Scores of entrepreneurs who run private student accommodations face financial ruin because they are owed millions of rands in unpaid rental fees by the University of Johannesburg (UJ).
Sunday World has learnt that at least 43 landlords with students funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) are deep in debt, with some in the process of losing their properties and homes.
The debts, which run into hundreds of millions of rands, are from the 2022 and 2023 academic years.
These are landlords who housed students for three months, six months or the entire 10 months without communication on their accreditation status.
The accommodation allowance for NSFAS-funded students for 2022 and 2023 was R4 500 per month per student, totalling R45 000 a year for an academic year comprising 10 months from February 1 to November 30.
The accommodation owners are about 43 in total and they have premises ranging from seven beds to larger buildings with 300 beds and more than 1 000 beds.
A landlord with seven beds, for example, will be paid R4 500 a month per student, with the total rental being R315 000 a year. The cost of housing 300 students would amount to R13.5-million a year.
The accommodation providers are crying foul at what they call the unfettered power of UJ in the accreditation and payment of NSFAS housing allowances, using a system fraught with inefficiencies and deficiencies.
Minenhle Malinga, a representative of the landlords, said the accommodation providers affected were mostly formerly accredited providers in Auckland Park, Doornfontein and Soweto.
Applications for accreditation to provide accommodation open the year before and are conducted by UJ’s Privately Owned Student Accommodation (Posa) office.
This was before NSFAS announced it would be taking over the accreditation and payment of accommodation providers for NSFAS-funded students, starting with 17 universities and 23 technical and vocational education and training colleges as part of the pilot programme.
Malinga said Posa usually
concluded its processes to a credit landlords after March.
“Others get their accreditation in May and June,” he said.
“Some are rejected in July and November after incurring the costs of housing students for all those months.”
Malinga said landlords took in students while awaiting the decision on the accreditation.
“When they have been accredited, they are given a code and students are then able to load the lease agreements and invoices for the landlords to be paid the outstanding amounts.”
UJ has contracted a company called Fundi to disburse the allowances for NSFAS-fundedstudents to landlords.
Malinga said the accreditation sometimes dragged with no concrete decision until the academic year ended. “Then there are those who are told that they need to fix minor defects.
When they have done that, UJ takes its time to do the re-inspection. When they do, they identify more defects,” he said.
“They [UJ] are frustrating landlords and there is no one who is playing an oversight role in how they do this,” Malinga said.
The landlords, some of whom spoke to Sunday World and others whose correspondence with the university we have seen, are frustrated by the university not acknowledging applications for accreditation; delaying in responding to applications; dragging its feet in granting accreditation; not responding to requests for re-inspections; and not making decisions on accreditation at all and for rejecting accreditation late into the academic year, leaving landlords in piles of debt.
This year, with UJ being part of the private accommodation pilot by NSFAS, more landlords have paid the application fee for accreditation but have not received any correspondence from the institution, six months into the academic year.
Sunday World has also seen correspondence from Posa to landlords apologising for failing to conduct inspections as late as March this year. “People have lost their properties, homes and minibuses that they use to transport students because of Posa’s delays,” said the landlord.
“How do you explain a landlord being rejected for accreditation by UJ but being accepted by
Wits? How do you explain landlords being rejected by UJ but accepted by NSFAS for 2024?” asked the landlord.
Malinga said besides bond repayments, water, electricity, Wi-Fi and transport for students, landlords had cleaning and security staff to pay.
This year, with UJ being part of the private accommodation pilot by NSFAS, more landlords have paid the application fee for accreditation but have not received any correspondence from the institution, six months into the academic year.
Another landlord said with communication that cast doubt over NSFAS’s ability to carry out the pilot project, landlords applied for accreditation at UJ through Posa for 2024.
She said others, including herself, applied with both Posa and NSFAS. “Posa did not even contact me to conduct an inspection after paying them more than
R3 000 for the application for accreditation for eight beds, But I got accredited by NSFAS.”
UJ spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen said all 2022 and 2023 matters have been resolved and urged service providers with remaining concerns to reach out to the institution.
He insisted that landlords are not permitted to house students without an accredited status in line with the Posa policy.
“Accreditation is granted to providers who meet all specified requirements. Appeal outcomes were given to providers retrospectively, allowing them to claim allowances for students residing with them from February 2023 to November 2023.”
He rejected the claim that UJ’s system is fraught with inefficiencies and deficiencies.
“Prospective student accommodation providers apply through a digital portal. This is a thorough and detailed process that includes a documentation review, verification and inspection to ensure compliance.
“The accreditation process for additional beds in 2024 began after the academic year started for new applicants. Contrary to the allegation, the list of accredited providers for returning applicants was already published in January 2024,” he said.
Esterhuizen said NSFAS recently announced that UJ will be included in a pilot project for all NSFAS students.
“However, UJ continues to accommodate both NSFAS and non-NSFAS students. Thus, accreditation from UJ remains essential.
However, providers can choose between the two options (NSFAS and non-NSFAS). It is worth noting that while UJ is part of the NSFAS pilot, this does not imply a complete rollout.”
