Charges

Hi, just got a mail from resortalia saying fees will increase between 50/70 per cent in 2016 due to polaris world not paying fees for past 4 years .seems very steep .

Regards .

john and Wendy Carr.

2671c 

Yes, it does seem steep, but there is a hole of over 1m euros in the accounts due to PW not paying their community fees. Reading through the email it seems like they are trying to build a fund to cover the Polaris World debt. They are proposing three payments spread over three years. The biggest payment being in the first year and then reduced in year two and year three and the fees returning to normal rates after that.

I can see some sense in it, they need to create a budget and then spread it out across all owners. If some of those owners aren't paying (mostly PW) then the community needs funds to plug the gap to pay for the services. As the PW properties get sold off, their debts are settled and the money can go into the pot.

What I don't really understand is that some owners will be expected to pay more than others? Is this because individual blocks can choose to use their painting fund to plug the gap? I would imagine this would be the option voted for by the bank owners as they can defer payment and hopefully sell off their properties before the buildings need repainted.

I await the budget for next year and proposals for emergency payments.

As an aside, I don't know why the community aren't looking to take possession of some of the Polaris World properties to sell off to pay their debts? I have an apartment in the UK and have similar service charges. The service charges are a legal obligation. If an owner doesn't pay, their property can be sold off to meet the debt. I guess it isn't quite as easy in Spain .... Also, why are we legally obliged to write off some of the debt?

I think all Polaris resorts are owed money from Polaris, but I don't think many are having a 50/70% price hike, I know resort is owed about 4M euro can't see them ever getting that back.

Hi newworld,

The actual PW debt is 1m€ not 4m€.

As their properties get sold or get transferred to bank ownership the debt will be paid off as has been happening for some time.

The extra payment is not a hike in community fees, just a one off payment to build a fund to cover the gap while properties are sold or PW go bust.

I'm quite relaxed about it to be honest. We have known it has been coming for some time and 600€ or around £400 isn't something that will cause me too much stress although I did expect it would be a lesser increase in community fees rather than a fund building exercise.

I was talking about la torre golf, I missed a word out of my last post it should have read.   I know ONE resort that is owed. 4m Euro. Sorry for the confusion

Hi so la torre,s dept is 1 m euros and terrazes dept is 4 m euros is this right ?

best regards john and Wendy Carr.

2671 c on terrazes 

Other way round. PW owe Las Terrazas 1m€ community fees and La Torre 4m€ community fees

It's just a matter of time until they go bust.

I wonder when/how we find out why some apartment owners must pay more than others ?

From what I understand, each block has its own fund. Part of the community fees go to Resortalia for the day to day running of the community i.e. water, garden maintenance, security, pool maintenance, rubbish collection etc. Another part is allocated to the block for the painting fund, reserve fund etc. The accounts for each individual block are sent to each apartment owner in the block after the AGM each year.

The apartment owners in a block may vote to offset the extraordinary payment by using these funds which will reduce how much each owner in that block has to pay. This just pushes the problem further down the road as when it comes time to repaint, there won't be any money in the fund so an extraordinary charge will need to be made to pay for it.

This may be favoured by the banks as it means they have less to pay now and if they sell an apartment they effectively saddle the new owner with the potential problem. Having said that, if the outstanding debts are paid as the properties are sold, this would go into the community fund and could potentially be used for repainting at a later date.

I guess we just have to wait and see what happens at the AGM and what the individual owners in each block decide?

I just wanted to confirm that the banks who own apartments have always paid the community charges, it is PW who only pay the community charges as and when they sell a property.

I have had no email from Resortillia and would not be happy to pay this increase to pay off others debts!

Hi audlek,

It's a situation that nobody will be happy with, but the increases are not to pay off others' debts. The debtors will still owe the community money.

The increases are to pay for the maintenance of the resort. The pool maintenance, garden maintenance, site security, water costs, electricity costs, rubbish collection etc.

The choice is between increasing fees or cutting services. A good summary can be found in the recent newsletter from the community president.

If you aren't receiving emails from resortalia, you should contact them. Their contact details can be found using the link above.

We've all been aware for sometime that an increase was coming and I fully appreciate the necessity. However what concerns me is that as I understand residents are going to pay different fees depending on the block you reside in. So to that end blocks which are under occupied due to apartments not sold will have to pay more through no fault of their own whereas owners who have the fortune to be in a block which has high occupancy will pay less. Can't be right. We all pay our fees and expect to receive the same level of service regardless of the block we have an apartment in. 

My other concern is the level of increase, I believe this will have a direct impact on apartment sales which can only be detrimental to the community. We all want to see the resort continue to grow but I feel this will slow that growth down to a trickle.