Chris & Jim, David & Joan,
The space in front has been levelled in preparation for something - the word on the streets of Torre Alcantara is that it will be a playing field/play park of some kind. But hey - it's Spain - anything could happen!!
We understand that the Habitation Certificate is granted to Taray for the whole development, therefore anyone who has already taken title to their home has done so without it. Our lawyer accompanied us to the transfer of title meeting with the notary and she advised that this is normal practice in Spain and the legal risks were minimal and unlikely to be exercised by Spanish authorities anyway. Our fingers remain firmly crossed. If you look to the right hand column on this page about half way down there is an article on the 'license of first occupation' or 'habitation certificate' should you wish to understand the detail. This would make for alarming reading - but we were comforted by our lawyers assurances.
The practical downside to not having it is that the local authority have not taken responsibility for the developments infrastructure yet - cleaning roads, street lighting, emptying bins etc. We also cannot contract with electricty and water suppliers - altho' this is not such a bad thing as are not paying for the builder's supply that we use at the moment.
We've just returned from our latest holiday there and the site is becoming a more pleasant place to live. Most of the houses are complete, the remainder very near to completion. The pool area is complete apart from the landscaping. Landscaping of the common areas will probably be the last thing to be done.
Many more of the houses are occupied - mostly with non-spanish. Lots of Scots (a good thing, surely!) and lots of dogs for some reason. There seems to be a nice community feel developing - everyone seems real friendly.
Parking is going to be an issue once all have moved in - there is not enough space directly in front of the houses for all the cars that want to park there and residents are (obviously) unwilling to park on their terrace space. Some will eventually have to park on the side streets. Another downside is that the terraced houses will be quite noisy - noise travels easily along the terrace from one house to the next - tiled floors!! We'll just have to get used to furtniture being dragged over floors, the sound of heels on floors, loud tellys and music etc.
The finish on the houses seems to be first class. Taray have completed our final snagging issues since our last visit - including tuning in our telly . Taray have come in for some criticism on this forum, but I think they've been superb. A big thanks to them from the Millards!!
We've now met with some of the locals in the village and they've been really nice - delighted if you speak spanish with them! We haven't got much of a feel for the village because we haven't been there too often yet! However, it needs to develop - it needs better cafes and bars (with street tables etc.) - the current cafe bars are largely for the men of the village and are quite dark and smoky. It also needs a night-time restaurant - there are three in the industrial estate over the motorway, but you can't really walk to these. Also a better bus service would be nice - e.g. to Los Alcazares, Dos Mares shopping mall etc. The crime rate seems to be low and the police drive thro' the devleopment regularly. Town planning doesn't seem to be a practiced art in Spain so the village will never be 'pretty'. Maybe some of the permanent residents might want to comment on these things.
That's enough for now! Hope this helps paint a better picture for you!
Hasta luego!
Don