Estate agents throughout South Africa have this year been reporting an increased demand for rented accommodation, but this is possibly more evident in the Fish Hoek, Simon’s Town and surrounding areas, than in any other parts of the Cape Peninsula, say Leon Bosman and Cathy Baker, Rawson Properties franchisees for these areas.
“Historically, these coastal towns were populated by retirees or holiday makers but today more and more people are opting to live here because they like the lifestyle and are prepared to commute considerable distances to the city centre and other areas. The demand for rental property here has, therefore, never been stronger than it is now.”
“About 90% of people coming into our office today are looking for rented property,” said Bosman. “As a result, when a correctly priced home comes onto the market we can usually rent it out within a week. Recently, in fact, we had a case where the home was rented within three days of being listed by us and this sort of speedy take up today is by no means unusual.”
While this is in many ways a highly satisfactory situation for a rental agent, said Bosman, the plain truth is that although his Fish Hoek and Simon’s Town franchise already has a substantial portfolio of rental properties, they are now experiencing a serious shortage of accommodation and could find tenants for far more units than they have in stock.
Asked to what he ascribes the rise in demand, Bosman said that undoubtedly one of the chief reasons is the difficulty that many people, especially young people, now experience in getting bonds.
“Many of these people long to own a home but they simply do not have the ability to raise the necessary deposit and to meet the National Credit Act criteria now being adhered to by the banks,” he said.
Buy-to-let investors, he added, are increasingly aware of the opportunities here and are now moving steadily into this market, focusing especially on the R1 million to R1,2 million bracket (where monthly rents of R5,000 to R6,000 are now standard).
Higher priced properties are also renting steadily, although the demand here, said Bosman, is nowhere near as good as in the lower priced properties. Homes in the R2 million to R4 million bracket, he said, are achieving rents of R10, 000 to R15, 000 per month. Many landlords who previously opted for short term holiday rentals have, he added, now converted to long term rentals, in the process very often taking out the furniture because unfurnished units tend to rent better than furnished units.
To cope with the increase in demand, Rawson Properties, Fish Hoek, have appointed Kim Mann, who was herself a landlord who has used Rawson Properties rental services, as their senior rental agent. Mann acquired considerable property experience while with Shell SA where she helped co-ordinate maintenance, construction and safety teams.
“It is generally not advisable for property owners to go the DIY route as landlords,” commented Mann recently. “Potential tenants have to be very carefully screened and only qualified rental agents with experience in these matters and with access to credit bureau can do this efficiently.”
Matching a tenant to the right property is, added Bosman, not an easy task and one which, again, requires experience.
Then, too, he said, DIY landlords do by and large tend to be less capable than experienced agents in collecting their rents on time and - are prone to draw up rental agreements which count against them if the case is referred to the Rental Housing Tribunal. They tend more often than experienced rental agents to end up with tenants who default on their payments.
“On the properties which we rent out and manage currently,” said Bosman, “we have less than 1% late payers. This points conclusively to the wisdom of employing a professional agent.”
