Clive Palmer demands nightly fees from Coolum villa owners

Clive Palmer’s Coolum resort issued a Christmas demand for villa owners to pay nightly accommodation rates.

Management at Clive Palmer’s Coolum resort issued a Christmas Eve demand for villa owners on the hotel grounds to pay nightly accommodation rates until they have a court document that proves they have a right to be there.

The letter, signed by resort manager Simon Stodart, was sent to the villa owners soon after the Federal Court rejected the federal MP’s bid to lift his voting power within a body-corporate-like entity that controls the properties on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast last week.

The owners, who have withstood attempts by Mr Palmer to take over their villas at a price of his choosing since 2012, have dismissed the letter as an “idle threat”.

“In the event that you occupy any property … then until such time as you can provide us with a court document that states you have the Occupancy Rights to the properties you occupy, you will be billed and charged for your occupation of those properties at the ruling daily room rate,” the letter said.

“If this room charge is not paid we will take legal action to ­recover those amounts owing and any damages or losses that arise from or are connected with your occupation of those properties.”

The letter also contained claims that locks fitted by the villa owners fearful of being blocked from entering the units “do not comply with Fire Safety Services Regulations” and must be ­removed. The owners have not received any follow up letter or bill.

“It appears none of it is ­factual,” one said yesterday.

When contacted yesterday, Mr Stodart said: “I have no comment to make.” Mr Palmer’s spokesman did not return calls.

The resort closed its accommodation and conference facilities in March, with Mr Stodart claiming a major refurbishment would be carried out.

The villa owners have been under pressure to leave their properties since Mr Palmer bought the resort from Hyatt in 2011 for a reported $7 million. Mr Palmer later installed a giant moving dinosaur (now burnt down) and cut staff.

An interim decision by the Australian Takeovers Panel last month restricted Mr Palmer’s companies to having 20 per cent of the total voting power within the entity holding the villas, known as The President’s Club, in which owners have a stake.

The Federal Court last week rejected a key legal argument launched by Mr Palmer and his companies: that The President’s Club had formally launched its bid to block the takeover beyond the required deadline without a valid extension being granted.