Landlord Wants Us Out 6 Weeks Into 6 month Contract

Hi Amanda,

We have an appartment on los collados bajo. We did not have much time ( and my hubby is rubbish at diy) so we chose a furniture package which was a lot easir for us.  I have been reading the posts on las dunas and they were quite entertaining for a while, especailly your on ironing outside, it did make me giggle. I agree tht every one should be more positive and pull together. we are a bit behind las dunas so time will tell. Our administrator is oasis which have been really helpfull to us so far and I can't fault them. They have been supportive of everything we have asked and seem to know what they are doing. 


Feelthelove,

I am not sure which points you mean are food for thought?? Do you mean the los collados con as was quoted bt fionn or the fact that we should all work together. Have you got or had a property on los collasdos?please explain.

Carolynn1

 

Thank you all for these useful information. Mar Y Casas recommended me muebles montalban in Aguilas . They look good and not to expensive. I was offrered a furniture package for 2500 euros (only furniture though). I also contacted Rich at oasis properties and still waiting to hear from him regarding light fittings. Ikea would be great but the best option for me as I live in Kuwait is to have a company that does everything (delivery, installation...). 
Joseph

Carolynn1
Hi
I meant both really and also wanted to make you aware that people have previously had many a gripe re marycasa.

Fionns comment about being strong and sticking together and getting someone to represent is so so true. BUT it needs to be done by someone who is permanently here so they are accountable and accessible, someone still living in the UK or another country ISNT suitable as they are as distant as the people they are the voice of. Not sure how thats gunna work, but the fairest way I think is to list all owners and ask people to vote, and above all else, for it to be the right person, the person or persons elected should be doing it for free.Hate being synical, but know of a similar situation where person(s) undertaking such a role began to charge for their work, and then disappeared with the money theyd banked,all theyd done was send out emailed minutes/updates or typed ones for those with no pc, charged a fee saying it was to cover their efforts, did nothing; saying it was a time problem and banked enough to clear the drop in property value to sellup and walk away without being out of pocket.

saying that, well its going to be a gamble for whoever we all choose, but i think soemone just coming forward and saying -i'll do it- is not the answer, it has to be done by votes to safeguard everyone and everything and i still think its important that the person(s) are not off site they need to be collared to deal with things good and bad and some of it wont be pleasant either, so its not for the fainthearted.

Fionn,

just came to me, if only youd have stayed, youd have been perfect, youre very knowledgeable, honest and wise. 

Hi,
Last year due to frustration with Gesisur and Mar Y Casas I asked Simone at Oasis if she would be willing to email all the owners they had addresses for on Los Collados and ask them if they would like to be part of an email network.  I offered to the be the initial point of contact and get a list owners and contact details together so that the residents/owners could begin the process of uniting and hopefully influencing improvements. 

My partner made a special trip to Spain last August (2007) for the AGM, it was a short expensive trip, but we were keen to see the AGM in action and be part of the process, several owners asked us to vote on their behalf but we declined as some issues may have presented a conflict of interest, this was an unnecessary concern as it turned out because the voting was more of a bun fight than an organised democratic process!

I circulated our notes of the the meeting to all those who had expressed an interest in an owners network. (they did not match exactly with the formal minutes which were issued months later but the did give a flavour of what was discussed and how the meeting was conducted)

This year I posted on Eye on Spain to ask how people felt about our Adminstrator and how they felt about finding a replacement - it yielded few responses.

I am based in England and agree with Feel the Love that we need a representative on site in Spain, as trying to influence from a distance is difficult.   I also feel very strongly that any residents group should be a mix of all owners - I personally would not really want to part of a "Brit" only group - in my experience it was difficult to get access to Spanish or other nationality contact details as Oasis customers were at that time predominantly British, and my Spanish although improving is limited (got a B in my GCSE this year at the ripe old age of 46) I did think of putting leaflets through every door but frankly I had some health problems and decided that my trips to Spain needed to be holidays.

I found trying to get an owners network going difficult, not least because I did not want full responsibility or all the work involved.  I am prepared to contribute to an owners group but  it seems like we all want some formal representation but no one wants to take the job on - Perhaps because of all the negative issues and feelings that exist (see postings over last year for a flavour)  and whilst I agree with Feelthelove that a democratic voting process would be a good thing I think we will really struggle getting people to nominate themselves.

Feelthelove do you live on Los Collados? and do you have people in mind who would be willing to nominate themselves? What role would you be willing to take?

Amanda
ps I have emailed Justin Aldridge of Eye on Spain and asked if they have any facilities for an "owners" private forum site so that we can be as honest as we need to be about problems without worrying about potential renters and buyers being put off

Hi Amanda

Its a real shame Fionn couldnt undertake this, having been here and seen the chaos and then sold and bought elsewhere,she/he have more of a valuable input than you can imagine - basically can make true comparisons and being detached from it, therefore more likely to be rational,bit like the grandkids senario - great to 'ave'em but thats coz you hand'em back if you get me.

If Fionn was willing to do it i would like to think people would go with it for the reasons i said above - been there, moved on and has sound comparison.Perhaps it would even be worth her/him being salaried to do it, hey dont shout me down it was a suggestion.

Only thing i disagree with you on is 'hiding the problems out there/here' or 'keeping it behind closed doors' so to speak.

I think if that was to happen, then when renters rent and see 'crap' they've spent money on ; bad news will travel fast and then there wont be any renters at all.

At least by keeping this 'upfront' any renter dipping into this site ; rents knowing the situation and has no cause for moaning or legal action for attempting to deceive.

Plus the more people read the gripes the better,things will get done, I had a villa in Sarasota many years ago and my neighbour managed to get a 'closed chat network' and  it back fired big time, the community was sued for deliberatly trying to hide things from potential renters, again like health safety issues/doggie mes. Please dont go that way, it will be a disaster as once people rent and then find the truth on arrival it will lead to 'headlines' and probably the whole place being avoided as bad news is the best news in a competitive world.

I really beleive, leave it as it is, if you dont hide anything you cant be liable and a renter knows where they stand and cant start an exedus of moaners that will grind us into further problems than the euro or falling prices.

please give this some thought.

Hi Feelthelove
Firstly thanks for the response to some of my previous posting,  please can you clarify your current position in relation to Los Collados, do you currently own a property, and are you a visting or residential owner? It would help me (and no doubt other readers) greatly to know your interest in terms of assessing your comments.


I agree renters and potential owners need an honest appraisal of any property before making or agreeing a contract, I am not talking about hiding things but making sure that appropriate information is in the public domain.  It makes no sense to me to have unmoderated comments about our investment on a public website.

I firmly believe that  relevant information for buyers/renters could best be achieved through honest advertising/marketing/photos etc. and converstation with renters/buyers before a rental contract is agreed. This is the responsibility of  individual estate agents and/or owner/ renters. There is no legal requirement for any seller/renter to publish concerns historical or current about their urbanisation on a public website.

Our approach to family and friends who have visited the apartment has been to issue a "health warning"  about the things they might find troublesome/irritating/disappointing and show them some current candid photos with 360 degree shots from the solarium etc. All feedback has been on the lines of  "Well its Spain you expect a bit of building work and its no where near as bad as you said" That said I would agree that the urbanisation is not as pretty as the ones I have stayed in say Nerja or Puerto Banus but we think Aguilas and the wonderful people more than make up for some ongoing building work and the lack of architectural imagination.

My concerns about the public aspect of this site are:

• Some of the postings on this site go back to the start of occupation of the urbanisation which is over 2 years ago and some things have improved since then, others are ongoing but showing signs of improving (mini golf being the exception) In fact it is still on Eye on Spain as an Off Plan Development!
  
• Some people posting, for example  Fionn sold up at least a year ago and its not clear from postings when they last visited Los Collados, so there is no way of knowing how up to date their view or criticism of the development is, in some instances they come across as current owners when in fact they probably referring to old experiences ( a bad experience over a year ago may not be how things are now but may of course be relevant in an historical context)
• Given the the number of apartments and duplex's and the range of nationalities that live and own on Los Collados there are bound to be lots of personal gripes about things which are down to personal values and although important to the individual (Sallyp and the rotary clothes line and ironing outdoors being a prime example) are not necessarily the things that will get a group united to take action and therefore the site becomes a forum for getting things off your chest,  but not taking any positive action.
• The fact that it is public means that Administrators and Mar Y Casas can view postings and they must be laughing their socks off at the lack of organisation and complaints that are posted on this site. They can probably see that the site serves a great purpose in terms of therapeutic value but shows we can't get our act together and therefore we are no challenge.
• I have had a few private messages from people saying that they no longer use the site because it is so negative, does not achieve any action and does not actually promote the urbanisation or give a very balanced view.   
  

So I guess in a way the fact that you and I have very different views on this aspect of the way forward serves to illustrate how hard it will be to unite the residents and achieve some common goals.  As I said in my previous posting I did a lot of work last year in my own time and all I saw for it was the prospect of more hard work at the expense of family/social time and dealing with a lot of complaints - hence the giving up (though I did make contact with some very nice people)

We love Aguilas because we wanted somewhere very Spanish, and really hope that we are at the end of the major difficulties on the urbanisation.  How do you feel we can make progress and how involved do you want to be?
Amanda

Hi amanda

owner, but purchased via our company  and only available to company staff, so different senario to everyone else, we only use it for staff coming to the area who need somewhere to stay when doing boat shows. we or i get a lot of feed back when staff come back and complain etc that we have put them in accomodation that is way less a standard to hotels - fair comment etc.

my opinion re Fionn was, someone who is out there and has bought,sold, moved on to another place has opinions due to experience/being there that would be able to say for eg: this is what you should be expecting etc, at the moment i think no-one really has a clue as where things are or going.....at least Fionn can speak from 2 camps and then a comparison can be made.

i can't comment on the legalities re publishings on a website like this, youre probably right in what you say, i, however am just concerned of any repercussions if it was later found out that a comment discussed and not disclosed to a renter may result in legal action eg intended deception or failure to disclose something that might have influenced someone's (renters) decision. It only takes someone hell bent on creaming off a nice sum off someone and it would be disasterous as it would be in the news, and that would the news we would hate to be published. Hate to say it but there are a lot of ambulence chasers out there looking for a quick buck as we near resession, and long gone are the days of the sueing culture being an american thing, now anyone will have a go - what have they to loose with all this no win no fee companies?

am just concerned for everyone domestically, (more so than for me/ us - for as a company we're commercially insured for such things) that putting something in a closed room might be the beginning of the end.

ps: am uk resident

Amanda

on a different note, have to say youre almost there with your out look on how things should be done, you go for it girl, you know whats right, what things should be there for everyone, personally, you've done more in a day than anyone else has done on here for .........

get yourself nominated !  then pick those who you want working at your side, but yes I agree they should be of different nationalities, preferably at least 2 perm out there, and ideally 5 incase you have to vote.

i need a brandy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone, changing the emphasis of the discussion a bit here but  I have just come back from a very grey and wet Los Collados and thought you would be interested in some latest news (ignore if you already know!).

The Pitch & Putt will now be made with artificial grass. Mar Y Casas are awaiting approval from local authorities to proceed. No date on likely completion. Apparently it will free to use for residents and closed to non-residents.

Building of Commercial Centre is on hold as Pylon is in the way!

Trevor

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for the update.  I don't remember a pylon in the vacinity of the commercial center where abouts is it? I hope you had some sunshine while you were there. 

Carolyn1

Hi

The electricity pylon is situated right next to the road about 80yards on the right as you enter Los Collados, inside the construction fencing. Iberdrola are there now doing something with the cables (not sure what!) but it apparently is true that this pylon has to be moved as it is too close to the new commercial centre building before the building works can re-commence.

Trevor is right - the pitch and putt will be surfaced with artificial grass and will be a facility for the use of Los Collados owners (not public), to be managed and maintained by the various communities. it is my understanding that this means that all  owners will have a key to access the area.

p.s. sun is shining today

Thanks for the wind up, it's raining, cold and miserable here as usual!

Trevor

Hi thanks for the info on Pylon and Mini Golf, and the sun shining, I drove to Seaham in Tyne and Wear today and the sky and sea were competing for the most interesting shades of grey.

Just to let you know Justin who runs Eye on Spain has confirmed that in November there will be the facility for a private current owners only website , I am very interested in this, is anyone else?

Amanda

Count me in Amanda.

Trevor

Hi ,

Thanks for the update about the pylon and the pitch and putt... and the weather.. Does anyone know what is happening about the 18 hole golf course that was supposed to be next to the resort?

An owners only forum sounds great.  Maybe it will be more positive about the resort.  If we all have the same veiws and constructive concerns we can all work together to resolve things. Los collados bajo is a a long way behind your complex and we have just had the initial community meeting ( in Aug) We only had one weeks notice so we had somebody else vote for us. Oasis properties are our administrators . I am not sure if los collados golf have the same? I probably would be easier if we all had the same administrators.  We love it in Aguilas and can't wait to return. Looking at the grey sky and rain outside I wish I was there now!!

Carolynn

Hi Carolyn1, we love Aguilas too, and its nice to hear some positive stuff:  according to my weather report its 21degrees and sunny today, in the North East its grey and cold (central heating, thick coats and scarves cold)  so we too wish we were there now - but then we always do. We hope to move to Spain in a few years when we know our son is settled, he has just gone to Uni.  Not sure where we will settle yet, although we love Aguilas, Spain is so diverse and this last trip in August we spent some time in Aragon and were blown away by the people, scenery and architecture, that said it gets cold there in winter too, so who knows where we will end up.

 We are not back in Aguilas until Feb 2009 for the carnival and it seems like too long to wait for some sunshine.

I will keep you posted about the owners only website.  Our administrators are Gesisur and the main contact Jose is helpful and friendly but sometimes things do take a long time to get resolved or dealt with - I have just posted his response to my latest queries on the the other posting for Las Dunas so feel free to have a look and see what kind of issues are coming up.

I think discussions about Administrators, and getting the urbanisation finished so it can reach its potential can wait till the private site is running but I think your suggestion is an interesting one.

Hope you have nice weekend

Hi to every one ,

This is my first msg on here and i have a few questiond hope some one can help.

I have put a deposit down for an apartment on mosa trajectum about two yrs ago and it looks like it may take another cpl of yrs to complete, It may be an option to tranfer my deposit to los collados! would this be a good idea? is it a good development? what is the rentability like? And what is the differance between residential and apart hotel? And what kind of ground rent do you pay?

I think that is all for now hopefully hear from one of you soon.

Thank you

Rob and Amie

Hi there, welcome to the forum. I bought an apartment in Los Collados last year and had quite a few bookings last summer but we had to do our own marketing. I think there is good potential there as the area is not overdeveloped and it is very popular with the Spanish but you can only get bookings June to Sepember I think.

You might be able to get long term rentals as some owners do but this will not be enough to cover your mortgage costs (if any).

I think Los Collados has the makings of a very good resort but as with many developments in Spain it is "work in progress" and it could be several more years to reach full completion. The area is very nice and is not overrun with tourists/british.

If you are interested in looking at something there have a word with Rich at Oasis Properties who have an office on site. His details are:

rich@oasispropertiesaguilas.com

Office: 0034 968 419 360
Mobile: 0034 649 469 787

Trevor

www.aguilasapartment.co.uk

 

 

Hi there everyone,

I have just stumbled accross this thread, and think its lovely that everyone is getting together to help in matters of the community.  Although I live on  Los Collados permanently, and we have done for 2 years now, I don't own a property here yet.   I would just like to add that if anyone needs anything, as I know most of you live in the Uk. If I can help in any ways give me a shout. Although my Spanish isnt perfect, I know most of the spanish here and have many Spanish friends.   If anyone wants to know about events and whats going on, in Aguilas you can also get in touch. 

I also dont know if your aware but there has been alot of Bulgaries in Los Collados over the past 6 months ( We even caught one of them, trying to break into my home, which was very scary. I know of one appartment had everything, and I mean everything taken in broad daylight.  So, without worrying you I thought you should be aware and even consider having rejas if you havent already got them.

On a good note, the park is finshed and looks rather nice - my daughter really enjoys it anyway! (there is a picture of it on my website) 

I have started doing rentals, at very competitive prices - appartment cleans 50 Euros (if 4 or less people are staying)  I also do Property checks and allsorts. I am in the middle of creating a website and if youd like a peek, with all my prices its www.restassuredproperties.com  

My husband is a builder and has his own company,  which also do emergecny works such as LockSmiths etc, so it might be handy to keep his number at hand. (he adds no commission and Pays no commissions to any one for work he does. (Just to let you know he never suddenly jumped off the plane and become a builder, he was one in the UK - hes claim to fame actually is that he worked on many goverment properties in the UK) His website is www.homefromhomeservices.com 

Nice to meet you, and hope i can help

Jo