Ruth Mannering approached legal counsel and the matter was taken to court and is still ongoing. Picture: Pexels
Ruth Hazel Mannering, 78, from Durban, KwaZulu-Natal says she has been living a nightmare for the past 10 months due to a tenant who has allegedly refused to pay rent or move out of her flat.
Instead of enjoying her golden years and enjoying the fruits of her labour, Mannering said she has become depressed, because Collin van Rooyen refuses to move out.
She has since approached the courts in effort to evict Van Rooyen who she said he has not paid rent since September of 2023.
She went on to say when Van Rooyen moved in, she was told that he and his wife were pastors and had their own church.
She estimated that the amount of money he owes her is around R55,000.
“The deadline to pay his rent was on the seventh of every month. I noticed on three occasions that he would not have paid by that date. I always had to go after him, phone him and ask him to please pay his rent and then he give me numerous excuses,” Mannering said.
She added that she needs to meet financial obligations monthly and relies on the rent for that.
“Before I asked him to move out, he was very polite. But the moment I told him that he has to leave and find other accommodation, he became funny (strange).”
When the property owner wanted to do some renovations on the flats, he told her that it would not ‘suit him’ because he was expecting visitors.
“This has taken a financial toll on me. I am a widow. I have lots of commitments to meet. He knows this. I told him that I utilise his rent to pay for other things.
“This has made me depressed and I also suffer with high blood pressure. It is very difficult to cope with something like this at my age,” said Mannering.
She approached legal counsel and the matter was taken to court and is still ongoing.
The matter appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on June 13, 2024.
According to court documents: “The Applicant [Mannering] is authorised to institute eviction proceedings in terms of the Prevention of Illegal Occupation of Land Act of 1998 against the First Respondent [Van Rooyen].”
The case was postponed to July 31, 2024, at the request of Van Rooyen, who required time to secure the services of a lawyer from the University Law Clinic.
Van Rooyen also allegedly claimed that he is aware that he must vacate the flat, but argues that he will only do so when his finances improve.
Mannering said she would love for this to be resolved and for him to move out so that she could get into that unit herself.
“I have never experienced this, and perhaps its because I don’t have my husband with me anymore and he probably thinks women are weaklings.”
Van Rooyen told IOL that he did not want to comment.
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