Theodore Hazlett doesn't expect to lose his condominium, despite the notice on his front door announcing an impending sheriff's sale. "This will all be worked out through title insurance," Hazlett said Monday at his home at The Hunt Club at Grandview Estates in the Gibsonia section of West Deer. Along with about three dozen other residents, Hazlett faces the prospect of losing his condo because the developer who built it is in debt to National City Bank and a Murrysville landscaping company. National City last week forced a foreclosure of the Hunt Club property in an effort to collect about $2.6 million owed by Links Development Co. of Export in Westmoreland County. On top of that, landscaper Richland Properties brought the condos to sheriff's sale in a bid to recoup about $1 million from Links Development. There is no indication that any homeowner is behind in their mortgage and taxes, but all still face sheriff's sale because Links Development can't pay its bills. A woman who answered the phone at the listed number for Links Development said the company no longer exists. She said that Michael Peretto, who was the company's president and treasurer, was traveling and could not be reached. Links Development had no known legal representation as of yesterday. Thomas E. Riley, a Scott attorney who specializes in creditor rights, said Hazlett's statement about title insurance protecting the property owners from losing their condos makes sense. "The unit owners, in the normal course, would have purchased title insurance at the time at which they bought their units," said Riley, who is not involved in the case. "This would insure against a situation where their rights might be jeopardized by prior interests." Riley said that National City and Richland Properties have a right to collect on Link Development's unpaid bills, even through measures like this -- that could force the condo owners out of their homes. "Those companies are exercising remedies that are provided for in the law," he said. Lower Burrell attorney Gino Peluso said the situation facing the condo owners boggles his mind. "I couldn't understand how this was happening," he said, "unless (the owners) didn't go through a standard closing. It seems grossly unfair. How can you do that to somebody who's paying the mortgage on their property?" But, he said the devil's in the details. "It all depends on the original contract -- on how the transaction was structured," Peluso said. Several other Hunt Club residents declined comment or did not return calls for comment. Links Development, meantime, is embroiled in a number of other lawsuits, three of which were filed this year in Westmoreland County Court.

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