A row of houses in a tranquil, leafy suburb of Gqeberha have been turned into student digs, sparking an outcry from neighbours about noise, lack of due process and potential depreciation of property prices.
The students moved in more than three months ago but it was only on April 1 that an application was published to rezone the three properties in Fordyce Road, Walmer, to allow this to happen.
The rezoning applicant was named in the notice as Lonke Development Group, but a director of V&A Collection Boutique Hotel and Conference Venue confirmed this week that V&A was in fact the owner.
Dean Roberts, who lives adjacent to the one end of the row of student houses, said he was worried and upset.
“We bought here because this is a nice, quiet family area,” he said.
“But for the last three months, since these students moved in, the noise has been terrible, with screaming and music blasting at midnight.
“There is also a nonstop influx of taxis.
“If it carries on like this, our property prices will plummet.”
He said related to this situation, the owner of the three houses seemed to have shunned due process.
“They have not engaged with neighbours.
“We see they are now advertising their application to rezone to support this development.
“But the students have been here since December, probably 10 to 12 in each house.
“Surely they needed to apply first?”
Roberts said he and several other neighbours had formed a WhatsApp group and consulted Ward 3 councillor Dave Hayselden on the best way forward.
Thereafter they emailed V&A, which they had identified as the owner, to request the rezoning and building application plans.
“If there is no appropriate response to our email, we will approach the metro.
“This thing must be stopped.”
Mark Mains-Sheard, who lives in 3rd Avenue, said he was desperate.
“When the guy at 50 Fordyce sold, almost overnight the new owner started building in the back of his property, through the night and at weekends.
“I got suspicious and asked his team if it was for student accommodation and they assured me it wasn’t.
“Then before they had even finished painting, they moved the students in.”
He said he had tried a number of ways to get the metro involved.
However, though some officials appeared to be following up, no concrete action had been taken.
“There must be 15 to 20 people living next door to me now and the constant partying, shouting, vehicle traffic and [alleged] overwhelming smell of weed are unacceptable.
“I have a one-year-old child in my home.
“I’ve also put all my money into our house and I cannot afford for it to depreciate.
“I understand about education and the need for student accommodation but this is not the way to go about it.
“The character of Walmer is being jeopardised.”
Claude Wessels, who has lived in his house in Fordyce Road for 38 years, said the area, on the edge of the Baakens Valley, had always been tranquil.
“Now late at night, from half a block away, you can hear these students screeching.
“If we must sell now, we will probably only get a fraction of the previous value of our property and that’s unacceptable.”
Another Fordyce Road resident living nearby, Marcel Combrinck, owner of Backbone Security Solutions, said the insertion of the three student digs into a residential area had created a substantial crime risk which had not been there there before.
“These students bring with them lots of electronic devices but little security consciousness.
“So they attract criminals.
“We have also already had to respond to an [alleged] drug-related matter involving a student at one of the houses.”
He said he and his family had moved to the area for the quiet surroundings and sense of heritage.
“There are beautiful old established houses here but their value will be slashed if this kind of stuff is allowed to happen.”
He said the rogue student digs industry was causing problems in other parts of the city too.
“The irony is many people left Summerstrand to get away from the students.”
Combrinck said the Fordyce Road student digs had started with them moving into just one of the properties.
“The previous owner of number 50 did all he could to stop it from happening next door to him but he eventually gave up and sold to the developer, who then [turned it into three] in a row.
“The owner has also broken through the interleading perimeter walls so the three houses are now interlinked.”
Hayselden said on Thursday the enterprise was unsuitable for the area and he had been pressing the metro on the matter for the past two months.
“I wrote to the metro’s human settlements department on February 3 asking for information on an unconfirmed report I had received that student accommodation was going to be built in Fordyce Road.
“On February 19, I received a reply from the department stating that no building or site plans had been submitted in this regard.”
This allayed concerns to a degree — but then on April 1 a notice popped up in a community newspaper conveying a rezoning application that had been submitted for the three Fordyce Road properties.
The application was for these properties to be rezoned from single residential zone 1 to general residential zone 2, allowing the owner to increase density to 10 to 20 dwellings per hectare.
Hayselden said he had since then been flooded with letters from residents, and many more had apparently written directly to the applicant.
“Apart from anything, they want to see the plans that the applicant should have submitted to the municipality, and I have written to the metro again, asking for the same.
“We don’t want another Summerstrand, which has been severely impacted by this exact dynamic.”
V&A director Lesley Ndlaleni confirmed that the three Fordyce Road houses were owned by the business.
V&A is situated in Villiers Road, adjacent to the back of 52 Fordyce Road, and is apparently also interlinked with that property through a gap in the adjoining rear perimeter wall.
Ndlaleni said he had applied for rezoning to allow him to let the Fordyce Road houses out to students, but was not sure of the timing or how the application had been received by the metro.
“I applied before the students moved in ... I am not sure when that was.
“I do not know if the application was approved.
“I must check.”
Ndlaleni said the noise the neighbours were describing was unacceptable.
“I can’t let this happen.
“Everyone needs to respect their neighbours.
“We have bylaws.
“These concerned neighbours are my neighbours too.”
He said he would talk to the students.
However, he said he did not agree that his student digs venture would cause property values to decline.
“I would not allow that to happen because I am an investor in the area as well.”
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said the municipality took note of the alleged illegal student accommodation and noise pollution concerns.
“An investigation will be carried out,” he said.
“If the investigation confirms the allegations, legal action will be taken.
“Any property consolidation or building alterations require prior municipal approval.
“Where illegal use is confirmed, the municipality issues a 21-day compliance notice... failing which, legal action may follow.”
He said noise pollution was prohibited by law, especially where it disturbed neighbours’ peace and comfort.
“Residents have the right to a quiet environment and may report disturbances.
“Occupants, including students, must comply with noise laws.”
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