Student accommodation or the Hillbrow of Potchefstroom?
Residents at Campus Living 3 (CL3) on Steve Biko Road in Potchefstroom have complained to threestreamsmedia about a lack of safety, security and proper maintenance in their building.
The student accommodation building is currently managed by the rental agency Century 21 and property management company HabiPlan.
A student who requested not to be named, said she had reported problems to HabiPlan several times. However, when she communicated with them, they sent her to Century 21, who referred her back to HabiPlan. “Any problem can persist for up to two weeks without any assistance,” she said.
Residents are also unhappy about communication with management. “At the end of the year, we are supposed to pay for maintenance, and sometimes for things that break that we don’t know anything about,” the student said.
Spokesperson of the Black Management Forum Student Chapter, Thabang Vuyani, who deals with student affairs, said, “Relating to CL3, the issue is Century 21. It is a persistent issue because when we report important matters, we are ignored. However, we are not going to let go, because, at the end of the day, students are people like everybody else. They deserve to have a healthy living environment,” said Vuyani.
A spokesperson at HabiPlan who did not want to be identified said, “we don’t work with anything inside the building and inside the units. We work with things that have to do with the geyser and insurance”. She also said the body corporate does not have “much of a relationship” with Century 21.
“All we do for Campus Living 3 is the facial recognition for entry to the building, and administration. We do paperwork, but that’s between us and the owners of the units,” she said.
Sean Scott, operations manager for Century 21, said “Habiplan is the body corporate, which is the property management. We do everything within units, from the front door of the units to the inside of the units, we are responsible.”
He added that when it comes to reporting on problems, “we have our own maintenance for the inside of the units.”
“We’ve got a maintenance link where they [residents] must report a problem. They report a problem there, then a job ticket is created for our maintenance people, and they go out. It takes 24 hours for a job ticket to be created and 48 hours for feedback from maintenance,” said Scott.
The link provided by Century 21 shows descriptions of problems students can report, such as toilet leakage, electricity, oven not working, tap leakage and so forth.
Students also have safety concerns. In the early hours of 26 February 2022, one student allegedly stabbed another student in the building, and according to eyewitnesses, the altercation was over a mobile device. The police were called, but “nothing was resolved”.
During threestreamsmedia’s visit on 28 February 2022, blood could be seen at the entrance of the building leading back to the room where the assault had originally taken place. A door was broken, windows shattered, and in places, the corridor floors were damp. Students said they have lived in these conditions for some time now.
A damaged door to one of the units at student residence Campus Living 3. PHOTO: Ntokozo Khanyi. 
A look inside the room of a student allegedly involved in a violent altercation. The front door and bedroom were damaged. PHOTO: Khanyisile Mahlangu. 
A window that was broken during the student altercation. PHOTO: Khanyisile Mahlangu.
When asked about the security matter, Scott said, “At this moment, we have not spoken about it because our busy season just ended”.
About the altercation, he said, “I went there and did an inspection and the police came too and the owner came too. We spoke to the two parties involved and spoke to the other tenant in the unit where the fight happened, and together sent a message that the parties must clean up the blood. No charges were opened with the police.”
There is a biometric security system at the entrance to the building, but when threestreamsmedia visited students appeared to enter freely. The building is not guarded, but, according to Scott, it is under consideration.
Louise Wallace, the Administrations Manager for Century 21, said she would need to raise this matter at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). She acts as the spokesperson on behalf of the students.
Scott said: “From our side, we can wait for the AGM so that we can talk to the board of trustees, so without them allowing it, I can’t say I am putting a security guard at the gates of Campus Living 3.” – Ntokozo Khanyi and Khanyisile Mahlangu
True, CL3 is by far a poorly maintained student accommodation. I was shocked when I arrived there in January 2018 to a room which I had to clean. The poor maintenance and customer service was the main reason as to why moved out after a year of living there.