Thami Ndlala, the owner of 12 on Hillel Hotel and Spa and Lerato Kganyago's husband, and his landlord Urban Mountain owner Feizal Logart had a dramatic confrontation with gun wielding guards over Ndlala's refusal to vacate his rented property on 14 on Hillel in Northcliff Johannesburg. As if that was not enough drama, Urban Mountain, has also accused Ndlala and his company of embarking on the construction of a guard house boundary wall illegally, without obtaining the necessary approvals from the City of Johannesburg Municipality. 

UNAPPROVED RENOVATIONS

Worse, Logart, said the boundary wall collapsed just few weeks after it was completed, drawing the attention of the metro's Department of Planning and Building Development management, who issued a contravention notice stating that the renovations and constructions were illegal because no building plans were submitted and approved by the municipality. All these details are contained in a court application filed by Logart and his company at the South Gauteng High Court on November 25, 2021, in which the landlord sort an order to eject Ndlala's company from its property. The property 14 on Hillel is situated next to Ndlala's Hotel and Spa. In the court papers seen by ZiMoja, the application appears to have been triggered by Ndlala's company failure to pay monthly rent on the rented property as per the agreement signed between the two parties on September 1, 2021.The court papers show that Logart took Ndlala to court after he failed to settle his rental arrears to the amount of R486 000.

DEMANDING TO BE REIMBURSED FOR MONEY SPENT ON RENOVATIONS

ZiMoja reported last week that Ndlala had taken his landlord to court demanding to be reimbursed R1.3 million he spent renovating the rented property after he was served with ejectment court papers. However, what was not known then, which ZiMoja can now reveal was that the battle for control and occupation of the rented property between the two property owners started just three months after the lease agreement was signed by the two parties. In his court application, Logart states that the businessman and his company failed to pay rent for months after taking occupation of the property. The court papers show that despite an agreement for a monthly rental of R28 000, Ndlala only paid the first month's rent and the deposit, and he never paid any cent towards rent and let alone paying for the utilities such as electricity and water provided by the City of Joburg as stated in the lease agreement signed by both parties.

NDLALA CONFIRMS FAILING TO PAY RENT

In his answering affidavit, Ndlala confirmed having failed to pay rent, however, he stated that he could not pay rent because he had paid more than R1.3 million on the improvements of the rented property. "The improvements that the parties were doing on the property were financially strenuous on the respondents and this resulted in it defaulting on its rental payments," read Ndlala's answering affidavit. In his defence, Ndlala through his lawyers argued that he was never presented with an invoice to pay for utilities such as electricity and water indicating that this was the reason why no payment was advanced to his landlord. The papers further show that Ndlals's court application to liquidate his landlord's company over his claims that it was failing to pay it's debts to creditors, was a move borrowed from Logart's playbook. The court papers show that Logart was the first one to throw the first salvo at Ndlala demanding that his Hotel and Spa owned by Ndlala's company must be liquidated and wind up for failing to pay rent for more than three months. In the same court papers it's also clear that Urban Mountain Director Feizal Logart had cancelled the lease agreement signed with Ndlala after picking up that the controversial businessman had started with an illegal construction at the property without his approval.

LANDLORD IRKED BY 15 UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE WHO OCCUPIED HIS PROPERTY 

According to court papers, Logart was shocked when he discovered that his property was occupied by more than 15 unidentified people. This discovery, the court papers show, led to Logart to file ejectment proceedings against Ndlala and he successfully obtained an order ordering that Ndlala must vacate the property to allow his landlord the space to attend to the collapse of the boundary wall and other illegal construction which were queried by the City of Joburg. However, the papers show, that despite the court order, in what could be likened to a scene in the movies, Ndlala showed up with eight gun wielding guards to forcefully reclaim his rented property from his landlord. He said the well-built guards had firearms and they threatened him with violence if he did not give back Ndlala access to the property. 

RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST NDLALA 

Logart, following the dramatic incident, asked the court to issue a court order interdicting and restraining Ndlala and his guards from threatening him. Responding to Logart's assertions and claims against him, Ndlala did not deny showing up at the property, but he challenged Logart to produce evidence in the form of a picture to confirm that indeed he was threatened. About the 15 people whom Logart said he found occupying his property illegally, Ndlala said his landlord's concerns were not relevant, stating that the lease agreement they signed clearly shows that the property was to be used for commercial purposes and he argued, therefore that his landlord had no place querying the presence of the 15 people on the rented property. 

TABLES TURNS ON LIQUIDATION 

Ndlala also dismissed Logart's prayers that his company must be wind up for its failure to pay close to R500 000 in unpaid rent, and he instead asked the court that his landlord's company Urban Mountain should be the one to face liquidation for failing to pay him back the money spent on improving his rented property. He argued that Urban Mountain was unfairly enriched by the improvements at the property, and he also accused Logart of trying to hijack the property to benefit from the improvements. This was in response to Logart's allegations leveled against Ndlala, in which the property owner said his tenant had intentionally started the improvements on his property with the sole purpose of hijacking it.