Recent visits

Just wondering if anyone visited Corvera over half term, would be good to have any opinions / updates - whole resort / equestrian centre etc.

Anita

Hi Anita, I am out at Corvera at the moment, have been for 10 days and 10 days to go! Actually I can work anywhere using the internet so it is really a working holiday.

Last Friday we had a violent storm, one of many, that broke the tv aerial. I phoned Housing on Monday morning and explained the situation. By Wed my kids had watched every dvd and were frantic! Overstated but you get the message! No response, so e-mailed again this morning. got a reply to phone a number and speak to Emily who would deal with the problem. New problem that Emily would not answer her phone! In the meantime the kids occasionally try the tv, just in case, and this evening it worked!

In the same e-mail I was enquiring about the swimming pool that my apartment overlooks. At present it is green and full of rubbish, mosquitoes and frogs/raptors! Well that is what the kids say the noise they make sounds like! Very loud, all through the night. The pump that had broken has been replaced at great manual effort. I did not see the digging out but the filling in with gravel took 2 men with wheelbarrows 3 full days, and they did work hard in temperatures reaching 36! Rather them than me. Then nothing for a week, so contact with Housing eventually brought the response that they had sacked the swimming pool contractors and I should speak to the Administrator on Tuesday (when he is on site in the Office). I guess that all the pools on site need chemical treatment etc as I guess nothing has happened recently to any of the pools. The mossies have been troublesome but the plug-in devices sort out the problem at night.

On the positive side, I now have air-conditioning! Only taken 2 months to get a electrical lead connected. I think that the boy that came to make the connection should really have been at school he looked so young, or am I just getting old!

The lift in my block is now operational which is good news with luggage.

Golf is still free to owners, and we have been making full use of this! However tennis is not, you have to pay 5 euros at the Pro golf shop and then security open the courts up for you. If you want to book ahead the process is the same.

I was out here in April and could not believe my eyes when I arrived, all the wild flowers that had been in full flower in April were now dead, well shrivelled up really! The greens that had been super fast in April are now slow unless the green has just been watered!

I was amazed how many people arrived just for the long bank holiday weekend. There are quite a few families out for half term as well. Many of them have bikes and are using the cycle tracks.

Between last time out and this visit, I have had workmen doing snagging, cleaners doing their thing, DFS delivering the last of the furniture and 1 leather dining room chair broken! Of course they all claim that it was the others and I can't prove otherwise so will have to claim off my insurance. I did not realise that Corvera (Alex) had a key, my lawyers completed for me and they forgot to mention that they had signed on my behalf to say that it was OK for Corvera to retain a key for snagging purposes. In my ignorance I thought that Gillian of Universal Hospitality held the only key and therefore would take responsibility for any damage that might happen. Ignorance is bliss!

Weather is consistently hot, coolest has been 31 and hottest 37.

Have not driven to the airport site yet, been too busy, but plan to and will report situation when I do. Certainly the roads leading to the airport are still going ahead rapidly.

Jay

The main thing is that you should NEVER have any furniture delivered until after the snagging is finished and the change the lock

Housng the administrators are in the office every Tuesday, better to meet them fact to face and I reported a bad pool on Tuesday and by Thursday it had been sorted but you can use any pool on the development and they are being regularly treated and cleaned

Any snagging company should as part of the service, explain the process to you, automatically check any furniture installation and report any problemsand of course the AC, boiler etc, before you actually arrive to use the property

Corvera have to retain a key to carry out the snagging repairs

Hi Jay

Thanks for your response - bit difficult to pull any positives out of that though . 

Bit remiss of someone not to tell you that site were holding a key, we would have been lost without Alex allowing entry for deliveries - probably would have cost us a fortune using a key holder for that purpose.  Anyway, I hope your swimming pool issue gets solved quickly - especially in that heat - at least you can use one of the other pools in the meantime, bet you're glad your air conditioning is now working!  In future, a long game of Monopoly may temporarily replace the tv .

A question that Roy may be able to answer, have Corvera sprayed the resort for the mossies / flys yet as they do on Roda.  I know it is their intention as it was an item in the minutes from community meeting.

Please keep us updated on anything else that occurs - good or bad.  It may benefit others if they know where you are situated, i.e. problems with lift, pool, broken aerial.  I hope your next 10 days will be more relaxing

Regards

Anita

Roy, the problem with your advice is that legally they have 12 months to complete the snagging! I am afraid that I was too impatient to use my property after 4 and a half years! I left a professional in charge of getting the snagging done and had organised for the furniture to then be delivered and had booked up flights accordingly. I thought that I had done the logical and sensible thing. I had forgotten that this is Spain and manana is the concept they live by! I read an interesting article by Justin in his newsletter that stated that the Spanish do not understand the concept of being bored! I now now understand and wish I could adopt this attitude! For the last few months all the builders that were employed on Corvera have been re-deployed to Roda to complete Phase 4 there, and then to do the snagging. Roman from the after-sales office at Corvera has moved to Roda to supervise the snagging there. Some of the stories of required snagging from phase 1 and 2 there, are horrifying in their seriousness!

Next, as there is not a swimming pool contractor appointed at the moment, I dispute that the pools are being cleaned and treated.

Next, the air-con could not be tested as the electricity had not been connected! When tested and found to be not working there appeared to be a shortage of air-con engineers available at Corvera. When I enquired, Corvera replied that they were dissatisfied with the present contractor and were going to appoint a new one! Hence the delay.

I own a number of properties, for let, in the UK and they were purchased from new, so I am not totally ignorant of the procedure, but I shall never complain about any delays, with the professionals in the UK, again!

Jay

Hi again Jay

Noticed you lived in Surrey, have sent you a pm.

Anita

Jay they actualky do not have 12 months to complete your snagging repairs but this is something that I have often heard the say to clients and often have to correct them

They actually have 30 working days, in effect 6 weeks, to correct the defects on your initial snagging list and the singular most important piece of advice is to get the snagging list included as an exhibit when youy complete bat The Norat which then enters it into contract law in Spain, s when the s***  you have some legal redress

What is key during this period is the effective monitoring and reporting of progress to Corvera and the client and normally we have to visit a property as least 8 times before the snagging is all resolved, most snagging organisations onlt contract to visit 2-3 times which isn´t enough

The law is that you actually, for the first 12 months have the legal right to have any snagging defects repaired and I have a Q&A advice document that explains your rights

On Thursday of last week the pools around the Tilos on phase 1 were being cleaned but agian see Housing onsite on Tuesday if there is a problem

The snagging company shoull have checked the AC, immediately the power was connected, typically 2-3 weeks after completion, and resolved any issues with Corvera directly and we have only ever has one clinet arrive with no AC or boiler working 

Again everything is down to the way that your snagging company manages the repair process and their relationship with Corvera

We are now working with Roman snagging properties on phase 4 RODA

hi roy

i would just like to say no matter how many peolpe have ago at you on this site you always do you best to help people as much as you can and give free advice to people on here which i dont think is appreciated enough by some peolpe considerring how hard it is and how long it takes to learn about how spain works i have lived here for some years now and nothing is for free here so people should take your advice as much as they can as no one else in spain will help them , in my opionion corvera will be finished at some point in future it will take a while but it will get there and be a lovely place to come when it is .

"in my opionion corvera will be finished at some point in future it will take a while but it will get there and be a lovely place to come when it is" .

So would the Dark side of the Moon, given long enough!

that is true but you have to stay possitive about these things if the whole world was full of negative people what a awlful place it would be they will gain nothing if they dont finish it, for corvera to do as much as they have already there is no point in them not completing but if they dont complete they would never sell anything , just stay hopefull thats all you can do people and its all you have.

I agree that the world is a much better place with more positve people than negative people, glass half full to glass half empty etc.

But facts are facts, wishing and hoping will not help in this situation, as we are not in control,  you have to look at the track record of the company who are. 

I am possibly one of the worlds most "postive" people but all my postive thoughts and energy will not get the lack of facilities built. Calidona/Corvera/Roda's track record in this area of broken promises and lack of action to build all the promised infrastructure is telling me that it will be much much later than sooner.

Facts are facts, if you were looking at this development without emotion for a friend you would be telling them the same, "to stop dreaming and get real", but if hoping and dreaming enables you to sleep better at night then feel free to carry on. When so many people have so much invested it is natural for people to "hope" it comes good, what else can you do. I dont blame anyone for thinking this.

Hi all fellow Corverians...........

Firstly let us concur with all the comments made about trying to stay positive....... for those that have completed like us... we are hoping that the world begins to recover from the massive recession real soon... and with it will be Spain...... Tourism back, sun shining and all of us enjoying the beautiful, peaceful place that Corvera Golf & Country Club undoubtedly is and will become..

With regard to Roy may we repeat all our previous comments .... that anyone thinking that Roy is on the side of Calidona/Corvera... IS WRONG !!!!..

His interest is solely for thee satisfaction of his clients and THATS US!!!... his service for us has been TOP CLASS....  and we would not hesitate to use him again and again and again..!!!!..... Both Roy & Lorraine are friendly, professional, courteous....knowledgeable....and very reasonably priced...just tell me what more could you ask for?..... They ease the inevitable stress of completing and building a new home abroad when you are not resident in Spain.

Good luck to all those about to complete (I obviously recommend you use Roy at Inspectahomes… and his recommended tradesmen and suppliers   top class !!)...

******and enjoy your homes to all those who have completed******.

hi bigdivot

i total agree with you facts are facts and it is so hard to stay positive when you have put money into an investment and you dont get what you have paid for it is awfull and so stressful and the sad story is that spain do have the same justice system as we do in uk they dont seem to know what justice is when it come to british citizens lossing so much money in spain over companys not completing what they promise, in the uk this would never happen but in spain it happens every where you would of thought by now in 2010 and being part of the eu this would not be alowd to happen anymore, if a company in the uk says they are going to build something they build it never mind how much of it has been sold they still complete the project why oh why are spain still so far behind in things like this if they dont have the funds to complete all of it they should just advertise a phase at a time and when enough is sold they start to build phase 2 and when they have sold enough advertise phase 3 and build that why sell property that they know they have no chance of building for along time untill the other phases are finished its madness and make no business sense to me at all but then again this is spain and we will all just have to say hopefully and positive as i said earlier. 

Hi all, I would like to second ALL the points made by baloo with regards to Roy & Lorraine.. I have posted my thanks to them some time ago when we completed. I know exactly what baloo means when he say " They ease the inevitable stress of completing"   I feel sure I would have been a hospital case without them. They are two people you can bank on at a very difficult time.

Regards

Ron