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Has anyone else noticed the Direct Debit coming out of their account this week ?
In the UK, by law you have to notify the account holder in advance of any payments that are to be taken from your account. I've had no notification whatsoever about the charges for my Community.

I'm on Phase 7 - Atlantico 4 and the payment taken is 425.11 Euros. I've no idea which period this covers and I'm guessing it's the community charge though the reference isn't obvious - CDAD.PROP.COMP.INMOB.PRIVADO 

Has anyone had notification of the charges and when they will be taken ? If this is the initial payment, when will the next payment be ?

Also, I've received a payment into my account which has no reference. Could this be Polaris making their contribution to the Community charge for 2008 prior to my completion date ?

Welcome to Spain where the sun always shines and the finances are a mystery !!
  

Hi Tarkers

Just had DD statement as below. Do you know what months this covers 

CDAD.PROP.COMP.INMOB.PRIVADO HACINEDA                 468.69 EUR

Hi
On a recent trip to HR resortalia told me that we would get 3 direct debits to recover the 08 community charge. From memory this was August, September and Novemeber I think. Next year it will be done in 4 quarterly instalments starting in January.
Se also gave me a copy of the charges for our block, which were in the region of 1,300 to 1,500 euros pa - divide this by 3 and you get the direct charge you will have seen.

If you completed prior to 1/1/08 then there re no charges for this period. W have only been debited with the charges from 1/1/08 so can't imagine the mystery payment is anything to do with community charges.

cheers
Steve

I'm sure I've read somewhere that Polaris will cover the payments for 2007 and also for 2008 up until your completion date !!
I certainly don't see any reason why I should be liable for community charges before I legally owned the property.

I would expect to receive a breakdown of the payments and dates prior to the payments being taken. 

Any non payments because of lack on contact details etc. should be dealt with. Why couldn't Polaris send a form to everyone asking for permission to pass on their details to Resortalia.
 

Have e-mailed Resortalia to find out what months this payment covers and what is the payment structure for future payments.

Polaris pay community charges for 2007. 

You are only liable for community charges once you are the legal owner. You become liable from the 1st of the month following the month in which you completed. So, if you completed on  5th Feb 2008 your payment period doesn't start until 1st March.

Ron

To summarise a few previous posts........

  1) You become liable from the month after your completion date. (except for 2007 completions which PW will cover to end Dec07)
   2)  Your 2008 charges will be debited in 3 payments ... July Sept Nov ... but as it is done by phase order so the later phases it may be a little while after these dates initially. The authorisation for DD will normally be done by your solicitor at completion.
   3) From 2009 it will be debited on a quarterly basis.

The charge amounts debited recently are equivalent to 1/3 of your 2008 liability....note that your 2008 liability is not necessarily a full year of liability for yur apartment if you completed sometime this year..see point 1) above...
e.g if you completed in March 2008 then you would only be liable for 9/12 of the full 2008 charge for your own apartment .

If you want further information about your own particular apartment charge for 2008 e-mail Pepa at hr@resortalia.com

With regard to the Community Charges leaving your bank account, the previous posts are all correct. Mine too have only just been taken (phase 5) and I'm expecting two more this year then quarterly from Jan '09.

As to the payment into your bank, I too received money back in and have spoken with others who have also.

No this is not PW refunding fees!

In my case, it was money left over from my original purchase. My lawyer explained that the amounts paid to the notary etc when you complete are sometines estimated and some months later when everything has been finalised there is a surplus. If this is the case it is refunded to you.

So just maybe......this is what has happened to you!

Put it towards some golf balls! 

Jeff

Pepa has quoted me 3 payments of around 650 euros for Sep, Oct and Nov and I only completed at the end of July lol!!  Not sure whats going on there but I can feel some ass kicking coming on.

I have also sent my bank details once to PW on completion and twice to Resortalia direct, yet they still claim not to have them.  Surely they cannot just debit your account without giving you some kind of breakdown or invoice for what you are paying for?  I do hope this messy style of operating is going to rectify itself pretty quickly.......ah well back to the lawyers then, I am fast becoming their best customer.

Ken.

If you call in and see Pepa, she'll give you the full breakdown of what we have to pay for.

I have a detailed list of my whole block and can see exactly the split betwqeen all properties in that block and the percentage they are all paying. 

Cheers Jeff,

Is Pepa on site at the HR?

Ken.

Yes she is. 
When I was there she was in the cabins by the PW cabins.
Now that the main entrance is open she may have moved there.
She was there in the mornings only (on another site in the afternoons).

Resortalia are still in the portakabin as before....and still mornings.

re Kenny_B "Pepa has quoted me 3 payments of around 650 euros for Sep, Oct and Nov and I only completed at the end of July" .... 

I would imagine what she meant, or said and was interpreted incorrectly or whatever....was that your total 2008 Community Charge commitment (in your case Aug - Dec with completing July) would be a total of 650 euros , which sounds about in the right ballpark for 2008....to be taken in three payments in Sept, Oct and Nov in your case. 2008 fees are to be taken in three separate paymnets.

We too were debited approx 650Euros on 29th August for the Resortilia community charges (phase 6). We called the bank and they informed the instruction was from resortilia and similar amounts would be debited in Nov 08 and Jan 09 and from then on it would be quarterly.

We also emailed Resortilia to ask for a break down of what months this charge covers and for breakdown by email prior to furture Direct debits hitting the bank.

So far no reply from Resortilia.

Graham

Community Charges are based on the budget figures for the year in question and a set cyclical process should be in place after 2008. This should mean that there would be no sqeezing of the total annual payments into almost the last quarter as has happenned this year. 
For next year, once the 2009 budgets are determined and agreed (or otherwise) at the AGM's then I expect owners to be notified quickly of their total 2009 charges with the actual payment amounts equally split  across the four quarters. So people should get to know early in the year what their four payments amounts and payment dates will be for that forthcoming year. This process will repeat for every year.

Hi all,

I have just returned fom HR and obtained a breakdown of costs.  My place is on the ground floor and is the second largest plot, so my charges are one of the highest.

My charges work out at approx 120 euros per month.  We completed in July, so we have to pay for Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov & Dec.  

5 months @ 120 = 600.  We are paying this in two installments of approx 300 euros, one in Sep and the other in Nov.

Pepa is very good and she will give you an individual breakdown if you ask, although this would be better done in person as e-mails to her tend to get lost...........  

As Cola says, next year should be much clearer.

Ken.

Hi

I just wondered if you were told that your community charges would be €120 euros a month before you bought your property or did Polaris quote one figure and charge another.  I know that there is a dispute on La Torre with regard to this and they have another management firm now.

We are thinking of buying on Hacienda so would love any information you are willing to share with us.

Thank you.

I think for the size of the resort and what is entailed the price of service charge reflects the service. iIlive as i have said before in a 32 apartment block of apartments new build in stratford east london. My charge on a two bed is 900 a year.Alot for nothing more than a high rise building with no land.

Tony & Liz,

No we were not told in advance.  We did expect community fees, but not quite as much as 120 euros per month until the resort was fully complete.  We were over recently and the vast majority of the resort is stunning, but our pool (pond) was not being maintained anywhere near enough and communal cleaning within our block was non existent.

I complained about this to Pepa and she said that Resortalia were tied into the terms of a management contract that Polaris had originally entered into until December, when it would be reviewed by them and get better thereafter.  

I don't mind paying, but I expect my money to be used wisely.  I am already paying through the nose for little or no return or benefit through poorly thought through financial management from the UK government.  Fortunately the residents of HR should have more direct say in where and how their hard earned cash is spent by Resortalia.

As you will see from all of my post, I am the resident moaner and tend to focus on the negatives.  So when I tell you that despite all the niggles I would not swap my place on HR for anywhere else in the Murcia region, you can take that as a very big plus for buying there.  Good luck, see you around the town centre some time.............. when it is built  

Ken.

Hi Kenny

Thank you for your post.  I know you said your are the resort moaner but I didn't see it like that.  It is good to get a good honest oppinion and then at the end you admit to how pleased you are with your appartment.  I like you think €120 is a lot of money extra to find.  The predicament we are in is that we are buying a penthouse appartment on Condado and have been mislead to the size of the garden and basically it is half the size it was in the original brochure.  We are in conflict at the moment and Polaris have said basically "tough" that we have to complete but our agent has said he can sort something out for us and one of those things being an appartment on Hacienda.  We have never visited Hacienda but what I have seen (and it is not a lot) seens very impressive in that although you don't have much in the way of town centre etc you do have a lot of space (well that is how it appears) and I think the idea of them converting the Hacienda into the town centre is lovely.  I do understand that it is in the middle of nowhere which appeals to me but having not seen it, it would mean we would have to come out before making a decision.  Any further advice, whether you feel it moaning or anything would be really appreciated.

Kind regards

Liz