Solicitors and survey fees

Hi Guys,

Just uploaded a couple of pictures I took of your development in December, whilst I was in Murcia.

They clearly show the new building work currently under construction. Click on a picture to enlarge it. I hope they are of some visual help to those of you who are not full time resident there.

Best of luck to you all. I hope your deeds are forthcoming.

Regards - Joe

I was just checking Grupo Trampolin's web site and found another new development called Los Miradores with 18 luxury apartments being build (photo's included). I believe that this is the construction work I seen at your development. Check it out for yourselves.

Joe

Hi joe1

Thanks for the photos. Those apartments look pretty huge! I can't say I'm very happy about the continual building (which was not included on the original planning permission) Will they ever stop?

What do other people think who have seen them? If they have balconies they will be looking directly down onto the villas on phase 2.

The word on the forum was that these weren't going to be for sale but like you say, they are now advertising them as Los Miradores de Trampolin.

 

 

I was out for Christmas with my family when we unfortunately discovered that our beautiful new home had been flooding for the past 7 weeks due to a faulty dishwasher that was installed by the furniture company.  All of the furniture is ruined and the walls have mould on them and doors and frames need replacing.  We were fixing up our insurance for when we arrived in December so none in place at the time and the Company will only pay for the replacement of the damaged furniture.  What a nightmare, it was officially the worst Christmas my children had experienced ever!!  We had to fork out for alternative accommodation too.

Whilst we were out, we were told by a rep that the appartments were to be rented out and would be three stories high.  My daughter checked whether we will be overlooked on phase two and reckons that the pool area will be ok!!  Teenagers!!!!

One of my concerns with this new 'development' is are they going to build a community pool for those tenants, and if so those of us with private pools should not have to pay for the upkeep of that pool.  This could be an issue for the committee when the Urbanisation goes 'live'.  Does anyone know if the urbanisation is to  be 'gated'.  I understood it would be when we bought.

I have to add that the flats do dominate the skyline and spoil the whole ethos of the development.  My sympathy is with those owners who are directly affected by these monstrosities.  I only hope they are going to landscape all of that concrete with some trees and grass and dont build on the green area immediately opposite our villas on phase 2.

Hi jennybarbaro

I am so sorry to hear what happened to your villa. It must have been really upsetting for you especially at Christmas. I hope you get everything sorted soon.

We still have no news about our escrituras and we continue to sit and wait. Did you get any updates whilst you were out there?

I agree that the apartments are spoiling the development. Has there been any local opposition? I heard there was to be a residents meeting to discuss them. As these were not included on the original plans, there should be some period of consultation from The Town Hall. 

How was the commecial centre coming along? It should be nearly finished by now!!

Regards

Hi Jogary

Thanks for that.  We are popping over next Monday for a night just to check the place over and try to get some property management sorted out.  We will have to let the house dry out before we can redecorate etc.  That is an expense we were not expecting.  We managed to have Christmas lunch in the house and had a roaring log fire in our lovely fireplace!

The general feeling about the Escrtituras is that they are imminent and I do believe that they are.  The Council is now definitely involved with the amenieties and services which is good news.  the commercial centre is no where near being finished yet but they are cracking on with it ,so who knows.  The appartments seem to be the priority.  There looks like quite a few units of shops etc. I dont know how the site will sustain businesses on its own as not all owners live there permanently.

Yes, I actually screamed when I saw the water and my dream turned to a real nightmare.  I am still very upset but trying to remain positive.  By the way I loved your positive script and totally agree with what you say on El Trampolin v Polaris World.  When we are finished we will certainly have value for money.

JUST   RETURNED   TO   UK ,  

FOR  THE    LAST  4   DAYS     THE   BUILDERS   HAVE   BEEN    ESCAVATING   THE   TOP  MAIN  ROADS   TO  MAKE   THE   FOOTPATHS  WIDER      ALSO    TREES   HAVE  TO   BE   PLANTED   IT   SEEMS   THAT   MURCIA    COUNCIL   ARE   INSISTISTING    ON   THIS

THE  ROOFS   OF   THE  APPARTMENTS    ARE   BEING   BUILT  

APPARTMENTS   ARE   JUST   2   STORIES   IN   HEIGHT,              DETAILS     ARE   AVAILABLE  FROM   THE   OFFICE

THESE    APPARTMENTS    ARE   FOR   SALE

 

I have only just got back on line after serious computer problems and needed to get a new one! Interesting to hear the flats are for sale having been told they would be rented for the Directors Pensions! They change their minds over everything and could change again! Escrituras for flats could give them problems. The whole area is being dug up again. No surprise as this is standard Spanish development--build it up,knock it down, build it up again. I`ve seen it many times having first bought in Spain in 1964! I have heard nothing from the Company asking for details for escrituras but will probably be last on the list as I have paid full whack. I do think we might be near to getting near to escrituras providing the vile flats are okayed by the Council,not a certainty I would have thought. Also don`t be sure they are only 2 storeys. My worry is parking for them.

Hi

I wondered where you had gone exile!

From the horses mouth, I found out that the apartments are selling at 130.000€ and are 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom. There is a golf share at Campos del Rio included. Trampolin have said there will be parking and a communal pool. Ready in three months time!

Like jennybarbaro has said, will we all have to pay for the upkeep of the communal areas? or will this be classed as a seperate development because it has a different name?

Hi.  Not certain but I reckon if past experience is a guide we all pay for maintenence on a Community basis which is likely to be all of Lo Santiago taken together as one unit.

Sheer chaos here,we were off electricity all day and by 6o/c getting cold. Phone the office to complain and the girls put the phone down on us twice! What service, including an ugly bunch of wires in a hiddeous red tube thrust through my wall into the next door garden without so much as an explanation. The place is a tip and no mention of escrituras now. Has anyone heard anything? Telrfonica tried to feed some wires into our house the other day only to find there was no connecting tube or it was blocked they went away and have not been seen since. Come to your dream home in Spain and a warm welcome awaits you! "Grumpy Old Man"

Hi exile

It sounds like you are suffering with the attempts of the builder to get things right. Like you say, if they did things right in the first place, they wouldn't have to keep re-doing them. I think its harder if you are living there because you are experiencing things first hand.

When we purchased we were told that there would not be any community fees to pay because roads, pavements and green areas were being adopted by the Town Hall and there wasn't to be any community facilities. The only thing we would have to pay is rates to the council.

If they do put in a pool for the apartments, I guess it might come down to whether it is for the sole use of residents at Los Miradores, or for everyones use. Most people have thier own pool, so I can't imagine many will want to pay for a communal pool.

I have got some detailed plans of the new apartments and they show them as two strory only (which is a relief) There are actually 20, two bedroom apartments shown on the plan but only 18 on sale at present. Ground floor apartments have a small garden and first floor have balconies front and back. One block is called 'Antonio' on the plans and the other one 'Raphael' !

Haven't heard anything about our deeds but we are visiting at the end of February and will try to find out more.

If you have an urbanization in Spain you have to have a community it is the law now even if there is not much for it to do. The builders attempts to get it right do not include any efforts for individuals-- I have many snags from which they have walked away. Damp on inside walls, a french window which has never shut or locked a"repair" on a settlement crack of the wrong colour and what about the disgusting peeling paint on our garden walls?"Attempts to get it right is a joke! Sorry I am cynical but these are the worst builders I have ever come across in Spain by a long way and I have seen plenty in 40 years!

Can you not have two communities in the one urbanization,as the  original plans were not for apartment and besides I am not contributing any more money to the builders retirement plans.

I can not see why I would need to contribute to the up keep of a cummnity pool when I have my own ....

or have maintenance costs for apartment that I will not use .

Hi Cormona

I thought the same as you so I have asked Trampolin how it is going to work. Their solicitor has just confirmed by e-mail that residents of El Trampolin will not have to pay towards the communal pools at Los Miradores.

He did say that we would have 'some' community fees to pay though, but these should not be very much as we dont have a lot of communal areas to maintain. He said fees were going to be decided next April.

Of course, being Trampolin, this could all change again tomorrow!

Thanks Jogary for the update.

A general question to any one who reads this mail,does anybody have a good Solicitor that they trust and that is doing a good job.

At present my Solicitor will not E-mail with any updates when I request info it is

starting to drive me mad..

Were do you stand if you just change Solicitors would the new Solicitor have problems picking up with builder contract etc.

Any info would be appreciated.

Hi cormona

We changed solicitor in October last year (this will be our third) We went to their office to speak with him first before paying a deposit. His secretary is English and he speaks good English and to be fair they do answer my e-mails. It does seem quite hard to motivate solicitors and it seems you have to keep on at them.

The main reason we changed solicitors is lack of communication and they failed to turn up to two meetings.

We went to the office of our old solicitor to pick up our NIE papers and passed them on to the new one. We gave him a photocopy of the signed contract and that was all he needed (plus half the money up front) He said that if we couldnt get our NIE papers from the old solictor, he could apply for them again because originals are required at completion time.

We had already paid the first solicitor 500 Euro which of course we didnt get back but he did get our NIE numbers and did some preliminary work. We didnt have a signed contract with the first solictor, so pulling out wasn't a problem.

It is hard to say if we recommend our new solictor or not because they haven't had much to do as yet. However, comminication does seem better than before. I can send you their details if you want by private message.

Regards

This message was last edited by jogary on 1/20/2007.

Thanks Jogary,

 I am planning a trip down even if it is for 3/4 days just to check /tidy up the villa.

As I can not stay in my villa due to no services ie:water/electricity it makes it a bit difficult. I will drop in and see my Solicitor when I am down there and see what I can work out,see what type of attitude I get if I inform him I am looking for a new Solicitor.

Talk again soon enjoy the Sun its cold and wet here. 

In defence of Spanish Solicitors there is not a lot they can do for you.Issue "danuncias"? The word means "report" no more than that. Antonio has had at least 15 and laughs at them!. You can sue at great cost and probably two years so a waste of time even though I`d love to sue for continually having my water/electricity cut off, for shoddy workmanship and the building of vile and unsightly blocks of flats no-one knew were coming. I have known my Solicitor for 20 years and I trust him but he knows and I know little can be done except cross your fingers and hope. I do however think it will come right in the end but that doesn't stop me moaning!