Spanish Free to air - where to point dish?

Can Any one help I have had different answers for the same question one from the lawers they said yesy you can move into your house on completion as long as the L.F.O is applied and completion payment is required at that time. The agent says No as there will not be any services connected and the equivalant NHBC cert will not be issued and payment will only be required when all paperwork has been completed. So does any one know how it actually happens.

peter

The way I understand it - is that you can complete without it if your paying cash, you cannot get a mortgage without it , and if you do complete without it you will be on builders supply for electricity and gas and cannot get services connected as the address doesn't legally exist.  I have been told by our solicitor they think the license will be granted around October time!  Which means we will have been waiting almost a year to complete!

Hope this helps

Jo

Hello Catrin55

This is a very difficult area My property is not down to complete until Dec.31 2007 so we could be looking at a vert eventful future. Thank you for the information

peter

Hi, Just to say that we have completed with a mortgage. We are on builders supply of water and electricity until the LFO is granted. (no charge)

We paid Taray the connection fees with the final payment and they will automatically get our supplies connected when the LFO is granted. Some people will not complete without the licence but Taray has a very good reputation and our lawyers and the bank did not have a problem with the LFO not being granted yet.

Dont know if this helps but good luck to those waiting to complete.

Regards

Pat 

Hi

Just to say we were holding out for the LFO as we were due to complete in March and would not complete without it, but after a lot of thought and re assurance from our solicitor and  Mortgage Lender we were advised to go ahead and complete as there would be not problem with the LFO as taray have such a good reputation , we also paid the connection fees with the final payment for Taray, we completed last month. Hope this helps as I know it is a worrying time, and can only share our experience with you.

Best wished

Julie and Steve

Thank you for your addvice it does not look so bad  we are moving out in November and have not been shore how long to rent for, so see you all then

peter

Hi All

Like many people we have looked on various threads/websites for info on LFO habitation licences.
We have decided not to complete until the licence is in place even though our property has been availaible since April but are a little concerned as to how long it will take to get the licence.
We read somewhere that in order for LFO to be granted any satellite dishes, window grills and even private pools that are not on the original builders plans will need to be removed/filled in.
As there are now people on site who have had pools installed we were wondering if this will affect our LFO. Does anyone know if the LFO is for individual properties or a phase as a whole.

Hi

i have just e-mailed our solicitor to ask that same question - and will post the reply when received. Like you - we will not complete until all the legal documentation is in place - but our property will not be ready until July 08 - so fingers crossed !!

Hi All

The LFO still appears to be a grey area & we still can't find out when it is likely to be granted.

At the end of last week they started clearing  a lot of rubbish from the Manzana 4 quarter villas & the end of the road where the swimming pool will eventually go. The central green area behind the detached villas is still a tip as the builders portakabins are there & loads of rubble.

All the individual satellite dishes have been taken down except 2 which are still remaining.

We would think looking at the state of the site that is still  a long way off being granted, but hope we are wrong. We have not been able to get confirmation from our solicitor or agent whether the LFO is granted in stages or only once the whole site is completed so are eager to hear what other people can find out.

Hi All

I complete next March and have not budgeted for connection fees. Can anybody tell me how much this will cost?

Cheers

Dave

Hi all

we have had no joy trying to find out about the L.F.O. Our solitictor has not given a straight answer - only that we will not be expected to complete on our property until ALL the required legal documentation is in place.

Do I feel reassured??

It's not making it very easy to plan what and when we do things. Just about to move into rental accomodation here - but to rent in Spain would be cheaper

We are going out to Spain next week and will visit the site - so will ask in the site office - if one is still there and will let you know what, if anything, we find out !

Hi, Laserman

About the connection fees ...

I think what happens is that on completion, we pay Taray €300 and they arrange for connection to mains electricity and water.  If the LFO has been issued at the point of completion, then it shouldn't take too long to get off builder's supplies.  Famous last words!

Diane

hi all,

there is a sense of deja vous reading these recent posts regards the LFO. about a year ago this was something we discussed a lot on this forum and many people were convinced it would be granted for the first few phases very soon. i said then and i stick by it today that the LFO will not be granted until sometime after the whole development is completed. this is after taray has built the pools the gardens and any other planned facilities. i believe completion of the whole site is due sept/oct 08 ? at some point after this time the local authority will visit, the site and if everything is ok then it will be granted. how long after completion date for this to take place, who knows? 6 months? a year? we could be talking mid 09 ! before we get this licence.

with this in mind we decided we wanted out of our contract. we were due for completion 1st feb 07. we bought feb 06 so waiting 1 year was hard enough. it is now nearly 8 months overdue at this point. no one explained this possible delay at the outset. we want our money back and the chance to go back over to look for something else ( probably a resale ) that has ALL the paperwork. if we find somewhere we could have it before christmas? i'm just not prepared to hand over all  my money before they have finished the site and the LFO is in place. as of last week we seem to be getting somewhere after much arm twisting but i'm reluctant to say too much for obvious reasons.

taray are a good builder but i think it is naive to trust them. look at the disaster for some residents at balsicas site who's properties are a matter of metres away from the new bridge over the railway line. we nearly bought here! taray conveniently omitted telling anyone about it. i think that is outrageous ! and what were these peoples solicitors doing ? this should have been picked up long ago. did some agents know about this but forgot to mention it also?

agents, solicitors and taray may tell you it is ok to complete, but of course they would. i'm just not that trusting. i feel with the LFO they have spun so many stories to so many people that frankly i'm tired of it and tired of waiting.

don't be fooled by anyone telling you the LFO is "just around the corner". look at taray balsicas site. they are 6/9 months ahead of us and no sign of it here! our solicitor admitted to me the new apartment he has been renting for 2 years doesn't have this licence either.

if the lack of this licence is not a problem to some. fine!  to those who want it in place before they complete i would suggest be prepared for a long wait.

regards,

ken..

If the pool and sports facilities are to be municipal, and not owned by owners on Hacienda San Cayetano nor paid for through community fees, as our solicitor has recently confirmed, then surely those facilities will not be considered when LFO for the development is assessed or granted.

Or am I making the mistake of applying British logic to a Spanish situation?

Who knows?

Diane

hi diane,

firstly i did not know the sports facilities are to be municipally run. we were told originally that the pool would be communal for the residents. we found out later that it was to be council run and now you are telling us the same for any sports facilities.  that's the type of thing i find very disappointing and why i don't trust what taray say.

as far as  i am aware the pool and sports facilities are part of the "development"  that taray has in it's brochures and plans. therefore they will have to build these according to these plans to satisfy the council.  

ken..

Hi, Ken

Yes, when we bought, we too were under the impression that the pool and sports facilities were part of the development and as such we would have 'part ownership' and a joint responsibility with other owners to pay for them through the community charge.  All the promotional literature, in both Spanish and English, seemed to point to that too.  The first time we visited the site and got all the sales patter, the only thing that was mentioned about the pool and sports facilities was that those plans were still to be approved and it was not known where exactly on that plot of land the pool would be situated.  No mention of municipal was made.

Our agent's website at the time of purchase referred to  "communal pool", and many other sites continued to do so.  I was surprised that our agent later changed their website to say nearby municipal pool and subsequent phases of the development would have pools for owners' exclusive use.

A representative of the same agent seems to have assured a member of EoS that the pool will be communal and all will become clear once the community is set up!  Left and right hand ....

There is a mention in our contract, or one of the annexes, of swimming pool, but according to our solicitor, that is just a general illustration and not specific to our development.  However, I did have to wait over a year for this reply ...

Another interesting point is that somewhere on EoS I have read that should things go wrong and the buyers end up getting their money back, then this should be paid with interest at the current rate.  Our contract says that in these circumstances, the interest rate will be 0%.  Why was this not picked up by our solicitor, who we are paying to work for us, not the agent and not the builder?  Perhaps I already know the answer to that one - the solicitor was recommended by the agent.

Diane

Hi Diane,

Just out of interest, when did you originally purchase? It seems to be that as time goes on more and more amendments are being made . The only thing that remains constant is the lack of transparancy as to the true facts! You say;

"I was surprised that our agent later changed their website to say nearby municipal pool and subsequent phases of the development would have pools for owners' exclusive use.

A representative of the same agent seems to have assured a member of EoS that the pool will be communal and all will become clear once the community is set up! "

Does this mean that your agent believes that the municipal pool at the local school has been built at the expense of the pool at our development which is detailed in the brochures?  I know that Taray reserve the right to modify their plans but if they don't intend to build one at all for our side of the development then that would be completely out of order. As you say, the pools on the other side of the road will be for the sole us of the residents there. We won't have access to these . Like you we made the mistake of using a solicitor recommended by our agent. If we buy elsewhere we will not make the same mistake again.

As regards the interest i'm not sure about that. We believe it is 4%

Regards,

Elaine & Ken..

Hi Everybody

I purchased 30/05/06 a Penthouse for completion March 2008. I was told by Taray that there would be a Swimming Pool and Sports facilities for the community. I am now horrified to learn this is now in doubt. I to use a solicitor recommended by Parador. I have sat back a little just waiting for completion but feel I now need to get pro active. I am going out to the development in 2 weeks. Does anybody want me to ask any questions while I am there?

Dave

Hi, Ken

My understanding is that a pool and sports facilities will be built on the plot of land shown in the plans.  The pool will be run by the builders for 30 years and then turned over to he Town Hall.  I think the pool by the school is in addition to the one shown in the plans.

Have you checked your contract about the interest?  Ours definitely says 0%.

Diane

Hi, again

We bought in April 2006 - Good Friday - Friday the 13th! 

Laserman

We too bought a penthouse for completion in March 08 (Block 6) through that agent.  Anything you can find out about the pool/sports facilities etc would be helpful, although others have tried and there is a collection of conflicting information on this site.  I'd be interested to know if the builder plans to finish the block earlier too.

In short, anything you can find out ...

Diane