UK Paramedic

Hi Geraldine,

I'd say we are settling in quite nicely thank you. Kay is going to keep fit classes twice a week, and I've just started indoor bowls (I'm a beginner) which we play inside an old supermarket. However a local businessman is kitting out a new venue, complete with aircon.

We continue to trawl the area and find new places as well as revisit old favourites for a meals out. The markets are great for fresh veg as well as clothing, jewelry, footwear, bags etc.

We've just had about 2 weeks of beautiful sunny weather here with temperatures sometimes exceeding 20 deg, not bad for January. Today has been a lot cooler however.

Christmas and New Year was very different here and was pleasant in the fact that it doesn't have all the hype as in the UK. That doesn't mean the Spanish and the Brits out here don't know how to have a good time!  Our social calendar is getting busier and busier.

Look forward to seeing you again soon.

Hi All

Don't know if anyone interested but thought id share this, ive been looking at Insurance quotes for our home and found a very good product from Hiscox which is a good company, website easy to use and very compettive. To give you an idea you can insure buildings and contents cover including accidental damage, it pays rebuild value which is always less than market value and new for old on contents, the contents limit they give as standard is £5,000 but you can pick yourself. I put in £60,000 for the building, £5,000 for contents and they give you £500 for outside furniture. Minimum excess is £100 but you can pick your own. Price i got back was £124 for an annual Policy, just over a tenner a month.

Website link is  https://overseashomes.hiscox.co.uk/?google1&rw.cm=Google,PPC,houses+abroad+insurance 

Tried a few others online and used some contacts and no one as good as this. 

Regards

Nick

Nick

 

I'm not sure you have to insure the building? I thought that the community charge that we will pay will cover that?

 

Can anyone clarify pls?  Howard, you are the fountain of all wisdom, what say you?

John I thought we are responsible for our own apartments and then take out a collective cover for the common areas and public liability in case anyone hurts themself or a passing member of the public gets hit by a roofing tile. Howards take on this would be great. Cheers Nick

Hi Nick & John,

We were required to take out building insurance by our mortgage company, even though I thought like you that it was covered by the builders guarantee.  We still have to find out about community matters, because as yet the block hasn't been handed over to us.

Howard & John This web link very good and clarifies a few issues. Rgds Nick http://www.schofields.ltd.uk/spanish_property_insurance/spanish_property_insurance.htm

Well, if Golf Invest are to be believed,  next Monday, the 18th, is the day that they advise us of completion date for Fase III...everyone keep their fingers crossed over the weekend

Just posted 3 photos taken last week in  Spain.  Looks like another week of building work to me.  Numbers 6/5/4/3 had been painted and were locked up.  Numbers 1 and 2 were still being painted.  Outside they were digging a trench across the road.  The pavement is laid and the houses all have numbers.

Pilar told me that there was water in the pool on the roof but all the doors were locked so I couldn't get in.

 

Paul, thank you for the photos - they are fab. We are going out 23rd Feb to 29th so will update from a computer
out there.   If I hear anything during the week I will let you know.  

Is that a TV ariel  that I can see on the roof?

Yes it's the communal on.

Wow, I didn't realize that there would  be a communial one.  All the blurb  said "Connection for TV", I assumed that the wiring would be in place so that we could each have our own dish on our own roof space...

I have been looking at various options to install freeview so that we could watch English TV

I guess the thing to do is connect up a TV and see what programs we can get through the communal ariel, and if, as I suspect, we only get Spanish TV, install freeview anyway

Thanks for the info

Spanish Freeview is called TDT and has loads of channels all in Spanish including music ones.  If you buy a decoder - which only cost €29 in Carrefour make sure it has the ability to change the audio signal so that when a Spanish channel puts out an American film you can change the audio signal to watch it in English.  Very clever.

There are 2 TV connections. One for the communal Spanish TV aerial, the other is to connect your own dish to. We can get about 5/6 Spanish channels from the communal aerial. The options for your own dish are varied, from Sky TV from various suppliers, which uses a v.large dish 1.3 - 2.4 metres or beamed to your via line of site which uses much smaller dishes or a mesh aerial. You pays your money, takes your choice, but none of them are cheap.

Had the following mail from my solicitor today...

Thanks for the info....Will let you know how I get on.

Spoke to my bank manager in Spain last week and they will definitely not release any funds until they have the Certificate of First Habitation so I don't expect to get the keys until May at the earliest!

The Bank  Manager came back to me

It is not advisable to complete without the Insurance which covers any problem with the building during the following ten years after completion.
Alter that is received, the promotor will be able to ask for the certificate of habitation which usually takes some weeks time to get. We are able to complete without this certificate but from my point of view, it is better to wait until the promotor has it because without the certificate you will not be able to arrange for neither water nor electricity supply, you will be using the one that the promotor has been using during the construction.

In the end, I wouldn´t complete for myself.

So looks like a wait then...... Good thing I haven't booked any more trips out yet..

Dear All

Noted all the comments over the last few days and just thought i'd add our bit, contacted our solicitor who emailed me today confirming, she has got the 10 year building insurance, the registration of new build and the final building certificate, the only thing outstanding is the certificate of habitacion, she says its common for buildings to be signed over before this arrives and told me not to worry. She has confirmed a completion date for us of 13th March.

She said if it was a major problem the notary would not allow us to sign the deeds but those of you with Spanish mortgages obviously have to take the banks interest into consideration.    

According to Handy Andy, (who's mum and dad live on phase II) who we spoke to last week, they were only just coming off builders supply. Does this not seem then this is the norm over there, another one for Howard perhaps who has been very helpful in the past with our questions?.   

At the end of the day its in the builders interest to get this certificate sorted or we all get our utilities gratis courtesy of the builder until he does.

Might be jumping in the deep end but as of today and what we been told we are going for it.

Nick     

Hi All

As I've said before we completed without the certificate of first habitation, which is common in Spain. If you have a Spanish Mortgage however, many wont complete without it. Until this certificate is obtained the water and electric company wont connect supplies. Phase I and II now have this and hence connection to mains has commenced with the electric supply (Ibedrola) we are expecting water to be connected soon. We had been on builders supply since moving in (August 2007) and hence have not been paying for it.
My guess is because there is a cost to the builder for this COFH you may not get it until phase IV is completed which is supposed to be in May. Lets say then June or July. I say this with no great authority however. If you do complete wthout it I will say that there has been no problems with this builder, only the usual delays which you seem to get everywhere in Spain.
In Phase II we are now entering the next phase - our community has been set up (I've been voted President) and we are meeting soon to thrash out budgets for pool and communal cleaning + rules etc. See you soon.