Getting lots of things done in the winter
Tuesday, January 13, 2009 @ 9:01 AM
Just a brief update on what’s happening at GGM2 at the moment.
The Grande Community
Over the last few months we have had a lot of help and advice from the President of fase 5 of the Grande community Juan Gutierrez. Joke Beemster has had regular meetings with him which has resulted in a lot of improvements in the the approach road. The path and rubbish has been cleared on the bank at the end of the road, edging stones put in place and some oleander planted. The sub station on the other side has been painted and Dave and myself have painted over the graffiti. Juan hopes to have the missing section of path tarmaced iver n the Spring. We will keep pushing for clearer road signs and an island at the end of the road but because it’s the boundary of 4 phases of the grande community it’s not easy to get them all to agree on the costs.
Juan is also the President of the community next to the golf club and his maintenance contractor (Angel) and Gardener have visited GGM2 to give us advice and help us obtain quotations on some of the work we need to carry out.
Entrance Gate
The gate has been smartened up by giving the canopy and walls a coat of paint, new lights have been fitted and a new sign put up. A tiled roof for the new post boxes is also planed in the next few weeks.
The Garden
The grass around the pool area took a hammering again in the summer with it turning into a muddy strip around the pool surround. We have had quotes in to extend the pool surround but with other unforeseen expenditure we have put this on hold for the moment. We have decided to introduce Spanish grass in the pool area, cuttings have been planted but it will take a couple of years to spread and take over. It should be harder wearing and stand up to the extremes of water logging and drying out that we experience.
Over the last month I was rather disappointed with the amount of weeds in the beds and the garden not looking up to the standard we expect. I have had words with Marcelo (our gardeners) and he knows he has to get it back up to standard before the end of January and keep it there or we will look at alternatives.
Satellites
Two of the remaining satellites on the face of the building have been taken down in the last few weeks (well done Dave on your work on this) and the owners are now connected to the community system - a reminder to you that no personal satellites must be visible on the face of the building they must only be below your balcony wall out of sight. The community system is now working well although we have had to spend a lot on the system again this year putting right all the the work carried out in 2007 by the previous (cowboy) contractor. Only the community satellite contractor is now allowed to carry out work on the system.
Maintenance
During the Autumn the commitee looked at alternative ways to manage the maintenace rather than having quotes for every individual job and we have managed to combine a number of regular jobs within a maintenance contract. With this Joke has negotiated some considerable savings on the maintenance rates so we can get more done for our money. From the beginning of January we now have in place a maintenance contract with Angel and his team and this covers the water tanks and pumps, pool maintenance, gate repairs, sweeping through the garages once a month, light bulb replacement and a lot of the small repairs around the place. Angel will also inspect the work on the roofs for us as it proceeds. We expect over the next few months to really get on top of some of the ongoing maintenance issues and keep the standard high.
Bin Fire
Over Christmas we had a fire in one of the bins, fortunately thanks to the quick action of some owners it was put out and only the one bin was damaged. The fire was caused by some bright spark placing hot ashes in the bin!! We will now have to try and claim on our insurance for a replacement bin.
Promotor Claim
One of the major issues we have to resolve is the repair to the roofs. As agreed at the AGM our lawyer wrote to the Promotor with a surveyors report asking for them to carry out the work and letting them know if they didn't we would have the work done and then reclaim the cost from them with legal action against them if necessary. With the Promotor not carrying out the repairs we have gone ahead in getting quotes in and then go ahead with the work. We have had a number of builders look at the job, it’s a very tricky one with difficult access and we need to be sure it’s done to the correct standard with all tiles secure and no longer a safety issue. Some builders have looked at it and decided it was not for them but we now have two quotes in and will have the final quote in the next few days. We then expect to be in a position to make a decision with Intercala as to who to proceed with. The work could take up to 2-3 months and we will let owners know in advance before the work starts on each block.
One other problem we have is 2 of the planters on top of block 11 the lining has cracked causing water to leak into the apartment below. This was included in the surveyors report so we will aim to claim the cost from the promotor. The 2 planters have been emptied and work is in progress to repair the planters putting inside a new lining to the right standard before we refill them and plant them in the Spring.
Debtors
You will see from the notice boards the debtors figure has crept up again to 15,588 euros. Legal action is in progress against 4 owners, they will now have to pay the legal costs as well as the late payment charge. Legal action will also be started against the other debtors should they not pay up.
Garbage Tax
Both the IBA + and your property IBI charges are expected soon (this is like your rates/or council tax in the UK, for garbage collection, street lighting, etc. the community gets a charge and so do owners). This has been dragging on since the community was formed so unfortunately we will all have the charges to pay since then. We believe the town hall has finally caught up and will be sending the charges out very soon. We have a reserve in the budget for the community IBA charge but no doubt the IBI charge for owners will come as an unwelcome shock for some.
Dogs and Cats
We have had problems with people feeding the stray cats in the garden and garages which then only encourages more strays but also encourages rats and mice. Intercala have taken action so I hope the problem is resolved. Despite previous requests to dog owners from Intercala reminding them of the rules of keeping dogs in the community we still have owners walking dogs in the gardens, off leads and not cleaning up after them, THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. I have now had both the cleaner and the gardeners complaining about having to clean up the dog mess and requesting extra money as it is not in there normal duties. Letters have gone out again to all dog owners reminding them of the rules and letting them know if the rules are not followed the clean up costs will be passed on to the dog owners. The rules are:-
- No dogs are allowed in or through the gardens.
- Dogs may only transit through the Portals and Garages, they must be on a lead at all times.
- You must clean up after your dog in any community area and also on the road outside.
Finally a big thank you to the committee Dave, Joke, Ivett, Brian and Ian for all the work they have put in during 2008 to ensure the smooth running of the community.
I wish you all the best for 2009 I hope the sun shines on us all at GGM2 and we all have a great year.
Jeremy Watkinson