Looks like Cape Town’s Ritz Hotel is going from glitz to the pits.

After undergoing a hefty R120 million revamp in 2016, and a glitzy re-opening back in December 2017, celebrity businessman Nicky van der Walt’s former management company has been ordered to vacate the iconic hotel in Sea Point by June 22.

Some info from a report by Times LIVE:

Cape Town high court judge Patrick Gamble said [Ritz Hotel Management, from where Van der Walt quit back in March] had displayed “chutzpah of the first order” by occupying the Sea Point hotel since March last year without paying a cent to Ritz Plaza‚ which owns the property.

Very ballsy chutzpah indeed, and all very awkward for the folks at this management company:

Dr Barney Hurwitz‚ who founded the Netcare private hospital group‚ controlled Ritz Plaza and negotiated the lease with Van der Walt but died in the midst of the litigation in October 2017‚ aged 95.

And if they’re not out of there by June 22? Then the sheriff will be sent in to evict it a week later.

Yikes.

I’m guessing Van der Walt and his girlfriend Lee-Ann Liebenberg [both pictured above] aren’t digging that court order.

After all, they’re the ones who signed a 20-year lease with Hurwitz, spearheaded the R120 million makeover for the Ritz, and held a glamorous opening party for the darn place in December.

But from Gamble’s judgment, y’all can see that they hit quite a large financial speed-bump early on:

“[Ritz Hotel Management] began defaulting on its monthly rental of R1,3 million and other obligations … in November 2016‚” said Gamble.

By June 2017‚ it owed almost R13-million‚ and Hurwitz cancelled the lease.

Eish.

Van der Walt’s company then had the chutzpah (meaning “audacity”, BTW) to put the blame on Hurwitz, claiming it was his fault the rent had not been paid and claiming damages of more than R20 million. But Gamble had no time for that:

The landlord has lawfully cancelled its lease with the tenant and is entitled to have its property back. [The tenant] is essentially saying‚ ‘I will only move when you pay my damages’ …

The Ritz owns a valuable asset with which it can generate an income and it is being frustrated in that regard by an obstinate tenant whose conduct has the hallmark of mala fides [bad faith].”

The absolute chutzpah of it all.

A winding-up application brought by Ritz Plaza was postponed pending the outcome of the eviction case, and will be heard on June 28.

Moral of the story, folks: if you can’t put on the Ritz, you must acquit. Something like that.

[source:timeslive]