A businessman is under fire for buying tiny parcels of land so he can sell or lease them for inflated prices to people who thought they owned them.

In one case, Guthrie businessman Ron Edwards is demanding four Edmond condominium owners pay him $80,000 for a shared driveway he bought for $1,584 at a county auction.

"I thought I made a decent offer,” Edwards said.

The owners haven't paid, so Edwards blocked their driveway with concrete highway barriers last month.

"I was just livid,” said Hedi Lunday, 77, one of the condo owners at Timberdale Estates in Edmond. "It's extortion.”

Many Timberdale Estates residents are elderly; some barely can walk, Lunday said.

Edmond officials ordered the barriers removed for public safety reasons, and an Oklahoma County judge has issued an injunction temporarily barring Edwards from blocking the driveway.

RJS Properties LLC, which Edwards said is owned by his wife, bought the driveway, unbeknownst to the condo owners, at a 2008 county auction for delinquent tax properties.

Edwards, 61, whose family also operates a Guthrie funeral business, said RJS Properties buys delinquent tax properties to sell or lease them to make money. The goal is to make a 10 percent profit, he said.

"It's just a business adventure trying to pick up a few bucks just like any other business,” Edwards said. "I wasn't wanting to cause anybody grief, but sometimes it just works out that way.”

Edwards said his company "offers to correct” errors by title and abstract companies that often cause properties to go to auction without owners knowing.

Neighbors didn't know of sales

Companies run by Edwards and family members have bought at least nine properties in Oklahoma County in the past two years, property records show.

The properties were for sale because of delinquent tax payments.

One is part of the parking lot at Chelino's Mexican Restaurant in Edmond, which RJS Properties bought for $683 in 2008.

Edwards said the parking lot was there when his company bought the property, which the company since has leased to the restaurant in a "fair deal for everyone.”

Edwards could not remember the lease terms. Chelinos owner Marcelino Garcia could not be reached for comment.

Numerous property owners contacted by The Oklahoman never knew RJS Properties owned property neighboring theirs until they got letters from Edwards offering to lease or sell the property to them for inflated prices.

Further, none knew the properties had delinquent taxes or were for sale.

"When I got the letter, I went online trying to figure out what the heck was going on,” said Ken Wegner, president of Timberdale Estates Homeowners Association. "I don't hate anybody and I don't wish anybody ill, but I just don't understand behavior like this.”

Wegner suspects property owners aren't being properly notified of tax delinquencies and pending sales of those properties because of a 2008 change to state law.

It was the result of Senate Bill 1770, which changed notification requirements counties must make on tax delinquent properties and lessened property owners' protection from the unnotified sale of such properties.

Mixed results

The Timberdale Estates Homeowners Association went to court two years ago to have RJS Properties' purchase of the condo driveway nullified. The case is ongoing.

Summit Condominiums received notice from Edwards in July 2008 that RJS Properties had bought the road running through the condo complex and wanted to lease it to them. RJS Properties bought the road for $2,938 in June 2008, records show.

"I had no idea the driveway was even going to court or was behind in tax payments,” said Glenn Rubin, president of Summit Owners Association.

Edwards later retracted his offer to lease the driveway to the condos and instead offered to sell it to them for $25,000. Condo owners haven't paid, and Edwards hasn't pressed the issue.

"I just threw my money away on that deal,” Edwards said.

Rubin said he was shocked to learn Edwards was running a business in such a way.

"I think this guy should be sued and put out of business,” Rubin said.