A monthly rental of R3,500 for accommodation in what is often referred to as Africa's richest square mile? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
A slumlord has squeezed dozens of tenants into two business premises just metres away from Sandton City in Johannesburg, putting up hardboard walls to create small residential rooms and even erecting a wendy house on the roof of one of the properties.
The makeshift work is in violation of Aldo Lombard's lease, and, to add insult to injury, the owners of the properties say he owes them R1.7-million in rent.
After a year-long legal battle, Lombard was recently evicted from one of the properties on Sandton Drive in Parkmore - a stone's throw from the headquarters of some of South Africa's biggest companies, such as Discovery, Sasol, Standard Chartered Bank and Total SA. But the owner of the other property, directly opposite, is still trying to get him out.
Businesswoman Karen Ashwin said she had owned both properties but had sold one and rented the other one out to Lombard about two years ago on the understanding he would run a business from there.
"Then I left for Dubai. He only paid rent for two months. I later found out he had turned the property into a residential space, making compartments for people to live in and rent," said an irate Ashwin, adding she is owed almost R1-million in rent by Lombard.
She said her property had been badly damaged and vandalised by Lombard's tenants. "I still have to spend a lot of money fixing it so that whoever I sell it to can find it in a good condition," said Ashwin.
In September 2016, she said, Lombard also signed a lease with the new owner of the property she had sold...