Community

Hi All

I thought it would be worth updating you on our recent visit at the beginning of June. In particular about a meeting I had with Mercedes who administers the Community for the original 2 blocks.

For anyone who hasn’t met her, Mercedes has an established business administering Communities for several properties in the area, and has the relevant qualifications to do this. I went to see her in her office, which is close to the development, and she seemed very competent/knowledgeable. She outlined that there were 2 types of Community in question for Novo Arcos:

Block Community: This is for the individual block and administers things like the lift, cleaning, the Community funds, repairs and some sort of liability insurance.

Joint Community: This covers the shared areas such as the pool and the gardens.

The Block Communities are now established for the original 2 blocks, and Mercedes is happy to help establish them for the new blocks, but there must be at least 2 completed properties in the block in order to establish the community. In any community, any unsold properties would be represented by Romanber (with Banca March having some influence as they have obviously funded the development). In theory this means that if the Community wants to do something pricey then Romanber could veto it whilst they hold the majority – although it’s also in their interest for the Communities to be established so that the development is more attractive to new buyers.

I would suggest all the new buyers to get in touch with Mercedes about establishing the new block communities – PM me if you want her contact details. I hadn’t realised until I went to see her that things like the lift will only be functional once the community is established for the block. In the interest of fairness I should say that as I understand it we could appoint a different person/company to administer the communities, however from my visit it was clear that Mercedes knows the development and all the people involved at Romanber and Banca March very well so she’d definitely hit the ground running. I also think that the joint elements will be easier to work on if all the blocks are administered by the same person.

Regarding the joint community, Mercedes is trying to pull out all the stops to work with Romanber to get the pool open for July/Aug and get the gardens tidied up. Our deeds (I can’t speak for everyone as I don’t know) say we have rights to use the pool, so it is legally unacceptable for Romanber to delay it’s opening. However the reality is that finances are tight and if we open the pool Romanber would have to pay a very large contribution due to still owning a significant share of the properties. Therefore if we want it open we may have to agree to a compromise where they pay a reduced share. Mercedes is looking to establish a meeting ASAP with her, Romanber, the owners and maybe the bank to try and come to an agreement.

If any of the owners who have been around since the first phase have a different understanding to me on any of these points then please say.

Finally, on a different subject, I wanted to share with you all that we had a really great time on a guided tour of the Circuito de Jerez, which you can organize through their website. This was very enjoyable, even for my wife and mother both of who didn’t know quite what to expect or if they’d enjoy it. The kids loved it too, and I’d definitely recommend it – even if you’re not a petrol-head.

We’ll be out at another couple of points during the Summer so hope to meet some of you then.

Adam

Hi Adam

Really good information in your post.  We didn't realise the importance of the community regarding stuff like the lifts.

Mercedes could be very useful for moving things along.  We're in block 3 and feel things need to be getting organised so if this is an excepted way to handle the running of a development we're very interested.  Not sure how her costs would be split or what they would be, but in principle to have someone professional working on the administration seems a good idea.

Especially if it draws the owners under one banner so to speak, so that whether the bank takes over or not, our investment is finally delivered as we all expected when we brought so long ago.

Are there any reasons not to use someone like Mercedes, this is the first time we have brought on a complex so it's all news to us. Anybody else in Block 3 have an opinion or any of the other blocks either for that matter.

Adam could you pm her details to us

thanks

Ruth & Trevor

Hi all

On again as we have had a few PMs with some of you, which is great.  It all helps to make us realise that there are many others who share our concerns.  And whilst a problem shared isn't always solved, it at least shares the misery!

A couple of points I'm not convinced about, are firstly that the banks are taking over Romanber.  I wouldn't be surprised if that happens but when is the question.  I know when we completed in February everything was ran pass the bank first,  so they are heavily involved in the day to day business.  But will it happen soon, this infomation has been suggested for sometime, the fact that the latest version of this appears to come from Luis doesn't make me hold my breath.  I've just looked up an email from Luis dated 27.10.09 which I know many of you received stating that 'the first occupation will be in november, with completions in Dec/Jan'. Remember this was late 2009 but I believe the license took many more months to come through.

Secondly if or when the bank takes over the unsold units, will that move things forward for us?  On the face of it they may be keen to sell the empty properties and so need to finish off the development but if that was the case would they not be encouraging Romanber to do the same thing.  At the worst they then take over a finished project, at best Romanber continue in business and trade their way out of their problems.

So which is the best way forward?  to sit and wait to see what happens but if we do nothing and the banks don't come in like a white knight, will we be waiting a long time for Romanber to start doing the right thing and finish off the site.  So far Romanber have had a very easy time (as far as pressure from us or our legal representatives) so what will change things if we don't? And even if the banks do take over, I'm  sure if we aren't strong and united that they'll just ignore us and work to their own agenda. Then  the things that we as investors think are important might not be so far up their to do list for a domestic market.

One thing I'm not sure about is, can Mercedes help us before the communities are established, does she have any influence on moving the situation forward or do some of these problems need solving before setting up the  block and joint comunities?  Obviously in the blocks she administers some of these problems are outstanding.

Anyway enough for now, must get on with some work

Ruth

Thanks for your thoughts Ruth. I think we are all united in wanting things completed and tidied up. I'm sure we've all been progressing our own interests with either Romanber or our legal representatives with varying degrees of success and all asking the same questions no doubt. Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we up our game re a concerted effort?

Perhaps the next visitor to Mercedes can raise these concerns and see if in fact she does have any ability to help re utilities etc.

Hello All, we were the first people to complete in block 1 and understand all of your frustrations. We have been paying into the community for 4 years now with Mercedes managing, the frustration is that there is insufficient money going into the community pot to do thorough maintenance on the site. This has always been because of the number of empty apartments, which Romanber won't pay their contribution for, and also, there were a few properties which people owned that didn't pay their community fees, so quite rightly Mercedes issued court proceedings against them. Mercedes has always been quite open to listen to our issues, and has resolved quite a few problems but she can only do so much as there was not enough money in the community pot to do the things that we really wanted sorting out as a priority, ie; completing the gardens, regular cleaning of the communal areas, maintenance of the exterior of the building, re painting, and of course the swimming pool. We have also complained and the rubbish opposite the blocks next to the olive grove and the general rubbish in the streets, the council seem to sweep all the streets except ours! We were always led to believe that as more people completed, they would join the existing community and add to that pot. Mercedes is employed by us to manage the existing site and negotiates current contracts like the lifts, insurance etc, there is an annual community meeting in March where you can vote for a President of the community and if required we can appoint a new person to manage the community, but there would be the same problems if the whole community are not paying their contributions. We have also heard the rumours that the Banks are going to be taking over, but we have also heard that Romanber are going to be doing a let to buy scheme which they hope will fill some of the empty apartments.

Any thoughts?

Taffy

Hi folks......if the let to buy scheme is aimed at the locals.........lets hope there is an enforcable clause barring dogs...!! there is more than enough barking around there already !!

Hi Taffy

Good to hear from you, especially as you have been an owner for so long and are able to show that Romanber have never as far as this development is concerned, fulfilled their obligations regarding the empty units and the community charges.  We originally brought in Nov 06 but have only just completed, so our frustrations must seem very impatient.

Can I ask if you live on site or just visit? and if you only visit, have you been able to rent out your property while the rest of the site is incomplete?  It's just that I'm finding it hard to imagine how we can let family and friends, let alone paying guests use our apartments.

Also can you tell me whether you have access to the garage and the locker rooms, as It seemed the last time we were there it was pitch dark with some flooding down there.  I take it that you have proper connections for the electric, water and gas and you haven't been waiting 4 years for that as well!  One thing we didn't like about block 3 is that it appears that there is no lighting in the corridors, whether that has changed recently we can only hope.

I wonder if you or anybody else for that matter knows how many of the units are now owned or are being completed on, as it would be good to have a firm idea of how many owners there are to form a pressure group of some sort.  To me it makes sense that as a gated community we are one community, not just for the communal areas but also to ensure all the blocks are maintained to the same standard.  Afterall, if I look out of our kitchen across to what I guess is Block 2 I want that block to look as good as it did when first completed.  Not gradually fading into a poorly kept building, not that it does now (before anybody gets wound up) but if the owners decided that is what they wanted, it would affect all of us.  So all owners benefit by being in this together, also there must be savings in doing things on a site not block basis, such as community admin, maintenance, insurance or sink funds.

I don't want to give the impression that Romanber are some rogue cowboy outfit, who couldn't care less about their profession and their reputation, as I'm sure in better times things would have been very different.  Likewise I would imagine in better times more investors would have completed rather than suing the developer for breach of contract, but we are where we are, and those of us who have or are going to complete, deserve better.  I don't believe that without serious pressure from us that things will improve and that combined pressure will be best of all. 

By the way thanks Adam for Mercedes' details and you are right about the dogs, what is it that makes a barking dog so attractive to some people?

What do you think?

Ruth

Hi Ruth

I can tell you that the garage for the original 2 blocks is available for their use. It also serves some of the new blocks. You will have probably seen the entrance, next to the first block, on the corner of Calle Puerto Santa Maria and the steep hill.

If, when you go downstairs in your block, you end up in a dark garage (with optional wet floor in the winter!) you are lucky enough (!) to have a space in the new garage which is not yet available due to requiring a fix for the leak and a mechanical arm to open the door. The entrance is also on Calle Puerto Santa Maria, near the big iron gate. That's where our space is and, as I understand it, the plan is to deal with the pool/gardens before sorting out the parking and storage etc. They haven't handed out keys for it yet as it isn't ready.

I also have a similar feeling about Romanber as you outlined. I really like the development and absolutely love Arcos, it's just frustrating that lack of funds during the 'crisis' has led to things slowing down. I look forward to a time when things pick up and, in the meantime, will support any group effort to move things along.

Adam

Now I am worried!  As yes we are part of the lucky ones whose garage floods in the winter, still if the pool isn't ready for july/august everybody is invited to the winter indoor pool, but bring a torch!

There's me hoping to kit out the locker room as it'll be the coolest place to be in July and now that looks very unlikely

Just realised I can add smileys!

Trevor

Hi all........just had a mail from Luis Mendez telling me that Romanber are to finish off communal areas,gardens & swimming pool next week.No mention of store rooms & car parking etc but lets hope this gets done too......as it should have done before completon...cheers..mallj.

That's great news!  Lets hope it really happens, any news about the utilities?

I'm really getting into these smiley things

Trevor

Great news regarding the pool and communal areas. It was a bit of an eyesore when we were over in April.

Just hope it turns out to be true. We (along with all the other recently completed) have been waiting for the utilities being setup for ages, and I remember being told a while back that the water would be on the following week. Can't remember how long ago that was now.

Don't misunderstand us. We sincerely hope this happens. We love Arcos and want to spend many happy holidays there. It is just given recent events, seeing is believing.

Mick and Janet

Hi all

I had an update from Mercedes today that she has met with Romanber who are looking to have the pool available in a couple of weeks. I hope they plan to stick to their word - it would be good if anyone on site could confirm that the cleaning has started.

Mercedes is also discussing the creation of the block and joint communities with them and will progress this at another meeting with them next week.

Adam

Hi everyone, just to let you know that there was no work being done on site up until yesterday, the pool is still very merky and dirty, although the rubbish opposite the side entrance near the olive grove has been cleared up and also the street, although with the lavante in the past week some rubbish has blown back down the hill!! To be honest it's been so hot no work has been done anywhere after about 1pm. But fingers crossed!!!

 Hi all

Romanbar  and Mercedes are talking from where the sun don't shine, there is no way that the swimming pool is going to be ready in a few week's, they are just fobbing you all off. I seem to remember I heard that before last Year, If it is open I'll write another thread and apologise to both of them, some how I just don't think so.

Regards

John

Hi All

We are going out to Arcos next week for a few days and for the first time are planning to stay in our own apartment.  The furniture should be installed just before we arrive, so keeping fingers crossed that all is fine when we arrive.

During our stay we have a few errands that need doing, one of which is the terrace furniture, any ideas of where to locate that? Also I'm hoping to meet Mercedes, to find out for myself if she thinks she can be useful to our position regarding communities, what the rules are and if it is in our (and I speak from my own position) interest to try to move forward on that.  Has anybody got any views on that or any questions they think need asking?

Also now that the pool area has been cleaned, hopefully we will see a difference in the communal areas but obviously those of us in phase 2 still have the problems of the utilities and the garage/storeroom.  I plan to speak to Salvador (although it appears that they haven't been answering the phone recently) as he is our only point of contact with Romanber, unless somebody has an alternative contact that may be more usefully approached.  I want to understand better the situation regarding the utilities and also the problem with the garage area. One temporary suggestion I have thought of,  would it be possible to give us a parking space and storeroom if they are available in the phase 1 area, to use until our contracted spaces are ready.  Now I realise that if they go for that, it will take the pressure off them to complete phase 2 garaging but from my point of view it gives me and any guests I have somewhere to park and for me somewhere to store personal property out of the apartment.

Going back to the pool, although it has now been cleaned, I don't yet know whether it has been filled and if the filtration is actually working, has anybody got any further information on this?  Likewise has there been any progress on the general finish of the 'garden' areas.

Trevor

Time for an update on our trip over the weekend

Good news, the pool is in use and the pumps are working. A guy came on Saturday and attached the pool cleaner  to one of the pumps and hoovered the bottom of the pool, as there was quite a bit of sand and some stones over the bottom of it.  Although we didn't watch him do the whole job, it did look as though the hose he had was only long enough to cover just over half the pool and when he had finished you could see a tide mark of very clean pool vs not so clean, but it does look great and even on friday afternoon it sounded as though some children had a great time in it!  Romanber are going to provide some of the large parasols for the pool area but not sure about any seating or chairs, perhaps the next person over can follow that up.

Unfortunately as previously reported some of the mosaic tiles have come loose but I guess there's always teething problems,

We met with Salvador on site, along with a couple of guys who are working to solve 'all' of the outstanding issues, which Salvador said would be completed within 2 months.  I know, don't hold your breathe, but to be fair to Romanber these guys were on site on the Friday morning at 7 and appeared to be around until 2-3pm, so some work is getting done.  They seem to be working on the raised beds at the moment, many of which are still flooded, especially going down to the lower gate.  It appears there wasn't any drainage built in to the flower beds but the plan is to correct that, although I hope the job is done properly so that it doesn't just get blocked up with run-off in the winter.  I have to say that in particular the buildings edging the steps down to the bottom gate look awful as I guess some kids have enjoyed grapping  handfulls of mud from the flower beds and throwing it up the side of the buildings. It really looks a state, although they may have done us a favour by focusing attention on the underlining problem.

As to the utilities, well, we have paid to get our water meter fitted as Romanber had said that the low water pressure on site would be solved once people had meters and weren't using the 'builders water'. The first afternoon we were there the water was just a trickle, although once we had our meeting with Salvador and the contractors had a look at it, it wasn't too bad.  But at the moment in our block there's only ourselves, miguel369 and some Spanish either renting or have brought somewhere upstairs from us.  So this problem will only get worse.  Unfortunately once we had paid our money and all the forms filled in (don't they just love forms!) Paul who had helped us with Romanber and the water company, explained that the very friendly lady at Gestague had just told him that putting a meter in won't make any difference, as they had advised Romanber a long time ago that they needed some sort of pressure vessel to ensure adequate pressure.  So the moral is, probably don't rush to sort the water, just use theirs!

On the electric front they say again that all is in order and meters will be able to be fitted very soon, we shall see!

Regarding Gas, as with everything, Romanber say that all will be sorted within this 2 month time frame.  I hope it is as the bottled gas is a good stop gap but if like us you keep the bottle outside on the terrace it means having the kitchen window ajar and having to disconnect the boiler to secure the apartment when you go out. Also if you have guests and the gas runs out, there is some organising to do.

By the way Adam, Salvador just looked blank when we asked about the top gate, saying the 'key is lost'.  When we suggested, how about changing the lock, I sensed a lack of keenness to spring into action.

On the garage front, some work has started on stopping or draining the water that seeps from the wall under block 3 and again Salvador asserts that this is also part of the guys remit who are on site, to rectify.  From an outsiders point of view this looks the biggest problem, as to stop the groundwater finding the smallest hole or weakness would appear to me to involve a lot of structual work unless you use a sump and pump system to simply solve the symptom and not cure the problem.  But this must be fairly common in Spain, where garaging is often built under buildings, so they should know how to handle it.  Salvador did offer to provide temporary carparking in the other garage if needed and conceded that if the storage wasn't available by our next visit, in September, that he would make provision elsewhere on site.

So overall, there appears to be some action to go forward, how much and how far, time will tell. But at least the development now has a heart, with a working pool which looks really great and I'm sure those of you going over in the next few weeks will be very pleased.  Look forward to hearing from you and if the other problems have been solved.

Rather a long post that, think I need another break!

Regards

Trevor

Hi All

Two things Trevor forgot to mention;

1  The solar heated water on the roof needs to be connected to work in your apartment at a cost of around 190e, not so important now but will be useful when your own electric is connected.

2  Mercedes the Community Administer for the early phase is having a meeting with Romanber on Thursday 11am to discuss the pool and costs, if you are unable to attend you might like to authorise someone to be there on your behalf.  Perhaps send an email with your authority to whoever has represented you in your dealing with Romanber, there may be a small charge but at least you will know what happened and had a voice regarding the costs.  This may be a chance also to press home any other concerns you have.  Just a thought.

We plan to authorise Paul to act on our behalf as at least he has a vested interest in the development.

Kind regards

Ruth

ps we didn't get around to sorting the terrace furniture out, just ran out of time, but hope to go back to Arcos in September so will hope to use your suggestions then.  However we did enjoy tracking down some of the tapas leads. Many thanks for that.