Legal costs

Hello fellow Haciendans,

It would appear that several of our community are still having problems with utilities connection. As I see it this could be our first real challenge as a community. The question is what do we do about it. 

I suggest as a starting point that all those still having issues reply to this thread within the next 7 days giving a brief outline of completion date, what they are not getting and the reasons they have been given why.

I keep hearing people banging on about how powerful communities are in Spain, well then lets put it to the test. Within the HR community I know we have a few Spanish speakers, who will no doubt also have more experience than I with Spanish communities so your input / assistance would be greatly appreciated with how best to resolve this.

All I know is that it is wrong and unfair. I also believe that the way we choose to deal with this (or don't) will give an indication as to how strong the HR community really is and at the same time send a message outward that we can either be pushed around or are not to be messed with.

It's our call.

Ken.

Hi Kenny,
                 as I've mentioned on the other thread, we completed 13th March and are still without water, electricity and gas. Polaris stated at the time that connection is usually within 60 days but this has not happened. i've e-mailed several times and Polaris just say that they've notified the Utility companies and can do no more ! Seems strange for such a large organisation not to have any clout or are they not bothered as they've now got our money ?

Paul. 

Hi

I think if I remember rightly that it is a 90 day period to connect utilities. Check this. Ours was connected about one week before the period  was up.

best wishes 

Nic

We completed in February this year and have an appartment in phase 7.  My brother and his family (with a 7 month old baby) went out for a holiday and there was still no gas.  We have had to turn down offers from people wanting to hire the apartment as, apart from no hot water, the swimming pool is not up and running. We are coming out ourselves on 23 July in the hope of some answers from PW.  It is a very good and fair point of Kenny's 'Is a property considered habitable with no utilities? And 'the developers obtained an habitation certificate prior to completion' therefore this should have included having all utilities.

Another thing is the lifts - how inconvenient has it been lugging all the furniture and 'white' goods up those stairs.  Does anyone know when the lifts will be working as golfers will need to get their clubs etc on a daily basis up 2 flights of stairs in our case.


This message was last edited by Beau on 6/29/2008.

This message was last edited by Beau on 6/29/2008.

The more I hear the more I am dreading coming out to complete. Whats this now that some of the pools still aren't full? What on earth is going on? Some people may be happy to make do with limilted facilities and utilities, but I am not.

I paid a lot of money for my piece of the 'dream' resort portrayed by the swish models and hype from within the blue Polaris HQ power tower which dominates the Balsicas landscape. However, if they think this individual will roll over they will be sadly mistaken.

Wheres the community spirit and what are the block presidents' doing about this? It needs sorting or it is likely that some community members will quickly begrudge paying anything towards the upkeep of the resort.

If we are going to be paying to uphold our end of the maintenance (refuse, lifts etc) then I expect Polaris to uphold their end of the bargain (pools & facilities). Does anyone have a schedule of the upcoming community meetings? I will try and incorporate my visit to include attending one of them, but in any case I would appreciate the following points brought up on my behalf by someone in my absence:

1. We want a fixed date for the completion of the town centre, including all the associated facilities promised in the brochure hype. Failure to meet the date should be linked to compensation for HR owners as the absence of said facilities directly affects the enjoyment and rental potential for the owners.

2. All the pools need to be filled and maintained ASAP. Failure to provide should be linked to compensation for HR owners as the absence of said facilities directly affects the enjoyment and rental potential for the owners.

3. What is the word on the sports facility? It was supposed to be being built the other side of the old road which used to split the resort at the opposite end from where the town centre is (should be)!

4. Can we play golf yet? Is there a club house? If not we need a date fixing for when these facilities will be available. Failure to provide should be linked to compensation for HR owners as the absence of said facilities directly affects the enjoyment and rental potential for the owners.

Does anyone know where we stand legally on compensation for lack of facilities? Again we will all need to come together as a community to get these issues resolved or nothing will get done. Please lets not get into the 'I don't care it doesn't affect me syndrome' as these issues and any future issues do and will affect us all.

I really feel sorry for those who completed months ago and have had to live with this frankly 'piss poor' service up to now.

Ken.

I completed on phase 7 in March and still have no utilities. The pool is still unavailable and I am turning down rentals. Effectively, 
Polaris are now costing me money.
I want to come out in July with my son but without the guarantee of utilities and a pool I can't take the risk. 

I believe the golf course is open but there has been no fanfare or news article on the Polaris website. Are they waiting for a grand opening of the security entrance or are they just embarrassed at how long it's taking ?

I asked the resident Lawyer on EOS some questions about the unfinished resort facilities and she sent me this link.

http://www.eyeonspain.com/Secure/articles/article.aspx?article=/publicity-contract.aspx 

Interesting reading.

Ken.

Hi folks, 

I have been off line while my family were staying with me,I attended a meeting and nominated my son Nic as President for our block,
I could not stand as I,m not the home owner.If Nic had not been prepared to stand we would not have had anyone to be President.
as there is no one here, I am the only person here in my block,and the same goes for lots of other blocks all over the resort. I made 
this point clear when it first came up that there were to be meetings to elect Pesidents and form committies from the community.A
President elected last week may not be here this week, So Ken as much as I agree with a lot of what your saying please bear this 
fact in mind when you say what are the Presidents doing about it,considering the number of appartments on the resort there is only 
a handfull of us here,There could be some of those who Bought to Let who will never be here.

Another point I feel I should make. Is that each Block will have its own bank account number and it is the Block Presidents job to endevour
to find out email addresses or contact numbers of all residents, to keep them up to date with whats going on, and to inform them if they 
are falling behind with there charges,if it continues, it is then reported to the Phase Presidents and from that level it is reported to Resortalia
who then decide what action to take.

The Block President has to collate all greavancies from residents as well as fault finding and health and safety issues, and report to his Phase 
President,So a lot is being asked of all those who stepped forward on behalf of the community,to take on these tasks

Bye for now Lennie.

Welcome back Len, good to hear from you again. I didn't mean to have a go at the block presidents, just having a rant. I am sure whoever is around is doing all they can for the benefit of the whole community.

Hope you are well. Any updates to report?

Ken.  

Further to my frustration with Polaris, just by way of information :

GAS : after getting no-where with Polaris I contacted Gas Natural direct. FANTASTIC service ! Their Customer Service people have managed to get us connected in TWO WEEKS !

WATER : despite Polaris advising that they had "passed over all the correct paperwork and asked Aguas de Murcia to connect our property as a matter of urgency", I received an e-mail from 'Aguas' today advising that Polaris have told them that our phase is 'not ready to contract'. Needless to say, I've asked polaris for an explanation !

ELECTRICITY : Having contacted Iberdrola, they have advised that "it's not possible to do the contract yet because the connection is not finished". I've asked them what this means but I suspect that they will respond, on the same lines as 'Aguas',  that Polaris have advised them that our phase isn't ready for connection.

 

Paul.