Good morning everyone!

Hi everyone, we have bought  in La Recoleta Block 2 phase one ground floor and completed on 7th June 2007. Our furniture was delivered from a UK company (Vilapak) a week after completion - the quality of the furniture is excellent  and although we had a couple of minor problems, on the whole we were very satisfied with the service.

We went out on June 20th for nine days. Our agents (Spanish Homes Just for You) had been kind enough to inititate a snags list and had already contacted the builders prior to our arrival.There were some bits which didn't take much to fix, but others which are still not finished when we returned home. The dishwasher door would not open because the tiling stood too proud, the washing machine leaked because the drainage pipe had been trapped and pierced, but the main problem was the en suite walk-in shower  - the screen does not seal properly therefore the water spills out  all over the bathroom floor. This has been reported but we're not convinced that this will be solved. Our friends who have purchased the appartment next door have the same problem with the shower so I take it this is going to be a common fault.

However, on the whole we are wholeheartedly over the moon with our appartment and the excellent quality of the building and the grounds.  It certainly looks fabulous and we have already had offers for bookings. The one worry we have is that the shutters don't lock, which is quite important to us as we are on the ground floor. We have asked our agents to mention this to the builders as we were led to believe the shutters would be lockable. If anyone has any info on locking the shutters (even if we have to pay ) would you please let us know.

We are back in Spain on August 11th for a week and would be pleased to get together with anyone who is interested.

Regards Derek and Sheila

Hello Derek & Sheila

Thanks for your posting and experience. Its good to hear you're well happy. Your snags seem minor, and i'm sure you'll get them sorted promptly.

I am on Recoleta, block 10, phase 2, ground, so its nice to hear from someone on same level. We hope to sign around Dec/Jan.

I'm going there next week for a nose around.

take care and enjoy your purchase.

ps: it'd be nice to know how quickly/effeciently your snags are completed.

Can i ask you, was your furniture included or did you buy separately.

Thanks

Hi Puja, I think that the snags that we have had fixed so far have been completed quickly because our agents have some staff who are fluent in Spanish and they have been quite persistent.

I forgot to mention that it is a good idea to have your door locks changed as the builders may still be holding a spare key. We had been advised to do this, but we realised ourselves how important this was when staying in a newly completed appartment  on La Entrada last year. We had been told that there was a water leak somewhere in our block by the President and other owners. Whilst we were out the builders entered the appartment with a spare key without our permission, but also left the door wide open and never returned. We did not have a safe in the appartment and had left all our valuables in there. We were lucky not to have been robbed but it taught us a valuable lesson. The lock to your appartment door should always come with 5 keys; if you are only given 4 then someone else has another one which may be utilised many months later to gain entry. We used a local English locksmith to change our lock, who charged in the region of 70 euros, which we thought was very reasonable. 

In answer to your question Puja, we payed separately for our furniture - the company Vilapak have a couple of showrooms in uk and some in Spain and Portugal we think. However there are a few good companies within a couple of miles of Punta Prima who do furniture packs and single items - it pays to shop around.

If anyone needs to rent any baby equipment (cots, buggies etc) we have used a good company (English people), whose rates are very reasonable and the service is brilliant.

Regards - Sheila and Derek

Hi Louisen, we feel sure that if there was a fire and the property was empty then the emergency services would just break in as they would at home. However in the case of a leak etc. the builders are aware that we have a key holder 5 minutes away from the apartment who can be contacted 24/7.

You may think that our view is a little selfish, but we are aware of too many people who have been stung many months after completion by, the wrong people getting hold of their keys and we do not intend being their next victim. We do know that some owners on Panorama Park have swapped key barrels with other owners for this very reason.

We are over in Spain again in August, and hope to get together with other owners and discuss this and other matters. It's a little difficult at the moment when we get so little time over there to get involved with community matters, which is why we joined this forum. It is great to hear other peoples views and experiences - it certainly gives us all food for thought.

We would be interested to here how everyone is getting on with snagging - ours have still not been finished, therefore we may be doing washing by hand when we arrive in August - joy!

Regards - Derek and Sheila