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County admits fault in auction of condo

By CRISTINA SILVA
Published December 31, 2006

Pinellas county officials have conceded they were acting unlawfully when they neglected to contact more than 900 time-share owners of a Pass-a-Grille condominium before they auctioned it off in a tax deed sale in November, according to court documents.

The Camelot Condominium Owners Association filed a lawsuit against the county claiming the sale was invalid because the clerk of the circuit court failed to notify individual time-share owners before they auctioned the property to Luke Investments, a West Palm Beach development firm, for $2-million on Nov. 29.

The county sent several notices to the condo board but did not receive a response.

County officials admitted the sale was invalid and that Luke Investments had no claim to the property in an answer filed by county attorney Sarah Richardson on Thursday. The answer simply lists many of the claims made in the Camelot lawsuit and states, "the defendants admit the allegations."

The lawsuit lists Luke Investments, Pinellas County Tax Collector Diane Nelson, Clerk of Circuit Court Ken Burke and Pinellas County as defendants and asks that Luke Investments be ordered to vacate the land and immediately return it to the time-share owners.

The property still belongs to Luke Investments until a judge rules otherwise, Richardson said. A court date has not been set.

Luke Investments filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit two weeks ago, alleging the claims were without merit. A spokesman for the firm declined to comment Friday.

In most cases, condominium associations are considered the owners of a time-share property. But unlike many time-share properties, Camelot's owners hold individual property deeds for the units they purchased, so the lawsuit alleges they are the legal owners of the property, not the association.

Lee Rightmyer, an attorney representing Camelot, called the county's response important. "We will be going forward in the judicial proceedings with the goal of having the court adopt the position that is now taken by both the county and the association," he said.

Camelot was auctioned off after the condo association had failed to pay its taxes for three years, a total that amounts to about $180,000.

It is still unclear why the taxes were not paid. John Predmore, the condo association president, has not returned several calls placed by the Times and will not return calls placed by time-share residents, according to the unit owners.

[Last modified December 30, 2006, 21:55:00]