are you my neighbour

My grandchildren are due to come for their holiday and it is looking increasingly like their holiday will be ruined again because of the state of the urbanisation.  The childrens pool has been drained and is filthy.  The main pool is filthy with sand, dust and bird droppings at the bottom.  The lawn had a pick-axe taken to it by a disgruntled resident in a desperate protest because his snagging list had still not been done!  The builders had left the A/C unit on for 3 weeks in an unoccupied house causing it to sound like a jumbo jet taking off.  Also, items like the stairs to our roof had not been painted as promised and weathered door fittings not replaced.

I sent in a letter of complaint and the reply I got stated that the community meeting is on 11th July and nothing would be done to the pools becauseof it.  The lawn incident was put down to someone "having a bad day" and the A/c was not their fault (?).  Also, we must have been out when the workmen called to do the repairs.  How inconsiderate of us going to work to earn enough to pay the mortgage instead of staying indoors to wait for an unknown workman to come on an unknown day to do an unnanounced repair!  They also accused the residents of continually adding to their snagging lists.  Anyone who can needs to be at this meeting so that we can tell these people they don't treat us like that and that we are the customers who put the silver spoon in their big mouths.

The meeting is at the Bar Generalife in-between Sabinillas and Manilva at 18:00pm.

Well I went but not feeling very positive.  The night before, the same person who took a pick-axe to the lawn had physically prevented the foreman and the night-watchman from cleaning the pool.  The meeting was delayed for 1/2 an hour to wait for stragglers, in particular the guy with the pick-axe.  I have to say that I nearly went home because the whole meeting was conducted in Spanish and no allowances were made for anyone who couldn't speak Spanish, which I thought was disgraceful.  When it started there was a lot of shouting and arguing and gesturing.  Our friends and neighbours translated for us but each time they were shushed, mostly by the people doing most of the shouting.  A woman called Lola was introduced as representing an agency that would manage the administration and the finances.  She threatened to walk out because nobody would vote her in until she told us how much she was charging.  This turned out to be €276 per month between 40 houses, so she was eventually voted in.  The President is Antonio from No.30 and the Vice-President is Alvaro from No.40 (the guy with the pick-axe).

The first big issue was the state of the pool.  Everyone with children was very angry because their kids couldn't use it and even angrier when they were told the pool would not be available for the whole of the summer because it has not been inspected and legalised and has to be licensed.  Also they said it can't be repaired until all this has been done.  Then Alvaro admitted to everyone that he had done what he did because he knew there was a serious problem with the childs pool and more problems with the big pool and wanted to make a protest to to bring it to everyone's attention as he says the matter needs to be resolved by professionals.  He also told the developers that once they handed over the site to the community then that made it private and it should be gated off to be made more secure BY LAW.  They had made no provision for this and said they would consult their lawyers.  Alvaro seems to know a lot about the law and urbanisation problems so it looks like he is going to be very useful as he obviously stand no nonsense.

Lola said that we need to make provision for site insurance in case something happens to our houses.  We all said that our mortgage agreements meant we already had insurance on our properties but she stated that if next door burnt down and smoke damaged our house the insurance wouldn't cover it.  I'm not sure about this but she is getting quotes.  She also said we need to create a budget for major problems such as the pool pump breaking down,etc.  People were unhappy about the state of the pool and the rest of the site plus the poor standard and lack of work done on snagging lists.  After a lot of shouting the developers agreed to do an audit of every house to list each individuals house and faults and rectify them and to rectify the site problems.  Everyone voted not to pay any community fees until the ALL the problems were seen to and we were satisfied.  Also, with regard to fees, the developer agreed that once fees were paid they would pay the fees for all the empty houses.  This referred mainly to the houses in the second phase which had no licence of habitation because of the need for a new road infront of them.  The developers said they were working closely with the new mayor and were confident that the matters resolution would be speeded up.  Lola suggested that some fees needed to be paid to cover setting up costs and this was agreed.  Once a bank account was opened no payment from it could be made without all 3 signatures of Antonio, Alvaro and Lola.

Another bone of contention was the fact that we had no phone lines.  According to the developers Telefonica had grossly under-estimated the number of houses being built in the area and hadn't laid enough cables.  This matter was now being looked in to by both the developers and Telefonica next week at a joint meeting.  Some people on the urbanisation had started bricking up the walls on both sides of their middle terrace and they were told that they had done it without community approval and without their neighbours approval.  One woman said she had done it and that it was nobody else's business.  This caused a huge argument and they were told that this would not be allowed in the future.  I'm not clear what was being done about the walls that have already been built.  I think other rules and standards will be discussed at later meetings.  From now on all communication between the developers and the community will be via the President and the Vice-President.

Personally I went away annoyed and depressed.  I feel I have been misled and lied to.  If I knew then what I know now I would not only not have bought a house there, even though I like it there, I would not have bought a new-build.  I most certainly would never buy Off-Plan.  This is as much as I can report inbetween translations, being shushed and listening to heated arguments in Spanish.  Let's hope it all works out for the best.  Lola seems to know her stuff and Alvaro doesn't take prisoners.

I was at Manilva Heights yesterday looking at a property, I found your article very interesting and it has made me think twice about buying there, any chance you could give me a list of good and bad points, I have two children aged 5 and 8  and I was also wondering if there were other children living in the area. We were told the pool would not be opened until all 49 houses were sold and a committee was formed, they were also vague regarding community charges. You had major problems with your electric, would you recommend we hired an electrician prior to moving in if we do buy. After your house was flooded did the developers repair all damage? My partner is a painter and decorator and did comment paintwork was a bitty shoddy. Did they clean the house and terraces prior to your entery date?

Have you had major problems with damp?

Can you get satellite television?

Any word on telefonica and phone lines? or is Wi fi available?

Does Manilva have a town pool?

Sorry for so many questions I just want to ensure I am fully aware of the situation in order to make a decision

Many thanks

Angela 

Hi Angela,

Sorry to be so negative about the place but so far it hasn't been a very smooth process.  There are positive points about the place so I don't mean to put you off.  Firstly, the views are fantastic and the village is very pretty.  Starting the morning by having breakfast on your own terrace in the sun is priceless.  Once the pool is put right and licensed we will all be a bit happier, but until then it is a very short drive to any number of beaches and my 2 grandchildren aged 8 and 13 have just had a wonderful time.  The choice of excellent restaurants in the area is incredible and they are all totally different in cuisine. 

The committee has been formed but, as yet, I am not aware of anything happening although things might be going on behind the scenes.  There has been no word about community fees to my knowledge which I find surprising.  However, I have it on very good authority that the lady who has been appointed as the administrator is very professional and gets things done.

I would most definitely recommend that you employ an electrician to check things over and, come the time, I can put you in touch with somebody if need be. The workmanship is shoddy but is easily put right, it's just an annoyance.  Damp is a problem wherever you go along the Spanish coast.  You can buy some cheap de-humidifiers from Carrifore which soak the water through crystals which last about 3 months.  There are also some electrical de-humidifiers which we have and, in my opinion, are a better investment.  They did repair the drain and the walls when we were flooded but they did not re-polish our marble floor.  When we did our snagging list we were told that all they would do to the floors was sweep them, so we paid €600 to have them polished and now we have been told that they have been polishing the floors for some people for free.  We do have Sky satellite, but you need to pay for it through a UK bank account.  I'm not aware of a town pool in Manilva and we still have no word on Telefonica, but I have been told that the excuse the developer gave us for the lack of phones is false.

I hope this answers your questions.  I have been told that all of this is normal for a new-build!!!!!!!

Hi, can anyone tell me what is the latest re the development, all seems to have gone quiet.

Is the community associaton up and running? What is happening with phase 2, has work started on the road?

Just trying to get an update ahead of a visit.

Thanks

Hi Gedg,

Yes the community is up and running, the president seems to be a nice bloke but the meetings are all in Spanish.  It seems that the bye-laws passed are for everyone else and not for the Spanish.  If you're Spanish your dog can bark all day and night and can crap on the grass round the pool, your kids can throw stones in the pool whilst  playing football around it.  Plus your cats can wander in and out of peoples houses as they like.

I haven't heard any news about the licences for the other sides of the urbanisation at all but that doesn't mean that nothing is happening.  I wish i could give you more positive news than that.  The road down the side of the south facing houses is a mess and lorries are still travelling up and down it all day long.  The good news is that the building work on the urbanisations at the end of that road seems to be near completion.  The high cranes have gone and the shutters are up on all the windows of the apartments, so it looks like they are just waiting for buyers.