Hi Everyone

Hi,

Has anyone with second floor apartment had problems with damp on the living room walls next to the sliding doors onto the balcony? We have, and Mar y Casas have attempted to rectify this. We won't know until we go back at the end of March if they have solved the problem.

They said it is a "known" problem on second floor apartments, due to rain water somehow seeping into the walls from either the balcony or from the stairs that go from the balcony to the roof.

I'd be interested your experiences and if the problem has been fixed. 

In answer to your damp problems.  I do know what the problem may be as we experienced it during our stay over xmas.  It started by water seeping through the ceiling in the utility area.  On lifting one of the ceiling tiles which was saturated and had to be replaced I was drenched in a large amount of water.  I also noticed that there was a small diameter black plastic pipe that did not appear to be connected anywhere.  I spoke to Mar y Casas office and they sent Pepe up to have a look.  Sometime later another maintenance guy turned up with a large gas blow torch and proceeded to cut a hole in the large grey waste water pipe in the same area.  This (the black one) is apparently the overflow pipe from the air-con units and its connection had been overlooked by the builders.  Of course when they checked the apt above ours (we are on the ground floor) theirs had not been done or even that on the top floor.  It looks as though this may be general fault with all the apts.  I have mentioned it to Rich by e-mail, but suggest you get the well known Pepe to check your pipework and those in the same block asap.

Hope this is some help.  But I hope we don't have another ongoing damp problem.  Let's hear from you owners.  Recompense from Mar y Casas don't hold your breath.

MikeB

Hi, we are on the top floor and also have an issue with damp on the wall near the patio doors, they have advised that they need to seal the stairwell and the balcony so I am out in September when hopefully the work can be completed.  We have now had the property over a year and each trip commences with a trip to Mar y Casa with an issue so far its been air conditioning not working, water heater not working, water pouring through the bathroom, cracked tiles etc the list goes on and on.  I am now very much regretting ever having bought in Spain.

But on a brighterr note its nice to communicate with other owners and I look forward to hopefully meeting in Spain.

Hi

We have a second floor apartment in Las Dunas, I have just been asked for access to the apartment as Mar y Casa have said they (in their own words):

We need to get in to the apartment in las dunas, the carpenter is going to change the wooden panels that are around the door,

They are all being changed on all the apartments,

Hopefully this will solve the problem of the leaks, which we have also experienced.

If you have not heard from them I suggest you contact them on         aguilas4@mycm.es

Sly

Hi, interesting to receive your note, I have heard nothing from the builders, did they drop a note under the door or something? I'm in UK.

This damp problem is a joke, firstly we were told it was coming from the roof terrace so they spent a day sealing the whole of the roof terrace, when we came back a few months later same damp issue, we were then told they had discovered it was not the roof terrace but the outside balcony and the stairs coming down from the terrace and they had this wonder sealant "very expensive" they declared which would solve the problem and now you tell me its the door frame.

I honest believe they do not have a clue, it amazes me they build swimming pools every day of the week and they manage to keep the water in - so surely they can come up with the reverse by keeping the water out.

Have they given any timescales when this work is to be carried out and if all the units are to be changed why has the administrator not advised everyone because most people owning do not live in Spain.

 

Hola All

I thought the RAIN IN SPAIN FALLS MAINLY ON THE PLAIN ( Apologies to My Fair Lady)  but obviously seems to fall all on Los Collados.  I am not in the pay of Palm Properties but for a monthly fee they carry out a monthly inspection report on your apt for you.  We have done this since we completed here last year, and we find it very comforting to know someone you can trust is keeping an eye on your property and to report any problems to you that need to be sorted.  This is especially true if you can't  visit very often.  Incidentally did anyone else have the problem I reported in an earlier message re Air-con water pipe ?? Hope you are all going to be out there for the AGM we need to have a concerted effort to get Gesisur and MYCM moving on a number of problems.  What say you.

La saluda  from Mike & June

Hello,

we were in Los Dunas de Cope from 13th to 23rd of July and did not receive any notification about door frames being replaced, however we did arrive to find a huge damp patch on the ceiling of our second floor apartment,  Mar y Casas were very helpful and explained that it is a problem with all second floor apartments and the the roof terraces and stairs all need sealing... as the sealan cannot be walked on for 48 hours after application we have opted to have this done whilst we are back in England so hopefully when we go out to the AGM we will have a sealed roof terrace and a repaired ceiling.  In January we also had a problem with damp next to sliding doors onto the balcony and Mar y Casas sealed the stairs and repaired the wall (this seems to have fixed this problem)

Whilst we are more that willing to accept any newly built property will have its share of teething problems we are a bit puzzled  by the Mar y Casas approach - i.e. if they know this is a problem on all second floor apartments why not deal with all apartments at the same time thus preventing some of the problems?  This is exactly the sort of issue that I believe we are paying Gesisur to manage on our behalf and will be bringing this up at the AGM

Amanda

I could not agree more with your comments about a known issue - although Mar y Casa are good to react when approach it is ' reactive and not proactive'.  We have also been advised that you cannot walk on surface for 24/48 hours so have opted to get it done whilst we are there because from experience previously if we leave if for them to do whilst overseas, it will either not be done, or be done is a careless manner, ie our electrical goods were nicked because we found out that the main door had been left open for over 4 days so all and sundry had access to our apartment, so be warned.

The damp season is approaching again!

It will be interesting to see if the work done by Mar y Casas early this year has cured the problem or just covered it up.

Keep in touch. 

Have just returned from Spain, Mar y Casa have sealed the stairs and patio so hopefully damp issue is solved.  You are right about damp season commencing and I am hoping to return to Spain in November so should be able to report.

On another note I was very disappointed at the state of the development, landscaping unkept, tiles missing in the swimming pool and I noticed one of street lights was broken in two - not a great advert for our management company.  The access road has yet again been dug up for more service installation - why could this not have been a combined job?  I have had conflicting dates as to when the road will be re tarmaced so I guess we will have to wait and see.