“Agent Made R170k”: Canadian Woman Alleges Losing Millions in South African Property Deal

• A woman from Canada told the online community how she allegedly lost millions buying a home in South Africa
• She shared that she blamed the lawyers, the home inspector, the real estate agent, and the seller for the unfortunate occurrence
• Social media users were stunned by the allegations made and expressed themselves in the comments

A Canadian woman, Bronwyn Rodrigues, revealed how she lost millions of rands after buying a property in Johannesburg, alleging that many people involved in the R4.7 million sale were to blame.

On 20 August, 2025, Bronwyn took to her TikTok account to share how she became a victim and alleged:

"Well, it's because the lawyers, the home inspector, the real estate agent and the seller all had a hand in me losing millions. I'm bringing receipts because what happened to me should happen to no one, ever."

Bronwyn, a licenced property practitioner, stated that it all happened in September, 2023. When her house in Canada was officially sold, she began searching for a home in South Africa. She noted that people informed her to look at Private Property and Property24.

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She reached out to approximately 23 different agents to get a virtual showing of the house from Canada, an option sellers weren't comfortable with. Fortunately, she found an agent who acted as her 'buyer's agent,' doing the walkthrough for and with Bronwyn virtually.

After Bronwyn eventually found a house she loved, she did a video walkthrough with the buyer's agent, who told Bronwyn the property looked "perfect."

"The funny thing is, she was the one in this house, so she should have been able to see the electrical cords that were all over the place, and the toilets that were dug into the wall that needed to be fixed. She should have been able to see all of the moisture all over the house because she was physically in that house."

Because of the lack of trust she has in people, Bronwyn told the woman that she wanted to hire a home inspector, whom the buyer's agent recommended. After the inspection, Bronwyn received the report from the lawyers.

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The message read:

"The property inspector is of the opinion that the house is in excellent condition, and that there are no latent defects present."

Although everything looked fine to Bronwyn, she still wanted the seller to fix a few things before she coughed up millions, which the seller agreed to. The defects were allegedly fixed.

Bronwyn told the online community:

"The thing I didn't know was that my offer was conditional on the home inspector approving the home inspection. I had no control."

After her offer was accepted, she discovered that the seller's agents had allegedly dropped the property's price to R4.65 million without the seller's permission.

When she arrived in South Africa, she viewed the house with her son, who has special needs, and wanted to view it for a second time without him. However, the seller refused, which raised red flags for Bronwyn.

After doing a deep dive into the situation and discovering more letdowns, the disappointed buyer said:

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"I had to do so many fixes, and now I know why the seller refused to let me into the house again, because he had gotten away with it. It's really sh*tty that the agent didn't have my back to get me into the house.

"The agent made about R170 000, I never heard back from her, and I never received the building plans that were a part of the contract."

Bronwyn had to spend additional money fixing the issues.

South Africans feel for the Canadian woman

A few social media users were just as upset by what Bronwyn had gone through and expressed their views under the post.

@queen_gaynor told the public:

"In all honesty, as a South African, I would never buy a property here without visiting the property at least twice and getting everything in writing."

Real estate agent @lesegotjatji_realestate wrote in the comments:

"Oh, how embarrassing for our industry. I hope you chase this through the PPRA (Property Practitioners Regulatory Authority). Don’t let it go yet. Sorry for your experience, it's super annoying."

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@tanya3591 shared their opinion on the matter:

"It's scary how they all worked together to present this beautiful lie to you. I'm shocked at the level of deceit and the agent's greed and lack of integrity. I'm truly sorry this happened to you. It's an utter nightmare of a situation, and you are handling it with incredible grace. I hope you get complete justice in this situation! You deserve nothing less."

A sympathetic @lullabysparty told Bronwyn:

"What a bad experience. I hope you can sell it in 10 years and get all the money back, and more! I guess it’s a beautiful house after all your fixing."

@leeannkallee04 added in the comment section:

"It's so frustrating to hear that some people sleep after doing others dirty."

Watch the TikTok video below:

3 Other stories about property failures

• In another article, Briefly News reported that South Africans were unimpressed with a R22 000 apartment after watching a virtual tour.
• The demolition of an illegally constructed house sparked a heated debate online about the country's land issues.
• A video of an abandoned R1.3 billion stadium stirred up a discussion of decay in South Africa. People across the country talked about how some parts of the city were heading in the wrong direction.

Source: Briefly News