KNYSNA NEWS - Following the front page article in last week’s paper on the scramble for a home that many residents affected by the recent fires are experiencing in Knysna, a mother of two daughters wrote to Knysna-Plett Herald (KPH) to share her tale.
According to Wilma Lubbe, the rental home she and her daughters Veranique (17) and Jumari (12) were renting in Riverglades was lost due to the fires.
“Before that, we lived in Summer Place and our rent was R4 800 per month. The owners sold the property and we had to find accommodation elsewhere after we lived there for seven years. I battled for four months and in the interim I was evicted, even though we did say we could not find accommodation,” she wrote.
Lubbe said she then heard from a friend about the house in Riverglades. The owner was kind enough to drop the rent by R500 per month, and she and her daughters moved in.
“Then 13 months later we lost our second home and our two ‘fur babies’ (cats). I now have to find a rental for R7 000 or less per month, am a single mother and I work two jobs.
There is nothing available for us to rent – the agents are lying if they say rentals were not affected. There were still places available for between R5 000 and R8 000, Summer Place, Yellowwoods, and now even there those prices have gone up.
“I am not the only one looking, where will we go?” she wanted to know.
Veranique Lubbe (17), Wilma Lubbe's eldest daughter.
'They don't care'
Lubbe said her experience with some of the agents in Knysna has been horrible, adding that “they do not care". "To them it’s a job and they must find a tenant. I know for a fact they can ask the owner and they can for now drop their commissions,” she said.
Another question from Lubbe that not even Knysna-Plett Herald can answer: “Knysna is in a real crisis, what will be done?”
“I am so stressed. I have to find a rental by the end of August,” she added.
So, for Lubbe and her daughters the search continues.
She said homes that are available in the same complex she used to rent in is now going for R10 000 a month – R3 500 more than she used to pay.
“The agent said R10 000 and that the owner will not even consider leasing it for less, even though you have to drive through a burnt-out village. Then the other rental is a house in Paradise, three bedrooms for R16 800, while the same house is advertised at R16 000 by a different agent.
“The only two places in my price range were bachelors and a one bedroom flat for R5 500. I can really only afford about R6 500 a month, keeping in mind I also still have to pay electricity that went up on July 1,” she said.
This is currently the plight of many residents of Knysna, and for the foreseeable future will remain a thorn in many residents’ side. KPH will do its best to keep residents informed of the situation as soon as new information comes to light.
ARTICLE & PHOTO: STEFAN GOOSEN, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD
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