Security

Access to each block at ground level is through an entrance with a metal gate which I presume will be locked.  However I cannot see this preventing anyone without a key entering because it seems very easy to slip over the low level wall on this level at the back anyway!  Therefore your security depends solely on the quality of the locks etc and materials used for the entrance door to your apartment though I do notice that the windows at ground level are all fitted with bars. I am a little concerned whether this is good enough from a security point of view, but I feel given the design of the building that it will be hard to improve this.  Insurance which we will all need for our apartments may of course cover burglaries but it may be subject to certain minimum standards.  Any thoughts on this subject would be welcome.

I hadn't really thought about this when we were there in the summer but you're right. It almost makes the security on the main front door a waste of time! If there isn't a secure door in the basement to the garage it will also make that similarly vulnerable. My (limited) experience of new properties over there is that the locks on the doors appear to be quite solid, locking as they do on the hinge side as well.  Hopefully the bars on the ground floor windows and patio doors will prove to be enough. Good insurance is a must I think!

Michelle

 

Thanks for that Michelle.  Have to admit that I hadn't noticed this when I first viewed the show flat and we made the decision to buy. Ah well, with stars in your eyes one is bound to miss something...

Yes, the bars on the ground floor windows and patio doors are a good thing, but a thief will have no problem just walking up the stairs to a higher floor.....

On another board on this site, I did come across mention of a type of burglar alarm specially designed for fitting to the outside of grills and which sound for 60/90 seconds if any attempt is made to interfere with the grill.  I reproduce this info here for all interested:

Burglar Alarm System

 
http://www.rejagard.co.uk/index.html

RejaGard is a new burglar alarm system, manufactured in Britain, from the highest quality stainless steel and space-age plastics. It is designed to be fitted onto the external grills of your home and, once in place, it cannot be removed as the holding brackets are designed with snap-off nuts which do not allow for removal after installation. Of course, this means that villains cannot take the alarm off the grill to gain entry to your home. Any attempt to remove the RejaGard unit or tamper with it, will result in the alarm being activated. In a nutshell, RejaGard turns each of your outside window and door grills into an individual self-contained alarm system. If somebody bangs on your grill, tries to remove it, or tries to gain entry through it, the vibration of the metal causes the alarm to sound. The unit is approximately 6" long x 2" x 2" and is powered by a 12-volt battery designed to last for a year. Each individual unit has a unique barrel lock which, in the case of window units, is required to change the battery or to disconnect the unit for periodic cleaning of your grills, windows, etc. Window units are usually left alarmed 24 hours a day. Door units are available with an additional on-off key to facilitate easy entrance and exit for you and your family to and from the premises. Should the alarm be accidentally sounded, or indeed should a thief attempt to get into your home, the alarm will sound for a full 90 seconds, after which it switches off and resets itself to be used again. Prices are as follows: window units E60 each, door units E65 each. Units come with simple installation instructions, but if installation is required add E5 per unit. The only additional expense is approximately E1 each for batteries (annually). There are no monthly fees or service charges and the stainless steel quality construction means that there is virtually no maintenance for many years to come. J & S Enterprizes distributes and installs RejaGard units throughout the Costa Blanca. To summarize, RejaGard is designed to keep thieves OUTSIDE your home. You and your family and pets, if any, can move about freely inside 24 hours a day with peace of mind, knowing your house is being protected from the outside. So you can sleep soundly at home, or when you are away, with RejaGard looking after your premises. Supplied & fitted by .. John Atkins,                                                          Parque de PO 12 Urb La Marina San Fulgencio 03177 Alicante Tel/Fax 96 679 7219 atkinsinspain@gonuts4free.com

 

A way to resolve the security issue would be to fix toughened glass window panels to the rear entrace floor level of each of the apartment blocks, they could be fixed by steel brackets to both the ceiling and downstairs outer wall. The panels could be spaced to allow movement of air but not enough space for someone to climb in. Even if the cost for each block was 2000 -3000 euro split between owners (18 per block)  this could be as little as £150 euro each.

What do you think? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Regards, Andy

 

 

Hi OtterAndy,

What happens if God forbid there was a fire in the apartment and you had to try and get out of one of these windows. What if it was rented out to holidaymakers and something like this happened. Would we be liable. Dont like to put a dampener on things, but this might happen.

Westport

 Toughened glass window panels affixed on the ground floor level sound like a good idea to me assuming cost is not prohibitive and we could get agreement from all owners to share the cost.  (On the developer's web site for Phase ll it seems that there are 3 blocks of 24 apartments each and 2 blocks of 16 apartments each. I assume it is the same for Phase l with some blocks having 24 apartments and others just 16.)

The normal way for anyone to exit their apartment even in the event of fire would be out through the apartment door with exit via the stairs after that- as there are bars already in place on all ground floor windows I don't see how the proposal mentioned by OtterAndy would change this.

Of course the patio doors are also available as exits in the event of fire and for those on higher floors perhaps investing in a "fire rope ladder"  for use in emergencies  and which are available quite cheaply would be a good idea from both a safety and insurance point of view.

I don't know if any fire alarms are fitted by the developer anywhere in the development nor indeed if he is required to do so by regulations as is the case here in Ireland with apartment blocks.  Perhaps this is something that will be covered in the community statutes and I saw advice elsewhere that you should request a copy of these through your solicitor at completion time.




This message was last edited by gericom99 on 2/28/2007.

An idea worth look into I think. Toughened glass panels shouldn't detract from the look of the building. I agree with gericom that they wouldn't affect the residents of the block in the event of a fire. After all in many developments, other than the balconies, there are no other 'open' verandahs or hallways. As he says the normal way for anyone to leave their apartments would be by the main front door. You would have to weigh up  the risk of losing an extra exit in the event of a fire against the risk of the front door being inaccessible.

Has anyone any info on good value Spanish home/apartment insurance bearing in mind that cover is needed for periods of non-occupation?  I have just got an email from my solicitor offering to arrange a policy at completion date annual premium just over €400 for 2 bed apartment?

We did get offered insurance with the Caixa bank from 200 euros for 2 bed to 230 euros for 3 bed. Annual premium. I am not sure if you have to get their mortgage, but i dont think you do. We were also wondering if a buildings insurance will be included in the community fees. Does anyone know the answer? 

Hi All,

Does anyone know if we are going to get an automatic gate at the entrance to our development. If we dont security could be a big problem.

Regards, Andy

Hi Andy - I don't know but when we were out last week we stayed in Monte Canada which was built by Arrowhabitage about 5 years ago and there are no gates there - residents had keys to the garages, the front gate of the building and the gates onto the green areas. Non residents couldn't get into the buildings though  - so we will either need gates or some way of making each building secure.

 

I don't know if this is worth anything but it is taken from current advertisement on Daft.ie for  the Don Juan residential development  Phases I & II.

" Residencial Don Juan will be a private and gated urbanization with swimming pools and large garden areas"

Does anyone have original promotional material promising a gated development for Don Juan?

Our real estate agent stated that it would be a gated community, but believing these agents isn't a wise strategy.
Based on the communal gardens, the internal roads, lamp posts etc, I'm convinced it will be a private area. So yes, I think there will be a gate.

However I talked to a lot of people living here and decided that we definitely need some additional security. We will have an electronic alarm installed with a connection to a company which will follow up on these alarms. We want to be safe from burglars and have some sort of 'panick button' in case we're threatened by people. We were promised a response by patrol car within a few minutes!

Our real estate agent stated that it would be a gated community, but believing these agents isn't a wise strategy :)
However based on the communal gardens, the internal roads, lamp posts etc, I'm convinced it will be a private area. So yes, I think there will be a gate.

I talked to a lot of people living here and decided that we definitely need some additional security. We will have an electronic alarm installed with a telephone connection to a company which will follow up on these alarms. We want to be safe from burglars and have some sort of 'panick button' in case we're threatened by people. We were promised a response by patrol car within a few minutes!

Hi Max, Have you had a quotation for the alarm system? I remember Perla telling me some time ago that there would be some sort of controlled security at the entrance to the development although at that time she couldn't tell me precisely what.

Hi All,

Spoke to the developers office today and they advised me that there would no electric security gate at the entrance to Don Juan. Apparently we dont need one as each block has its own "highly secure electric entrance door" I am sick of hearing this type of rubbish by the likes of Perla and her associates, its basically just any excuse by the developer to reduce cost on the project. I am looking forward to meeting her next week when I inspect my apartment! 

So according to Perla the blocks have high security gates are the walls next to the entrance gate to each block secure as well? perhaps the developers have coated these walls with anti climb paint or something! I think not! By the way does anyone know that apparently Perla is going to be our neighbour as according to what she told me during my inspection visit she found DJ to be so good that she actually has bought in phase 1 and is waiting to complete like the rest of us but when I asked her which block she was in she refused to say! more porkies me think.

Hello all,  Perla told me some time ago that she was buying the show flat, that we all have been around at sometime or another, I can't remember the block, it was towards the back wasn't it.

Martin

 

Security is a complex issue and there are widely diverging views from being happy with no community security provision (and no additional costs) to wanting a full time guard (which could cost 4000€ per month adding an average 20€ to our monthly community fees. Clearly these 2 positions are incompatible and if, as I hope, many of those who can’t get to the meeting will use proxies I would like to try and ensure that anything I support takes into account everybody’s requirements even if it is impossible for everyone to be entirely happy. These are my thoughts:

1) The Risk Level. Until a few years ago crime levels on CDS were extremely low. The arrival of some immigrants has seen crime levels rise but it is still safer than many areas of the UK. Having said that there appears to be a permanent occupancy rate of below 10% with some blocks having, so far at least, no permanent residents. This provides thieves with the opportunity to take their time to do their evil work. Balancing this is the fact that unoccupied homes are rarely targeted. Thieves want high value easy to carry items such as cash, credit cards and jewellery which are all items not normally found in unoccupied apartments. The risk is therefore at its highest when people are using their apartment but there are not many other people around.

2) Self Help. There is a lot we can all do to minimise the risks:

a) Use the garage when you arrive with suitcases or bulky purchases to carry into your apartment

b) When you go out ALWAYS lock everything up securely. We arrived back once to discover that we hadn’t quite closed one of the patio doors. No harm done but now we check them every time.

c) At night lock your front door. (it is easy to open when the door is just on the latch. Keep your key handy in case you need to get out)

d) Use the “Spyhole” in your door before opening it

e) Change your locks. If you need someone to do this wetakecare or a locksmith can do it for you

f) Think about the security of your own apartment. I’m not going to spell it out here but certain apartments in certain blocks have weak points. Fit extra locks as required.

 

3) What the community can do. Some months ago Max mentioned having an alarm linked to a monitoring company with mobile response units. This would be effective in dealing with someone breaking into your apartment. But if we each contributed the same amount as this would cost or a bit less to the community to have either a closed circuit tv system linked to a monitoring station with mobile response units or an onsite guard making regular patrols this would provide a community wide deterrent. I am not an expert but we have to find a balance between the level of protection required and the amount we are prepared to pay. How much does everyone think is reasonable? Once we know what the community is doing those who want to do more can improve their personal security.

 

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