MOORLANDS Development Company (MDC) will seek to resell at least $160 million worth of lots in the affluent Moorlands Estate development in Manchester, unless purchasers complete transfers in two weeks.

The incomplete transfers have kept funds in escrow and out of MDC’s hands.

The roughly 40 lot purchasers have until mid-October to contact the developers. Otherwise the matter would become legal, stated Carlton Maxwell managing director of MDC in a phone interview with the Observer on Monday.

“After the 15th, we are handing the matter to our lawyers and they will dispose of the matter as they see fit,” he said, adding that the company issued a public notice.

The 2005 master plan of the Moorlands Estate contains 400 lots, a commercial complex, a clubhouse and a chapel. Roughly 10 per cent of the lot owners have failed to complete the transfer of ownership.

“All have paid but some have outstanding fees in terms of transfer tax and legal costs and [thus] haven’t handed back the transfer documents to us,” he explained.

Some have not finalised the process in five years. The purchasers were notified previously by registered mail and/or by phone conversations. The delay in transferring the ownership keeps the lots on the books of the company as a liability.

“From a profit and loss point of view it cannot be recorded as a profit because it needs to be transferred to the purchaser,” he said. “All the money is held in trust. Therefore it’s important to get these off the books and it can only be got rid of by transfer.”

Moorlands Developers sell lots for about $3.8 million per 1/4 acre.

Purchasers then select contractors to build their homes.

The current project entitled Moorlands Manor phase 3 is part of a $1.2 billion development financed by a mix of equity and loans from RBC Royal Bank. It’s a 390-lot development on 250 acres.

The latest phase began in January 2014 with splinter titles expected for sale before year end.

The MDC incorporated in August 2001 consists of 209 shareholders, managed by a board of directors.

The company was set up to oversee the development of Moorlands Estate, a development on reclaimed bauxite lands in Manchester.

The project site is roughly two kilometres from the famous Moorlands camp site.

The Alumina Partners of Jamaica previously used Moorlands Estate for bauxite mining. All bauxite-mining operations ceased years ago and the land was mainly in pasture.

“The mining pits have now become grasslands,” states the company website.