord ever since landlord was taken to court we stopped paying rent they only make new people pay rent to them as according to them the flat is theirs now, but as for us old tenants we stopped paying rent because we know they are not landlords After I refused numerous times to pay them R500 for a room they never gave me, a room my boyfriend paid deposit and rented since 2015 now they say they are the ones in charge of the flat. Just this week Monday I was sleeping at my room and today 10 November my room has a new person inside and I was told a room with my furniture inside is no longer mine. This is wrong, the committee is abusing their power while they all came as tenants there some came even later than when that room was acquired I need assistance in getting my room back, schools are closing now I will be staying there full time as of next week and without my room I don't have a place of mine Please assist I have all the deposit receipts and rental receipts I could find as proof that the room is not theirs but mine