Hi folks,
As a newbie here I have just caught up with all the postings below and I have also read the somewhat enlightening postings on the eyeonspain forum at - Spanish Lawyers/Builders supply of water and electricity. Being a newcomer I cannot attach the link, but inspectahomespain quotes the following:.
This is a grey area as legally even in administration, which means they are still trading, the receiver has a legal responsibility to agree the payments of the builder which has been happening for example at some of the San Jose developments where I understand that the services are still connected and being paid for
It is quite complex as some utility suppliers will not connect up services without a COH so there are other examples where the builder stops paying for the utilities and the owners are left without power or water
Recently in Orihuela Costa when this happened the town hall stepped in an provided generators as they agreed the delay in the cOH were their fault
The fact still stands that if a company is still trading they, or their agents, are legally required to provide utilities if there is no COH
Now, picking up on a very valid point made by Throstle, can I ask if anyone is interested in setting up an action group to get some legal advice over this? Briefly I would see it working something like this...
1. We canvas as many residents/non-residents as possible to see if they are interested in making a donation to an El Pinet legal fund, maybe €100 per person.
2. Once we have some funds we find a very reputable solicitor from the local area who knows their way around the corridors of power within Elche council.
3. We ask them to contact San Jose to question the legality of not providing us with free services until COH is finalised. We ask them to liaise with Elche and San Jose' administrators to get a realistic timeframe for the completion of ALL units and services.
Hence, with just a few solicitors’ letters we could get advice on most of our issues without getting involved in expensive court actions. At the end of the process we could either return the balance of the money to donors, or donate it to a local charity. All invoices could be emailed to donors.
There would be NO remit to challenge the work of the CAM administrators and there would be NO remit to ask for guidance with internal arguments over community fees, etc. The process would only be in place to protect our interests against external agencies.
What do we stand to gain???
We would find out if San Jose’s actions are legal. We should get a detailed timeline for completion. We just might find that San Jose is indeed liable for all water and electricity costs up to COH.
What do we stand to lose???
Maybe €100, depending upon numbers.
If there is scope to proceed along this route then I would be willing to drive it forward.
Anyone interested?
Bob