At least four families in a luxury estate near Hartbeespoort Dam in the North West have headed to court in a bid to cut ties with a construction company imposed on them by the developer.
The court application, lodged last year, aims to get building contracts entered into with Todo Construction nullified so that the owners can choose other builders and complete their homes.
The properties, worth between R2.4m and R4m at the Redstone Country Estate, were at various stages of construction when conflicts emerged between Todo Construction and the owners over alleged defects and substandard work.
The property prices exclude the cost of the stands, which ranged between R450,000 and R700,000.
In court papers before the high court in Johannesburg, the property owners have accused Todo Construction of breaching an agreement with them, and failing to ensure that building work was completed on time and failing to comply with compliance notices from the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHRBC).
The contract with Todo Construction sees the company being paid in tranches when certain milestones are achieved in the building of the properties, the majority of which are palatial double-storey homes.
Carmen Nortjie, 36, one of the property owners and the first applicant in the matter, stated in court papers that the construction company committed several breaches including failing to complete the property in eight months and failing to ensure a project manager was on site, which resulted “in several problems with the work completed”.
Nortjie, who entered into a contract with Todo Construction in May 2022, accused the firm of stopping building operations at her property “notwithstanding having no enforceable right to do so”.
She also accused the company of failing to comply with NHRBC compliance notices and withdrawing payments from the bank funding her property “in excess of the actual work done and progress made on the project”.
Some of the building contracts were entered into with the construction company as far back as November 2021 and the work was, according to the contracts, to be completed in eight months.
The property owners have accused the company of deviating from what appeared on the building plans that they had chosen for their projects without their consent
The property owners have accused the company of deviating from what appeared on the building plans that they had chosen for their projects without their consent.
Pieter van der List, MD of Todo Construction, stated in court papers that the applicants had run into “payment difficulties” and developed “obstructive attitudes” that included intimidating his construction foreman and teams.
Van der List also accused applicants of failing to agree to final construction plans and of not selecting fixtures and fittings offered within the budget for their properties.
TimesLIVE Premium visited the estate and saw several defects in the properties, including water leaks through the roof and window frames and uneven flooring, among others.
One property has water seemingly seeping through its foundations.
A nearby double-storey property has gaps between one of its window frames and the wall, while there were visible signs of water seeping into the property through the roof. This is despite an NHBRC report stating that the defects had been fixed.
Van der List told TimesLIVE Premium the owner of the property has a “personal vendetta towards us and is trying to appoint his own personal contractor”.
He said the property owner was “merely avoiding paying his contractual obligations and debt to us of R330,000”.
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Van der List accused other property owners who have hauled him to court in the matter of either requesting additional work or barring Todo Construction from entering the site to conduct its work.
He accused two other property owners of owing his company between R176,500 and R152,000 for work done, including extra electrical work.
One of the property owners, a 49-year-old man who refused to be named, said the reason he entered into a contract with Todo Construction was to get his family's dream home built.
“Unfortunately due to their failure to do what they were supposed to do, we are where we are [in a court dispute] with them,” he said.
He also disputed Van der List's argument that they encountered payment difficulties that led to the dispute.
“How can we get into payment difficulties when the money is there? Even now that money is there, hence we are trying to get the contract nullified so that we could use that money to complete our homes,” he said.The NHBRC had not responded to questions from TimesLIVE Premium regarding issues at Redstone by the time of publication.
Another property owner, a 55-year-old man, told TimesLIVE Premium that a few months into the construction process of their homes, they realised there were “numerous flaws and that many of the features shown in the marketing materials of the estate, such as cladding on the outside the houses, were not going to be included.
“As we got to know each other as future residents of Redstone from seeing each other at our building sites, we realised that different people had different issues such poorly built walls, foundations and roofs to name just a few,” he said.
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