The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Frustrated homeowners at Exuma’s Oceania Heights community yesterday said their efforts to move the controversy-plagued project forward have been at “a standstill” for a third year, with the ‘spectre’ of its previous developer continuing to deter new investors.

Speaking to Tribune Business via a conference call, several property owners told Tribune Business that Exuma-based realtors were warning potential buyers off Oceania Heights because they would be “buying a lawsuit”.

This concern stems from the fact that one of Oceania’s two original developers, Canadian citizen Howard Obront, never agreed to transfer control of the project and its assets to the Homeowners Association that new runs the community.

Chris Fleming, who led the homeowners’ battle against Mr Obront and his fellow developer, Bahamian attorney Anthony Thompson, said fears that the Canadian might return to Exuma and resort to litigation were blocking the Association’s efforts to generate $3 million in much-needed cash.

This sum, which would be generated from selling Oceania’s 17 unsold lots, could then finance the completion of the community’s infrastructure and build-out of amenities such as a gym, increasing property values for all owners.

But, with realtors deterring all buyer interest, Mr Fleming said efforts to transform Oceania into an upscale development had effectively come to a stop, with the Association even unable to pay for a 10-foot wide easement linking it with the Queen’s Highway.

“I can’t pay for it because we can’t sell property,” Mr Fleming told Tribune Business. “Realtors in Exuma are saying: ‘Stay away from it [Oceania Heights].

“They are telling people: ‘Obront will come back and sue, and you are buying a lawsuit’. Progress has been completely stopped.”

Mr Fleming added that Oceania property owners were continuing “to give up and walk away”, unwilling to deal with the community’s persistent problems.

“There are nine homes at Oceania,” he told Tribune Business. “Right now, I’ve just heard from one of the owners who is shortly going to be kicking the keys and the mortgage payment back to the bank.

“Of the nine completed properties there, six will be owned by the bank.”

Tribune Business revealed earlier this year how Oceania Heights owners have been seeking to resolve this by lobbying the Christie administration to revoke Mr Obront’s permanent residency status in the Bahamas. This, though, has yet to happen.

And, to ‘add insult to injury’, several Oceania owners said they are still receiving Ministry of Finance bills for up to 10 years’ worth of past due real property taxes, despite not yet possessing recorded conveyances/deeds to confirm their property ownership.

Tribune Business previously revealed how numerous Oceania homeowners were unable to obtain title/conveyancing documents to the properties they have bought, while the same lot was sold to different buyers on more than one occasion.

The problem stems from how Oceania’s original developers structured the project as a giant ‘tax avoidance’ scheme, with conveyances never submitted to the Treasury for Stamping and recording.

Apart from the loss of Stamp Duty, the project was also held in Mr Thompson’s name. With Bahamian-owned property in the Family Islands exempt from real property tax, this meant a second tax was also ‘avoided’.

“This has deprived us from having title to the property, and has also defrauded the Bahamian people,” Chris Bain, another Oceania homeowner told Tribune Business.

“We paid the Bahamas Government $35,000 in real property tax for 2007, and it was only when we discovered we didn’t own the property that we stopped paying the property tax. We tried to recover the $35,000, either as a refund or credit for future property tax.”

The Bains’ lot is one that was sold to two different buyers, and Tribune Business also previously revealed a letter from Mr Thompson in which he admitted to using $400,000 in funds received from Oceania clients - intended to pay Stamp Duty due on sales at the Exuma-based development - to pay the project’s expenses instead.

Mr Fleming said that despite knowing the ‘unpaid taxes’ background, and the fact many Oceania Heights owners did not possess conveyances confirming good title to their properties, the Ministry of Finance continued to bill them for ‘back taxes’.

“The property owners are getting bills from Mrs Bowe for 10 years’ back taxes when she knows these people don’t own these properties,” Mr Fleming told Tribune Business, referring to a Ministry of Finance official.

“I’ve sat down with her and told her that Mr Thompson has taken money from 11 homeowners that belongs to the Government.

“Instead of working with us and asking her own Government to take the action necessary against an attorney [Anthony Thompson] who today remains in good standing with the Bahamas Bart Association, we understand that nothing has happened.”

Messrs Thompson and Obront have consistently, and vehemently, denied all the allegations against them.

However, Mr Bain told Tribune Business that the Stamp Duty monies that Mr Thompson confirmed are outstanding had potentially deprived Exuma of the medical equipment necessary to open its $14 million mini-hospital.

“It is not just us in Oceania Heights getting screwed by this; it’s also hurting the Bahamas,” Mr Bain told Tribune Business.

“For example, the clinic sitting there on Exuma. If Government were to resolve this situation and compel Mr Thompson to pay the money taken to the Treasury, and make us feel comfortable to pay real property tax and Stamp Duty, then that clinic could open and attract more foreign investors.”

Mr Fleming, agreeing that the outstanding Oceania taxes could help get Exuma’s clinic “up and running”, said such a development would be timely given the Government’s National Health Insurance (NHI) drive.

He added that Oceania’s property owners included eye surgeons, cardiologists, urologists and orthopaedic surgeons - all of whom could aid Exumians and the wider Bahamas.

“There’s a lot of talent that the people of Exuma could be exposed to, but if people don’t want to move this thing forward, you’re not going to see it,” Mr Fleming said.

Mr Bain added: “I don’t understand why they [the Government] don’t want to close the book on this whole mess at Oceania Heights. It would take just a few phone calls.

“We’re seeking some sort of justice. We realise we’re not going to be made whole, but this is not just in our interests, but those of Exuma and the Bahamas.”