Community matters! DJ I

I think you need to do a little surveillance Aengus - I had a similar problem last year and by observing the newly arrived/ opened apartments the following morning and knocking on doors I located the offending party who moved his car immediately...to someone else's space...but he also freely admitted that he had used my space during the same period the previous year.

I think it is important that renters make rentees clearly aware of "good behaviour " rules including the identification of parking and the consequences of noisy and unruly behaviour - In the past 2 weeks I had to speak to occupants of a rented apartment who in one case started singing to a radio on the patio after 1 am and in the second case carried out an unholy row at 5.30 am with cursing etc which seemed to be at about 50/60 decibels  - not conducive to sleep I can assure you!

We all need to cooperate in swiftly stopping such behaviour before if becomes commonplace.

 Hi Irene,

I fully agree that we should have some play areas. It´s a shame we don´t have them. It´s often asked by buyers and renters and they dont´t understand why we dont have them. Neither do I. As a parent I am fully aware there are no good places children can gather. I would like to see two places: one for the younger ones with a fenced off area and a small gate similar to the childrens pool gate.

We would only need some preferably wooden toys like you see in all the play areas in Fuengirola and some rubber tiles. 

for the older ones a ´hang out´ area would be nice. They don´t need much as you can see all over Fuengirola. 

Your concern about drunken drivers I share, but i would say that the problem is with these people. Not with the children. There are lots of people going up extremely drunk and I´m scared like hell myself going over our roads around bar closing time. 

Children in Spain play outside until very late. That´s normal behaviour and I don´t think you can expect parents to break with this culture because of drunken drivers. I prefer to reverse that problem. If this goes on I will start taking notes of the cars and people doing this (I know most of them) and just report them to the police.

Why you couldn´t enter the garage because there were a few children I don´t understand. Most of them I know well and they are very polite so they would move if you just ask them. They are 7 to 8 years old mostly: it´s not a bikers gang blocking you!

Max

 @ Gericom.

A lot of the noise is actually created by owners. Most of the renters are relatively quiet compared to the owners. I think we were responsible for about 90% of all renters and we always make sure they know the rules and comply with it. We had two parties out of sixty this summer who caused problems. 

One was a bunch of youngster originally booked by another agent, but as the owners switched to our services, we inherited them. We would have politely referred to another place as we don´t like to rent out to hen and stag parties or ´six girls just from high school´. We know what will happen and how many boys will be in that girls only apartment the nights following their arrival.

However I talked to the youngsters after they misbehaved one night. They sat around me and listened politely and attentively. From then on they behaved a lot better and I have done my rounds in that block to apologize on behalf of me and the owner for the inconvenience caused.

In the second case I couldn´t do a thing as an owner had his friends in adjoining rentals and in these cases he is responsible if he is part of the party.

Regarding the parking:

in general things go fairly well. the problem is that a lot of owners don´t know their own parking space number. We require that number before we let the apartments out and it causes a lot of problems with the owners. They never used it themselves, don´t have a copy of their purchasing contract, it´s still at their lawyers office etc. So although we insist on it and instruct renters not to park on the street nor in other peoples places I can understand that it often goes wrong if the owners don´t know their own space.

There are also a few owners who either use two spaces (leading to problems) or permanently park on the streets. I find this very strange but also negative for the community. It makes the place look bad, make the road to the pools even more unsafe than it already is due to the still missing pedestrian path and it hampers the normal delivery, taxi etc usage.

Max.

Max there have been more problems than the two you mentioned - not every problem is reported to you and not all problems are about noise as you well know.  However most residents are tolerant of the fact that people are on holiday and dont expect them to go to bed a 10pm or not to be talking on the balconies or that children are up really early and excited they are on holiday - you can hear everything from next doors apartment and that does'nt help when you are wakened with someone coming in at 4 or 5 am .  This is of course usually the  age group that go to clubs.  Sometimes you get very fed up with it and need to complain so please do not make out that residents moan for the sake of moaning.  I think more emphasis should be made that this is a residential complex which in itself attracts families, but some residents also have to get up to go to work etc.

Kirjim2

SKATEBOARDING AND CHILDREN

This is a very exciting game for children who have no fear and see no danger.  Adults on the other hand do have fears and can see danger.  The children go down two hills between two blocks just after the garage to the block that Max resides in and thats probably the reason you dont see a problem because it will not affect you in the same way as a lot of other residents.  The other hill is the one behind block 9 and 10 where the children ride down with glee usually to block 10 garage door and hit the door they love it - we heard this just as we got in the car to come out of the garage WHO WAS LUCKY US OR THE CHILDREN? If we had been seconds earlier the children and us would have collided we could have been virtually stationary but the children would have been travelling at speed and could have gone under the car but certainly into the car.  Who knows what the consequences would have been.  This was of course in daylight its later that the children go down the big hill and again cars coming out of any of the garages do not stand a chance of not either being hit or hitting whoever is on the skateboard this is made much worse if it is done later in the evening because it is dark.  The other things that happens is if the children get tired after walking up the long hill they pick up small stones and throw them on the road (ask maintainance they brush them up regularly) if the skateboard goes over these stones/pebbles the child could easily come off.  NO ONE wants to stop the children having fun but there are skateboarding parks or other areas if supervised by parents that could be used for a few hours.  The children that are skateboarding dont want a playpark they want to skateboard.

Kirjim2 

I have just seen a car follow a child  on skateboard down the hill between both blocks - the road is really for the cars.

Kirjim2

On the topic of skateboards. There is a fantastic skateboard / bmx park to the side of the Miramar shopping centre. As you look at the front entrance, the skateboard / bmx park is down the left side of the shopping centre. If you have no car, you can take the " L 4 " bus direct to the miramar shopping centre. To get to the bus stop, walk down to the main road, cross the traffic lights, and turn right walking 40 metres to the bus stop. It takes about 20 minutes, costing € 1 per person. Buses depart about 40 minutes past the hour. Buses run hourly, and depart the miramar about 5/10 minutes past the hour at the same bus stop where you get off. The park is only a 3 minute walk from the bus stop. Apparently it is the biggest skateboard park in Spain. It's much better and safer than the Don Juan skateboard park :-)
 

There was a rumour that the road by the train station may get surfaced this year, does anyone have any updates on this?

Hi Andy

Some temporary work has been carried out on the road a few months ago. It is much better than it used to be, a harder surface, fewer potholes, though the end by the bridge is pretty much back to square one with the deep ridges caused from the water flowing down the hill.

Janmet. I got told by the estate agents that a golf course was to be built in the valley beside us. I knew at the time this was sales bullsh*t as I had looked into the plans. Amazingly, planning is going through at the moment for a golf course / golf school. If successful maybe they will tidy up the area lower down by the road for kids to play, to attract more business, who knows. In the meantime I will be giving my estate agent a ring for next weeks Euro Lottery numbers, seeing as she can see into the future.

Westport

We are interested in renting for three weeks from Sunday 17th October to Sunday 7th November. We are a couple and would like a decent sea view preferably not ground floor.

Many thanks

Monica

 Hi Monica,

Just send me a PM as we are the main rental agent in Don Juan and a few surrounding developments. We can certainly help you as we have ample choice in Don Juan (phase I and II).

Max.

 Hi Janmet,

Regarding the promised park, I still reckon it will materialize. However not by phase II or III as they have no say over that area. If I´m well informed it´s the town hall who demanded this in the development plan for Carvajal. However due to the fact that the developer for the 1500 apartments next to us is stalling the actual building it is delayed.

Almost everything is delayed by the general crisis and especially the real estate problems over here.

Max. 

 Regarding the children issue. The point is mute as they all went back to school and have to go to bed much earlier. However there is one thing I disagree with. The roads are not for exclusive use of cars. 

I have pleaded for a proper footpath several times, but it´s not there and if I remember correctly DavMunster had objections against it due to costs. I still think we need a footpath/pavement in the main street between the phase I blocks as it´s still a very dangerous area. People drive too fast, don´t always stop for people on the crossings, take the blind corner at high speed. On top of that there are still a few people who permanently park on the street. One of them being a brand new van owned by someone who pleaded that he couldn´t afford his community fees for year and still hasn´t done so.

If you walk there you can´t see a thing, have to walk around the parked obstacles, and are at great risk. Especially at night when on average a ridiculous number drive up with a lot of alcohol. They park down the hill as they know you´re not allowed to drive this drunk, but then consider the last part a sort of ´free zone´. Extremely dangerous and for me a much bigger issue than the slight problems with children during their summer holiday. 

I do realize a footpath would not protect us from the real drunk as they manage to lose total control over their cars and end up to light poles and in the communal gardens! but at least it would be safer for us and all the children by day time.

I´m still convinced it would not cost a lot to build one and we have the needed space. 

Max.

Hi everyone,

I would like to thank everyone who contacted me re apartment rental.  It is very much appreciated.  We are now "fixed up" and looking forward to returning to Fuengirola.

Again many thanks

Monica

I have frequently been asked by neighbours about availability of apartments to rent for friends or family. I am not in the rental business but have found that in the peak summer months most of the available acomodation is booked. Outside of these months there is always apartments available and this forum is a good place to get in touch with neighbours and do a mutually beneficial deal.

You would be amazed by how many apartments we actually manage. Luckily all neighbours have found their way to us a long time ago and we arrange a lot of friends and family member bookings for owners in Don Juan and the other residentials we manage.

Most people prefer to do it indirectly as it puts them into a difficult position when they rent out to their neighbours. It´s difficult to ask a reasonable price and you can´t be too firm on damage to apartments. For that same reasons people use us as the middelman to let out their to their friends and collegues. It´s much easier to refer to your agent on site than to aks your friends for money, while people of course like all their friends but are under pressure to let it out at no charge or just a token one during the most profitable months.

We have seen the problems from nearby and the unhappy feelings which arise if the apartment is not as expected or not left in the state you would expect. After we emigrated we had suddenly a lot more friends than we used to have :)

So I would suggest using the large rental portals like www.holiday-lettings.co.uk and the numerous ones in all the other European countries if you know you want to rent something in Don Juan. If you search on Carvajal you will find all the neighbours here who really want to let out their apartment and have already arranged cleaning and keyholding services. There are quite a few who put in a large effort to get their apartments well presented, have good arrangements for keytransfer and cleaning and local contacts for maintenance issues.

And to be completely clear this is not promoting our business as we already have all the contacts we need and all neighbours know that we will always sort out accomodation for friends and families. Its targeted at the ´privateeers´ and the incidental small agent here who´s efforts are worth a compliment. They all have already the experience to handle this in a professional way, sped a lot of money on servicing all possible needs, will provide you with clear instructions, keys in time and local contact number. They learned, just like we did, that even if you don´t like wine, you can´t get away without a corkscrew in the inventory (yes, this really happened at one owners place who still finds it a waste of his money :)

Max.

Due the holidays the Administrator will be at DJ1 on the following days between 5.00 - 7.00 PM in  April

Thurs 7th; Thurs 14th; Wed 20th; Thurs 28th.

When Irma is here she sometimes has to visit neighbours etc so may not be at the cabin for the full 2 hours