HONOLULU -- A Hawaii federal judge Wednesday blasted the Honolulu City Council. The judge said the council made a bad mistake by blocking some condominium owners from buying their land.

Several apartment and condo buildings had owners trying to buy their land when the council put an end to the conversion of leasehold to fee simple properties. The move would have forced the landowners to sell their property to the apartment owners. The city decided not to allow those apartment owners to continue the process.

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The apartment owners were at court Wednesday, saying the city broke a contract that left them in a costly, stressful limbo.

"In the dollar sense, I could give you a figure, but the human toll its taken on all our people, I could never tell you," Discovery Bay apartment owner Ralph Mitchell said.

"Well, we are emotionally drained because of all the time that we've been waiting," Discovery Bay apartment owner Elena Pecile said.

Judge David Ezra said making a legal decision will take a while. However, the judge said the City Council made a "bad mistake by not letting those with pending condemnations go on." He called it "unfair to the apartment owners and highly unwise… because the costly litigation will cost taxpayers money."

The criticism didn't affect council members.

"That's his opinion and he has the right to say whatever he wants to say," Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi said.

"I think the council did its best job in finding what is fair for everyone," Councilman Todd Apo said.

Apo said he expected to be taken to court and the city's lawyer said the cost has been reasonable.

Exactly how much taxpayers pay for the council's so-called mistake will depend on how Ezra rules in the case. If he rules against the city, the condo owners will be eligible to have their legal fees reimbursed out of the city treasury.