Sorry to hear Epsilon

They nowadays break in regardless, just on the off-chance there's a car radio to steal. Up here in Gauteng they trash the locks trying to get into your car to steal the radio, as has happened to my wife, cost us thousands to replace the damaged door locks.

These days, even the garden service is a source of my suspicion as I've caught them red-handed once stealing stuff out my garage, but in my case they are "protected" by the complex Nazi's i.e. the body corporate consisting of O.A.H.A (old-age-home-avoiders) in other words, spry old oxygen theives who want to build an empire of the townhouse complex in their old age.

going O.T. now (please split thread and merge with the other one you mentioned if need be)

A while ago I decided, I am now going to be an arsehole, like all the ANC members and others resident in my complex (whose names come up in Noseweek every now and again)

I told the body corporate, I quit as a trustee, and, told them in simple language (my english2dumbass translater was on full power)

to FUCK OFF

I didn't attend the AGM, and I sent them a letter that I refuse to pay any levy increase or special levy, and if they had anything to say, they can speak to my attorneys.

Some weeks ago, they tried to threaten me with a fine for parking in the so-called guest parking in this stupid complex. I again sent them the F OFF message, and told them to speak to my attorney. That shut them up nicely. They now ignore me and try to speak to my wife who also told them similarly since.

They shove letters in my gate, so I phone them up as follows:

[Me] Hello there
[Them] Yes
[Me] Do you hear that sound?
[Them] Yes, what the hell is that?
[Me] That's your (document's name) going through the shredder

Ahh.. found it


"The dustbin Nazi, God Complexes an other interesting bits...

Ok, so I live in a 'security complex' which is basically the norm here for the middle class...
Free standing homes enclosed by a boundary wall with an electric fence on top of it and remote controlled gates to enter or leave the 'complex'.

Administration is handed by a body corporate which is meant to oversee general upkeep of the communal facilities, apply standards etc.

Finances do not seem to be a problem however, because we are paying in excess off R 400 p.m. levy here. There are 78 houses here thus +- R 32K per month. Recently without consulting anyone they had 3 speed humps commissioned within the minuscule complex, one of them within 3 meters of the entrance gate... WTF?! Where guess who stays right next to? This could not have come cheaply, but it is seemingly ok to spend communal funds without consulting anyone here. In addition an keypad was installed where you need to punch in a code to open the vehicle gate to leave the complex for 'security reasons'. Now how the hell is any person doing a delivery or providing a service going to leave without me or someone else giving them that code (which is only changed every 3-6 months in any event) or simply just following another vehicle (tailgaiting) out. Totally useless IMO. That must have cost money as well.

But there is a problem here...

On the corner at the next to the entrance gate lives a retired old fart (I am going to try to get a picture and post it here of him...) who is a member of the body corporate.
This little man sees himself as a self appointed policeman, judge jury and executioner over all the residents and their properties in the complex and he has a major god complex.

We moved in here 3 years ago and it was a very pleasant place to live.

However, as time went by, every second or 3rd month we would get a newsletter in our post box, hand delivered (to all residents) informing us of some new 'rule' or other that applied to everyone.
The tone was often threatening in the sense that they would impose 'fines' or other measures if you did not comply with their latest little rule.

So we got one about a year back about dustbins...

Basically it said that they had received many compliments on how neat the complex looked and that leaving your dustbin (these are the large plastic wheelie bin types) outside your back yard gate (BUT STILL WELL INSIDE OUR OWN PROPERTY) was no longer allowed.
You needed to put it out on a Tuesday and replace it behind your gate on a Wednesday evening after it had been emptied by the municipality.

Doesn't sound totally unreasonable does it?

However...
If you did not comply they threatened to confiscate your dustbin and you would have to pay a R300 release fee.

So what happened?

There was a public holiday on a Thursday and we took some leave and were not home the Wednesday or Thursday.

The Friday on returning home I noticed an old man coming around the corner of MY HOUSE and waving to me.
So thinking he naturally wanted to discuss something with me I got out of my car and greeted him quite cheerfully.

His first words to me:
"I am taking your dustbin!"

Excuse me?!
Adrenalin is a wonderful thing at times.
After a brief but heated conversation I firmly put my hand on the bin and told him:
"OK, so you are taking my bin. Now let's see you do it!"

At that point he walked off shouting at me that there are rules that need to be followed.
I replied that Nazi Germany also had rules but that does not make them right!

So that was the end of it or so I thought...
About a week or two later I receive a lawyer's letter threatening me that their client would lay assault charges as he had been mentally 'traumatized' by the encounter, was a member of the body corporate and was fully entitled to take the bin.

This was total BS in any event as at no stage during the 3 years I have lived here, have any of the residents been invited to a body corporate meeting or to submit comments on any of their self imposed rules.

I replied with a long list of questions and points asking for clarification and basically asked them if their client was intending to lay charges or not, since no assault of any kind happened, and that I would need my lawyer to prepare a counter suit for trespassing on my property and a host of other charges.

Basically I told them to go F#ck themselves.

That ended the whole lawyer saga very quickly.

Recently we received another new set of rules stating that garage doors need to be washed and kept clean at all times, as well as gardens been kept in an immaculate condition.

Lo and behold!
A week later I receive a threatening letter about the length of the grass in MY BACK YARD!
How the hell did they know what the length of the grass was exactly without entering my property or making a huge effort to peer over the wall?

Needless to say I told them to P#ss off once again.

This is the problem with retired old people living in any kind of communal facility.
They fail to realize that some of us have JOBS and work during the day and often in the evenings as well.

We do not have all day to spend on gardening, moving dustbins around and other trivial shit.
They should be in a bloody retirement village where I'm sure they will be much happier (Actually not, they will find fault with everything there as well...)

/rant over

I'm moving out of here at the end of this month because I need freedom."

Spot on Jason.
That's exactly what they thought I was going to do when I received that lawyer's letter.


After pointing in writing out just a few of the tons of problems with the issues stated in their lawyer's letter, demanding a response, and threatening a counter sue and lay criminal charges of my own they quickly changed their tune.
I have never been scared of those kinds of lawyer's letters as they are designed to intimidate and nothing more. I am not one to be intimidated.


You make a good point about them probably having been bullies/bosses that have never had anyone stand up to them.
Those people belong in old age homes or free standing houses. Not in complexes and especially not as trustees on a body corporate.

I unfortunately live in a townhouse complex. That is going to change soon, as I am going to dispose of the property, loss or not. I am going to technically auction it off, cover the bond and start over, from scratch.

There is a complex in the West Rand, which has been mismanaged consistently since inception in 2001, I will withold its name for now, but I can tell you it is in Wilgeheuwel Extension 12, Roodeport.

The complex is home to at least one white collar criminal (reported in Noseweek), a few ANC bigwigs (personal friends of Jacob Zuma and members of the ANCYL) and mostly, old fossils who have made it their empire and see it fit to lord over the complex and its residents.

What the body corporate has succeeded in doing
* Made the entire scheme bankrupt because a certain member of the board of trustees had its fingers in the till- raised the levy steeply in 2007  because there was R0.89c in the bank account at the close of the financial year. Levy raised with the threat that "if we don't do it now, the curators will step in"
* Raised the levy again in 2008, to a level that far exceeds the levy of any other complex in the district, particularly the levy in the nearby Eagle Canyon complex, which is a massive golf estate for the Super Rich. The levy is so high, that it actually deters people from buying or making an offer on my property.
* The ANC members predominantly (this is not a racist comment, it happens to be them that doesn't pay) refuse to pay levies, and most cases are over R10k in arrears. Nothing gets done to them, but they want to try and nail me all the time because of where I park my car sometimes. We were late with the levy one month, and we let them know in advance about that, they smiled, said it was perfectly okay, and proceeded to hammer us with a fine for late payment.
* Raised a special levy in 2009, for termites, of which I have NEVER seen. Some residents have to date refused to pay it. The work was so shoddy it was rendered useless within 6 months.
* Have not done much maintenance at all, now that there's suddenly R60k in the bank account, they rather install superfluous junk security lights to "keep up with the Joneses" in neighbouring complexes (the lot next door, they've gotten 24hr security guards and IP cameras, never mind a stupid light & their levy is R200/month). All this instead of fixing the electric fence, which was done poorly because they always want to "save" money.
* The chairperson, an old busybody, has now whinged so much about having to "pay for phone calls, faxes and e-mails on her little pension" she's wangled it to be paid a salary for her piss-poor job.

What I did to deal with them
I was a member of the body corporate until recently when they gave me crap about the electric fence and I told them to fuck off.
Legal threats, especially my prize gem of taunting them, when notices get shoved in my gate, phoning them up and telling them that's the sound of their note/letter/threat going through the shredder, works very well with even the most hardcore of old fossil pensioner oxygen thief old-age-home-avoider.

They recently included it in the "rules" that I am no longer allowed to have a braai in my property. My attitude is that I pay the bank my monthly installment for that piece of ground so they can go fuck a dog I will do what I wish inside my property. I had a lovely braai last weekend, and I made it smoke like hell on purpose, I burnt lots of newspaper, tissues, old magazines, and later on, old motor oil once the meat was done. Not a word has been said yet. Next weekend I plan to burn a bunch of compact discs with confidential info on them.

I informed them that their rules are unconstitutional, and because they don't apply to everyone, I refuse to obey them. No response to date  and I do as I please. I am trying to persuade a top South African band to perform in my front  yard sometime over Christmas, and that with 3kw of amplification. All heavy metal I am afraid  . I'd like to see the old fossills chew on that one. Mind you, their hearing aids might need replacement after that, or their pacemakers might stop working.

I am a little reticent, due to the number of windows, but I would love to make an hth bomb and set that off in my yard, reliving the excitement of my youth.

What I plan to do with them later
When I am gone from that place, I am going to set up an awareness website, using the complex name as a domain name. Put all the dirty laundry on it, plus links to a Facebook and twitter thing. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Yup, please merge the threads

No Problem, looks good nonetheless...

Update

Was househunting this weekend- Found a decent house in an area in the far West Rand which is usually equated to Boksburg / Benoni / Geduld / Brakpan.

For the same amount of money I had to pay for that broom cupboard in that useless complex, I get a mansion in said area

I really no longer give a shit about what people think about where I live, it is all about me being happy and no longer suffering depression because of this complex I live in, and the fact that broom cupboards go for R1 million in any area surrounding the crap area I live in, and I then have to endure endless power cuts (because the power grid is being pushed to the red line all the time) and water cuts (the piping work was done like shit back in 1994). I live in a 89 sqm place, there's hardly any space to do anything, you can't move in there without something being bumped off the fucking walls or sideboards or tables.

This townhouse, I've called in the "creative estate agents", coming to see me tomorrow night. Creative in the sense of, they have a reputation of getting a place sold, even if it is by dodgy means.