The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Disgruntled homeowners at the development that sparked a Canadian government warning were yesterday urged to stop “maligning the good investment name of the Bahamas” and devaluing their properties, with the developers’ attorney calling for a negotiated settlement to any alleged grievances.

Fred Smith QC, who represents Oceania Heights’ developers, Canadian citizens Donna and Howard Obront, and Bahamian attorney Anthony Thompson, suggested to Tribune Business it was significant that none of the “very tiny group” of unhappy owners had filed a Supreme Court action over their allegations.

Describing the Exuma-based project as “a choice piece of real estate” where more than 100 lots have been sold, Mr Smith said his clients would be willing to co-operate with any government inquiry into events that led to the Canadian warning.

Tribune Business revealed earlier this year that complaints by some homeowners at Oceania Heights had prompted the Canadian government to issue an investment advisory on Bahamian real estate transactions, warning that any disputes “could be prolonged and costly to resolve”.

And, in response to Tribune Business obtaining evidence showing that Oceania Heights has sold at least one of the lots embroiled in a title dispute before the Privy Council, Mr Smith said if the ruling went against his clients they would either refund or find other land parcel for the buyer.

Refuting veiled suggestions that his developer clients had been engaged in “fraudulent” activity, Mr Smith added rhetorically: “What’s the problem?”

Among the complaints advanced by several Oceania Heights homeowners are difficulties with obtaining title documents to their properties, and that Stamp Duty payments due to the Treasury on lot sales have not been made.

Other alleged grievances are that Mr Thompson, while representing both purchaser and vendor (the Oceania Group of Companies) in the real estate transaction, did not pre-disclose that he had a beneficial ownership interest in the development.

This, as with all other claims, has been vehemently denied by Mr Thompson and the Obronts.

Mr Smith, meanwhile, questioned why the “small minority” of homeowners, if they had a strong case, had not taken their case to the Supreme Court by filing a civil action against his clients.

Implying that the homeowners had been engaged in ‘guerrilla warfare’ against the developers, and that they were trying to use the Bahamian, US and Canadian governments to fight the battle for them, Mr Smith said: “I noted that the Bahamian judicial system was criticised for being slow, but the reality is there is no matter before the courts.”

The Callenders & Co partner added: “Unfortunately, [homeowner] Chris Fleming is only one of half-a-dozen or so people to be complaining about issues they have not seen fit to take before any forum to resolve.

“They prefer to go before the US, the Canadian, the Bahamian governments, and defame and harass my clients, rather than taking any legitimate complaint about breach of contract, or a tort that may have been committed against them, to a court of law.

“If these people have property disputes in the US, do they go to their congressmen or do they go to their lawyers to have it resolved? The Bahamas is no different from Canada and the US when it comes to real estate transactions.”

Mr Smith told Tribune Business he had repeatedly asked Andrew O’Brien, an attorney and partner at Glinton, Sweeting & O’Brien, who represents a number of disgruntled homeowners, for a list of his clients.

Asserting that no such list had been provided, the QC said: “There is a small group agitating with regard to matters that do not concern them.

“If Stamp Duty has not been paid, as alleged, on any purchases, there are authorities with appropriate powers of investigation to look into such matters.

“And if there is any breach of contract, then let these persons sue for damages.”

Mr Smith said the only active legal case involving Oceania Heights was the one before the Privy Council involving the dispute over who owned 11 lots.’

The development is seeking to reinstate a Supreme Court ruling that found the sale of those lots by the previous owner ‘null and void’ because it had failed to comply with the Private Roads and Subdivisions (Out Island) Act.

Tribune Business has been provided with both a sales agreement and conveyance, dated June 12, 1996, and March 1, 2010, respectively, showing that Oceania Heights sold one of the disputed lots, number 106, to Dr Terry Swaine and his company, Martello Investments.

Another disputed lot, Lot 27, was also sold to Jack and Alice DeLong, but a February 1, 2007, deed of release cancelled that purchase and saw Oceania return $343,875 to the couple.

Speaking to Lot 106 and Dr Swaine, Mr Smith told Tribune Business: “If the Privy Council rules that our client did not have title, the man obviously has to be refunded money or switched to another lot. If the Privy Council rules in our favour, what’s the problem?”

Speaking to the wider battle at Oceania Heights, Mr Smith told Tribune Business: “If someone has an appropriate complaint, put it before the court instead of internationally defaming and maligning the good investment name of the Bahamas.

“I stand behind Mr [Fred] Mitchell and Mr [Khaalis] Rolle, all of whom defended the Bahamas’ good investment name and undertook to look into the matter. My clients would be happy to co-operate with any Bahamian government inquiry as to what may or may not have occurred.”

And he added: “We will not allow these malicious comments to affect what is a beautiful development in Exuma. It is a choice piece of real estate. Over 100 lots have been sold to a majority of satisfied customers.”

Calling for a negotiated peace, Mr Smith urged the “very small, very tiny” disgruntled homeowner group to meet with him and their attorneys to hammer out a resolution.

Suggesting that his clients’ opponents were effectively shooting themselves in the foot, he told Tribune Business: “My advice, my recommendation to the small minority of disgruntled homeowners is to stop stirring the pot, recognise they are owners in a beautiful development, and to try and help create value as opposed to destroying value, to try and bring resolution as opposed to more damage.

“Misinformed, unjust and gratuitous criticism of the Oceania Heights development not only inures to the detriment and devaluation of their own investment, but the Exumas and the Bahamas in general as an attractive investment environment.”

Arguing that it was in the disgruntled homeowners’ interests to “ensure the Bahamas and their investments is perceived in the same attractive light”, Mr Smith reiterated: “There is nothing fraudulent going on with my clients.”