New Owner..........Hello!

Hi There,

We have just bought a 2 bed apartment in DV and just wanted to say hello.

Everything should complete middle of November, so looking forward to getting the place ready. The plan is to use the place as a holiday home and a place for our parents to stay over the winter.

Great forum, lots of useful information...................Thanks!

Hello,

Welcome to DV

Steve

Welcome to the community. We have been using our apartment about four times a year for 6 years now.

Caroline

Welcome to DV it's a lovely place.  We manage to get over several times a year and will be over mid November.  Our apartment is only used by family.

Hi. As you,ve just bought would you mind advising us of possible pitfalls or advice on what to avoid?, we are looking to buy but wondered if you have a recommended agent you went through. We are told there is not huge room for negotiation which I find crazy and wonder whether to bother. Although we are going out next week but with a budget of 70-80 euros we are not being given positives vibes in these reasonable locations. Surely a bank must want to sell!, any help from anyone would be great! Thanks.

 Hi There

Welcome to Spain

Here is a previous thread on this Subject and others for you.

http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-16808.aspx

http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate-spain-buying-property?gclid=CN-_iJKTybMCFaTKtAod3x8AHA

http://belegal.com/articles/showLawArea/Property

Good Luck

Regards

 

 Hi There

Try this Eyeonspain thread as well

http://www.eyeonspain.com/articles/buying-process-3.aspx

 

Regards

Thanks Nigel, that's really helpful, have been busy reading!

Hi. Could someone give me an idea of costs for an apartment in dv. I am told it may be 350 per quarter plus another extra cost now for painting?. Would this mean 500 a quarter. Also what about electricity. I am hearing this is rapidly going up and air con is very expensive to run. I would really appreciate if anyone knows average costs per year

. We would visit 3 to 5 times and try to rent the average 3 months if possible. So just concerned we know as many costs on average as possible before we jump in!, finally is the claw back tax very common now e.g. Spanish government revaluing and asking for more tax. We,re out in Spain this weekend so any further advice appreciated. Many thanks.

Hi Muppet,

Depends on apartment size but a 2 bed is about €315 in community fees per quarter.  There will be a cash call for some more painting money but as yet I don't know how much or when that will be.  The EGM is tomorrow so we may have more of an idea then.

We live here full time and we average about €100 per month on electricity.  There are cheaper options than using the AC for heating which we are going to be looking into this winter. (Wall mounted electric radiators.  They are aparently very cheap to run.)

Don't forget to include the IBI tax (like council tax) in your calculations.  At the moment phase one is paying over the odds at about €700 per year but we have lodged a complaint to have this calculated again because phases 2 and 3 are paying a lot less.  We pay this in a lump sum around Sept each year but I think you can spread the cost.

With regard to the reclaiming of unpaid tax on "bargains", yes unfortunately the govt do seem to be keen on this.  Not surprising given the state of the economy.  But if you factor this into your potential costs and try and keep that money aside in a savings account earning interest it won't be such a shock.  Who knows you may be one of the lucky ones that don't get chased.

Hope this helps.

 Hi Muppet,

These are the cost I have incurred this year.

	Euro pa
Rates	600
Water	120
Electricity	270
House Repairs Annual	200
Community Charges	1500
Keyholder Fees	375
Insurance	225
Spain Taxes	396
Total Cost	3686

These cost are all in Euro's for a  2 bed occupied for about 6 weeks a year  (and not rented).

 

 

Thanks very much. Exactly what I needed. Quite expensive it seems to have over the year!

 Yes the community charge includes a "one of top up" this year of about   325 Euro (from memory).

Money needed for the community mass cat slaughtering initiative.... so it seems.

I think the top up is more likely to be spent on the nice 'payment' that the president has awarded himself for all the breakfast meetings and 'extra' work he has had with the builders and developers, Apparently  this was approved by the committee at the EGM on the 17th November, no vote, just approved and the residents had no say.    I'm not sure if this is to be a one off payment for his services or a regular 'salary' and i'm not saying he doesn't deserve it - perhaps he does - but it would be nice to know exactly how much he is getting and a breakdown of what this is for.....

 It beats me how things get through an AGM or EGM without a vote  or any resonable amount of detail being shared.

Well our independent President is doing a better job than the last guy but I would hope in the fullness of time when more apartments have been sold we can vote in a couple of Vice Presidents to share the work load and provide balance and scruitiny.

Else we'll need some kind of additional office like a Chairman or maybe an elected Community Treasurer !

Um... that latter idea appeals.

I think Francisco is doing a good job and things are getting better every month, we are part of a big community and problems surge daily, we need people like our president and its team to face it.Of course expenses must be controlled independently.

Luis.

Francisco is working hard on our behalf and is having some success with RF and the suppliers of services to DV. We are going in the right direction under his presidency with a regard to managing the urb and I am grateful that , as an absentee landlord, somebody is spending his own time to ensure my home in Spain and its community is being cared for.
With regard to pets, owners should be reminded that community rules do not permit ANY pet to roam free and that does include cats. Feral cats are a problem and Francisco has a legal obligation to take action to get rid of them, which he has taken. Arguments about an alternative methods were heard but unfortunately they were not convincing and no proposal was put forward so consequently it failed. That is democracy in action. Incidentally the total number of feral cats caught and removed is ONE, hardly wholesale slaughter of the innocents as somebody has said!!!

Lets move on

 Hi John,

As previous comment there's no disagreement that we have an active resident, independent hard-working president.  Hence my suggestion for vice presidents to share the load in the fullness of time when we have more resident ownership.

The subject of cat slaughter is naturally an emotive one - especially for residents with their own cats.

It's regrettable that the EGM was short notice and thus there was not a full contingent representation of cat owners and animal lovers able to make a well argued case.  From reading your note I guess you were there?

Interested in your point about "legal obligation to take action to get rid of them" - for the next AGM/EGM - is this some reference to this in the community rules or is it Spanish or regional law?

If this is so then we need to be more concerned about preventing residents and holiday renters putting food out for these feral cats.  It just encourages them.  It also gives rise to a seasonal food supply which must be problematic.

As regards the rule that residents should not let their cats roam.  That's a ridiculous rule and ought to be changed.  It's what cats do.  Keeping cats confined to an apartment is totally unnatural.  Letting pet cats roam has got to be a good thing

a) To discourage rodents and;

b) To discourage feral cats.

(Spain seems to be endemic with non-sensecial regulation - in my view thats half the reason why economies degrade.)

n.b.  I will support any cat owner who wants to propose a motiuon to remove this rule  next AGM/EGM.

But only for cats -  the rule needs to still apply to dogs.  It's dog mess where the focus needs to be.  Cats are clean.  (My partner hates Spain because of the dog dirt that seems to be everywhere including the beaches.)

 regards,

Paul

hi John

Sorry i'm going to bore you here as not quite ready to move on.....regarding the cats there was a perfectly valid proposal and solution put forward ar the EGM for CNR but this was dismissed by the President who had already made up his mind and nothing was going to change it.  It was not democracy in action as there was no vote, it was merely a discussion put on the Agenda at residents insistence but it was obvious as soon as Francisco spoke what the outcome was going to be....sorry but you really have to be in attendance at these meetings to understand what really goes on, some items are pushed through with little or no discussion and some things are dismissed if deemed not relevant (and forgive me if you were at the meeting, but i'm not sure from your comment as an absentee landlord if you were or not).  I am aware of the rule that does not permit any animal to roam free but for the last 5 years or so this has never been enforced.  When i moved to DV, I specifically called AEA to ask if cats were allowed outside on the urbanisation and I was told by AEA that this was not a problem and they were allowed outside as long as they were not fed outside.   I think the issue here is that all of a sudden residents are now being told that the rule is being enforced so where does that leave owners whose animals for the last 5 years have been allowed to go outside - not really fair is it?  If they do let their cat go out they run the risk of never seeing it again, if it's caught it will be gassed.....And the total number of cats caught is one...do you really believe that??  cloud cuckoo land, if you lived here you would realise, i've been watching and the numbers are far higher believe me....

And just in case you think that I am anti Francisco,I do actually believe from comments I have heard at the outcome of the meeting that he is doing a good job on other matters as apparently the last President wasn't that great so in that respect hats off to him, give him a massive pay rise, he deserves it.....

Hi Jambo
Not boring at all
I was at the meeting . I understand totally that cat owners are going to let their cats roam , however cat owners should understand that not all residents want cats around them, I don't but I will live with it, and those who choose to buy on a development which specifically forbids animals to roam might justifiably get a little resentful especially when those who like cats are now wrapping their arms around all the feral cats and treating them as pets not as pests. My garage space is now a cat litter area and I am not alone in thinking that the number of feral cats is growing, hence the increased incidences of cat mess. If the number of cats caught is more than one then that shows the traps are working , which is what we as a community want to happen and there was no vote as there was no proposal to vote on.

Paul,
the community lawyer at the meeting suggested that the community could be liable if a feral cat bit somebody and they , for instance , fell ill or died as a result of that bite . Then the President as the legal head of the community would be personally liable. Which might explain his plan to rid the community the way he suggests.

At least the lady who had been feeding feral cats admitted that it wasn't a wise move and that hopefully will result in fewer feral cats appearing in the urb.