OUR NEW HOME NIGHTMARE

The Bennets bought their dream house on auction not knowing the previous owner's family were occupying the place with no intention of leaving

- ROBYN LUCAS

THEY couldn't believe their luck. They'd found their dream home in a good neighbourhood and because it was on the auction they were getting it at a bargain price with luxury furnishings and appliances thrown in.

After signing the paperwork, Chantelle and Geoffrey Bennet couldn't wait to pop the bubbly and start choosing paint colors for the three-bedroom house in Lorraine, Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape, which had been part of an insolvent deceased estate.

But within 30 minutes of winning the auction, with the ink barely dry on the contract they'd signed, the couple got a nasty surprise when another family barged in, claiming the house was theirs.

To their horror, Chantelle (26) and Geoffrey (32) discovered they were the daughter and son of the previous owner. They'd been living in the house for months following their father's death along with their partners and two kids.

"I was a little bit confused as to who they were Chantelle recalls. “I was like, "Okay, I just signed a contract for this house. Red lights flashed in my mind”

It soon became clear they were in for a monumental battle because the family had no intention of vacating the property.

Now, after almost a year of stress and sleepless nights, the Bennets have finally succeeded in getting the occupiers out but the victory is bittersweet because their dream home is uninhabitable.

When the couple visited it they couldn't believe what they were seeing - furnishings broken beyond repair, cupboard doors hanging from their hinges and filth clinging to just about every surface.

"It's destroyed,” Chantelle says. "Sometimes I still find myself crying because it was our first home and now we have to put so much work in just to be able to live in it.”