The Namibian Police say they are increasingly receiving complaints from members of the public falling victim to scams while searching for accommodation through ‘rental finders’ on social media.
Some tenants told The Namibian they have lost thousands of dollars in fake deposits for properties they never secured.
‘RENTAL FINDERS’
The complaints come amid growing concerns over the rise of unregistered agents, also known as ‘rental finders’ who charge fees to help people secure accommodation, particularly in Windhoek where demand for housing has skyrocketed.
The Namibian has obtained several testimonies from people who claim they were scammed by rental finders.
Some of them say they have lost between N$1 500 and N$11 000.
Roberta Dawids (50) is one of them.
She fell into a depression that required prescription medication after losing N$11 000.
“The agent knew I was desperate. I went through a lot of stress and I could not eat. I had to take depression pills for three months after I lost the money,” Dawids says.
Dawids, who is currently unemployed, says when she saw a listing for a house at Okahandja last year, she jumped at the opportunity.
The agent, Vanessa Kaundje, allegedly insisted on a ‘first-come, first-served’ viewing.
“I even paid for her taxi money so that we could go and view the place and we found a pregnant woman that was apparently managing the property. I will never recover from the stress this agent put me through. My partner suspected I had recklessly spent the money,” she says.
Dawids is not alone. In some cases victims only realise they have been scammed after moving out of their previous accommodation, only to discover the keys handed to them are fake or that the promised property does not exist.
Another tenant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says she was scammed out of N$9 000.
“An informal agent was advertising a house in Windhoek and I went to view it. The agent said I must pay a deposit quickly because someone else would take the house,” she says, adding that she later found out the house was not being rented out.
ALLEGED SCAMMER
One of the ‘rental finders’, accused of scamming tenants out of more than N$50 000 combined, Vanessa Kaundje, told The Namibian she did not steal their money but delayed repaying the money when she could not secure the places.
“I have not scammed them. I delayed refunding,” she says.
Kaundje adds that she is not aware of police cases opened against her and says she has refunded most of the victims.
She says she has refunded N$1 000 and N$2 500 to some clients, while promising to pay others at the end of the month. She says she is still to refund Dawid her money.
POLICE CASES ON THE RISE
Acting head of the crime investigations division in the Khomas region, detective chief inspector Oliver Hendrik, confirms that they have received a number of complaints against several ‘rent finders’ and that they are investigating.
She, however, says they were only able to trace a few suspects.
“There are some cases where the victim and the scammer know each other and as the police, we are limited . . . because it will be a civil claim,” she says.
She adds: “We will not send victims back; we will investigate and see how we can get the scammer to pay back the money. There are complainants who come by to open cases of theft under false pretense.”
Hendrik urges Namibians who are unsure about a rental listing to approach the police to help verify the physical address and the identity of the landlord before handing over any cash.
“Our citizens should stop paying in advance for services they have not seen, no matter how desperate they are,” she says.
“If you are not sure about the place, come to the police first before paying your deposit so that we can help you. Our motive is crime prevention, Crime prevention is better than running after it already happens,” she says.
VERIFY
Speaking to The Namibian last week, Namibia Estate Agents Board manager Festus Unengu warned that many of these ‘rental finders’ are acting illegally.
“Any person who acts as an intermediary to assist people in finding rental places must be registered with us at the Namibia Estate Agents Board. And the reason for that is so that members of the public are protected,” he said.
“[Unregistered agents are] what we call rogue agents. That person is operating illegally. That in itself is a crime,” Unengu said, adding that such conduct contravenes the Estate Agents Act and can be reported to the police.
He warned that tenants who hand over money to unregistered agents have little protection if they are defrauded.
“We have a fidelity fund. If you are scammed by a registered estate agent, you can claim from the fund after following the procedures in our act. But if you are scammed by someone who is not registered, you are not protected,” he said.
LEGAL VACUUM
The African Labour and Human Rights Centre has pinned the blame on government inaction.
The Namibian reported this year that centre director August Maletzky had said the state has failed to enforce existing rental protection laws, specifically the Rental Ordinance No. 13 of 1977.
“The state has neglected to revive a rent control board. It has neglected to modernise penalties and the enforcement of an established statutory law,” Maletzky said, arguing that the laws remain legally binding until they are repealed.
He said tenants are being punished by state paralysis while landlords “operate as if they have legal impunity”.
The Ministry of Urban and Rural Development has announced it is moving to address the crisis of the rent control board and drafting a new bill to regulate urban areas.
Meanwhile, Landless People’s Movement spokesperson Lifalaza Simataa says housing prices have increased by more than 300% since independence.
‘’That is an escalation that should not have occurred because the population and the spending power of the majority of Namibians has not expanded to such a level. You can see it’s a minority group of individuals that have access to this,” Simataa says.
Simataa says the desperation has grown so acute that ‘viewing fees’ are now being illegally levied on prospective tenants just to look at properties.
“Now we have conversations where even viewing is being priced and levied. These are funds I believe fall out of the scope of the state and how things function, but because there’s such a high demand, people have now found a manner to gain some sort of funds,” he says.
According to online adverts seen by The Namibian, in Windhoek alone, a backyard room or a shared commune space in suburbs near tertiary institutions now range anywhere from N$3 500 to N$5 500 per month, excluding water and electricity.
For a self-contained bachelor flat or a small apartment, prices quickly climb beyond N$6 500 to N$8 000.
Independent Patriots for Change shadow minister of urban and rural development Armas Amukoto says the government should redirect resources towards constructing affordable state-supported housing units, specifically targeted at public servants and low to middle income-earners.
Amukoto says with regards to the growing exploitation of vulnerable tenants by fraudulent rental finders and fake estate agents, the Namibia Estate Agents Board has a critical responsibility to protect the public in close collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security and the police.
