The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An American investor yesterday described his government’s real estate advisory on the Bahamas as “right on the mark”, adding; “People’s lives have been ruined.”

Chris Fleming, who has led the homeowners in their fight against the original developers of Exuma’s controversy-torn Oceania Heights project, said the Government had effectively brought the US advisory upon itself by its own inaction.

While acknowledging the truth of the maxim ‘buyer beware’, Mr Fleming said the Government appeared to have “turned the other way” far too often despite knowing about the problems at Oceania Heights and other Bahamas-based real estate developments.

Agreeing that the Oceania Heights case appeared to have strongly influenced the US Embassy’s decision to publish the advisory, Mr Fleming told Tribune Business: “I think it speaks for itself. People’s lives have been ruined.

“I think the real estate advisory is right on the mark..... We’ve all been involved in something that was unfortunate [at Oceania Heights]. The Government didn’t have anything to do with it, but the Government knew about this, talked about this and turned their eye the other way.”

He added: “Sure the Government can say, as the Deputy Prime Minister did, ‘buyer beware’. Sure, buyers have to beware, but the Government must be aware of who is doing business in their community, as it reflects on them.

“The Government may think it’s funny that rich, white foreigners got scammed, but they are expecting 400,000 more people to come to the Bahamas at the end of March. I don’t know where those people are coming from.”

Oceania Heights homeowners have not taken over control and operation of the project, having previously had a ‘laundry list’ of complaints against the original developers, Canadian citizen Howard Obront and Bahamian attorney, Anthony Thompson.

These included:

• Homeowners were unable to obtain title/conveyancing documents to the properties they have bought.

• Unresolved questions over whether more than $880,000 in Stamp Tax they paid has been passed on to the Treasury.

Without this being paid, their deeds conveyances could not be properly recorded in the Registry of Records, thus leaving homeowners without good title to their properties.

Tribune Business possesses a letter written by Mr Thompson admitting that he failed to pass $400,000 in Stamp Duty, paid by Oceania property purchasers, to the Treasury and instead used it to cover the development’s expenses.

• Mr Thompson failing to disclose he was also a beneficial owner of Oceania Heights when acting for the buyers in their purchases.

• The same lots have been sold to different buyers.

• The hotel and other promised amenities have not been constructed.

Despite the Homeowners Association taking control of the development, the fallout from the Oceania Heights debacle - and its toll on property owners - continued.

The Association’s 2014 annual report revealed that some 17 owners have decided to abandon their investments as a result of the project’s history, with another six at risk of losing their properties for failing to pay due annual fees to it.

The financial impact on these persons, and their families, is likely to have been considerable, and probably prompted the US Embassy in Nassau to warn in its advisory that some Americans have lost their entire life savings in Bahamian real estate deals.

Venting his further frustration, Mr Fleming said the Association’s efforts to move Oceania Heights forward and break with its past had been “at a total standstill” for two years.

He explained that this was because Exuma-based real estate agents were warning potential purchasers they could be subject to litigation by Mr Obront if he returned to Exuma, as he never agreed to transfer control of the project to the Homeowners Association.

“I can’t make anything happen,” Mr Fleming told Tribune Business. “I’m a foreigner, I get that. The only thing I can do is point things out to our own government.

“When we can prove that they’re true, we get them posted on the website. Somebody in the Bahamas needs to take leadership of this and own it. Nobody wants to own anything. It’s unfortunate.”

The US embassy, in its official website on Friday, posted: “A significant number of US citizens who have purchased or sold real estate in the Bahamas have reported tremendous difficulties in the process.”