Keyholders

The only way to go with keyholders and other property related maintainence and care is to find someone who has went to the time and trouble to actually register in Spain for tax and NI services, this is not cheap, having to pay a monthly fee with is quite big with no guarantee that work will come in to cover the outgoing monthly costs to the goverment..

Having said that my keyholder has done this and is 100% legal, this shows commitment to his customers and to the fact he is around to stay.

He has also diversified and is now doing snagging and other property work.

He has looked after our property since August 2008 and updates us regularly by email and is around to fix any problems that might occur.

He lives on site and is located in jardines 9, his wife is also involved with cleaning and other related property work.

Go with legal people is my advice as you have re-course should it be needed.

If you want to contact him - Mark, Tracy Stephenson +44693580524.

Each to their own but registering a business is only part of the picture for me and does not prove any commitment to clients. Personal recommendation and experience of the person and the way they run a business says a whole lot more.

Also wary of 'experts' that 'diversify' their businesses so easliy. A specialist skill doesn't come overnight and could be interpreted as a jack of all trades desperate to grab anything they can get.

Agree with Ladylola.  The fact that a keyholder is registered doesn't necessarily mean that they are offering a better service.  I have no idea what "recourse" is available if you use "legal people" - perhaps someone could clarify this.

Also agree with Ladylola's comments about diversifying - we have just returned from Condado and had a leaflet left under our car windscreen advertising keyholding and a number of other services - including "interior design".  Now I may be wrong but I thought interior designers were specialists in that area.

The issue about keyholders has been covered extensively on numerous occasions and as Ladylola has said, the best way to choose a good, reliable keyholder is by recommendation, quality of work and reliability.

Having read the comments on this thread, I would agree with all that is said.  Word of mouth recommendations are always the best.  I also agree with the point about people divesifying to an area they have little experience in.   However, our keyholders are Rob and Joanne who have joined forces with Mark and Tracy who are also in Jardine 10.  Rob is a qualified tradesman and his wife Joanne does all changeovers and cleaning to a standard way above even my sister's standard which is saying something!

My sister is out at Condado at the moment and has told me Joanne and Tracy are busy all the time but still find time to help their clients with any problems they may be experiencing.

Good luck to them all.

Linda

There'll be plenty of business for those who get in early as keyholders/cleaners etc. Do a good job and you'll keep the client.

Plenty of recommended keyholders on various threads throughout this board and they'll all be damned busy over the next few months.

As to legality etc then i wouldn't have a clue who is and who isn't registered or what paperwork shoved in front of me would prove otherwise as it'll be in Spanish, as for comeback if something goes wrong or not done/delivered as promised then what exactly do you do to enforce anything in Spain. ''50€ community charge v 125€ community charge, 2 pools in J5, resident only Foro ?''

Living predominantly in the UK i took a chance buying in Spain, I took a chance with my Spanish Bank, my fittings, all my electrical goods, my lawyer, my agent (they were all legal as well, cashback ?? !!) my keyholder etc.............. it's still all a bit of a chance but so far it's working.

Word of mouth works well for me, and if it then don't work out then change to another word of mouth recommendation, bit like everyone's favourite pubs and restaurants

Going legal is expensive, and we only have finite savings and are not earning enough to go legal. However having spoken about this with a Spanish neighbour, this is not a problem. Obviously some businesses need time to build a client base and to have earnings sufficient to go legal. The main benefit being that you become eligable for state medical services and pension but to suggest my wife and others would not be so committed to their clients is utter rubbish. 

Actually earning less means not having too many clients to deal with and being able to give proper attention to those on the books. My wife has acually put a ceiling on the number of clients she is prepared to take on. This is also in part due to the fact she will be qualified as a beauty therapest in July and does not want to have so many clients that she is unable to offer that service. As that client base grows into a viable business, she will go legal but still giving a good service to her keyholding and cleaning clients. She is also not being greedy and getting people from all over the complex, but is content to offer the service to near by gardens.

She has room for 14 more clients.

Mel