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Muchas gracias Casoir, Nosotros debemos esperar ahora para la carta de Preinesur y Abogados, sólo entonces hace sé que es posible.

Thank you Casoir.  We must now wait for the letter and confirmation from Prienesur and solicitors, only then can I believe it will happen.

I'm in the same boat - our valuation was carried out Dec 06 and has expired as well.

I have asked our solicitors to press for a refund as the delay has been the developer's fault.

I would imagine that the valuations will be up on what they were, despite reports that valuations in general have slowed.

There is no sign of cheap property in Duquesa.

We are just back on Thursday from Duquesa.

We arrived Sunday 23th, and were staying at The Hotel Diana Park, Estapona. Fantastic value.

We took a quick run down to Duquesa late Sunday afternoon just to see what changes there were since we were last over in May 07.

If you haven't been lately the first thing that you notice is the blue Arrogant 2000 flags have been replaced by orange PrienSewer flags.

My, that must have been an emotional day when the old flags were taken down and the new ones run up the flagpoles.

I'm real sorry I missed that day, but it is further proof, if any was needed, that PrienSewer are totally dedicated to keeping us clients in a dynamic model with lots of felicitations and hither too unknown levels of service that have ever been offered by a forward thinking and leading edge company!!

We drove up and parked on the Dodgy Road that is now being replaced, although work has not started on it yet.

We managed to get through the outer perimeter fence to have a closer look at the development, and then the sirens went off, searchlights switched on, and masses of security guards were running towards us. Well, two of them, but they were big lads.

After our last encounter with them in May, I had a new strategy - walk towards them waving hello, and yes, that did work. They stopped in their tracks, confused as to what to do.

One of the guards was a huge guy - if you are of a certain age you may remember an American detective show called Canon. Frank Canon was a hefty guy, and this security guard was a dead ringer for him, quite possibly his long lost grandson.

He turned out to be a nice helpful guy, and could speak reasonable English, unlike any one else from PrienSewer.

His info was that completion was imminent (as he hears things on site), and since all the official information we have received  to date has been useless, Big Son Of Frank will do for me. He is my new best friend.

He told us that we have been the only people to have smiled and been friendly with him - everybody else has been "very angry".

We saw  materials being delivered and there were  a few men working on electrical cable in the central avenue and carrying out  various tidying up tasks. But it would be fair to say that there were not lots of teams of guys.

We returned the next day to visit the development proper, and turned into the sales office.

I don't know who the sales guy was. Anyway, he was dressed to impress with an old t shirt and scruffy red jeans. That would go down well with prospective purchasers. Not.

As soon as we explained we had already purchased, Spainish became the only officially spoken language. No Anglais.  (Marianne has a theory that if you turned up purporting to be prospective buyers any of the sales guys could speak any language).  He could provide no information whatssoever. Neither did it occur to him to offer any kind of explanation or apology for continuing delays and no information. His response to any question put to him was  "I do not know!"       

It was at this stage that Marianne started the onstage of a major tantrum with this guy, asking him why there was no communication or information from PrienSewer.

I see one of my duties is to intervene at moments like this as there is nothing more scary than an angry woman (and Jaws and Jurassic Park have nothing to compete) but in this occasion I thought, sod him, let him take care of himself.

I  strolled out of the sales office and, in a very cool and elegant way, spluttered on a cigarette.

We were then taken round to the show flat, and to the back of our own apartment, but he was obviously in a sulky mood and wouldn't let us stroll through the rest of the development.

As PDRich has said, one pool we walked past has been tiled in a creamy white mosaic tiling,not the customary blue.

There is no doubt that the whole place is looking terrific. There has been more planting and tidying up since May, and while not yet in lush tropical mode, it is looking great. You will not be disappointed.

Security is very tight and sulks aside, that's a great thing. Not much will get past these guys.

We walked up to the east side of the development, but we couldn't see what was happening on Phases 3 and 4.

The last we heard was Phase 3 was to be either a park or affordable housing - if anyone has any info we would appreciate this.

Vial B is finished, and is looking very well.

We next drove back to the west side of the complex, parked the car up at the upper end of the road, and took a dander.

Phase 2 looks finished from the outside at least.

If you look at the back of Phase 2, there is a school playground which according to our site map would need to be cleared away to make room for our garden park and Clubhouse.

Phase 5 and 6 appear to have no work done at the roadside end since May 07, but the strange thing was there was a team of workers  beavering away on Phase 5 at the furthermost valley end.

At some visit in the past we were told that Phase 5 or 6 was to have an ApartHotel included - has anyone any further info on this ?

Now, get this. We returned to the car and drove down past our development towards the main road, and another Security guard ran into the middle of the actual road and flagged us down !

A bit belligerant, NO PHOTOS ! NO PHOTOS !

We didn't have a camera with us anyway but it does show that nothing gets past them. There must be security cameras around the site.

Our overall impression is the development is by far the best in the area. We did look at some estate agents and there is nothing in the area that compares at price/location/finish to what we all have now.

It is looking fantastic and striking, and if you are having any doubts, hang on for another while. You would have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

We were down again in Duquesa the following afternoon, and decided to park the car in Sabi and take a good walk round.

Sabi is a great place, undervalued I think, but a superb promenade and beach makes the whole area a great asset to our development.

I think our appreciation of Sabi, and Duquesa in particular, will grow as the months and years pass.

(We also "discovered" Castillo de Duquesa which we never though existed. A really lovely hamlet up next to Los Hildagos)

By the way,  we were reliably informed that DISNEY are to finish their new Hotel in the Manilva area by next year, and commence construction of the Theme  Park after that.

I know this is speculative at best, but if it is true, you can now add 50,000 immediately to the value of your apartment. This news is a fantastic boost for the whole area.

Well, that's my bit concluded, and here now follows Management's observations :-)  :

Word from Marianne  :  Will has given you a blow by blow account of our visit last week !!  If I could summarise I would say that the development is looking superb. 

There's nothing to touch it anywhere in the area for the price.  It is finished to a high standard of quality.   Of course it is bitterly disappointing that the completion has been so far delayed and that the developer has been so poor in communicating with the clients. 

However I have reconciled myself to accepting that we are simply not going to get the level of customer communication  we might expect in the UK.  The main thing is that the quality  and attention to detail has all gone into the actual development.   So far as we are concerned, whilst we do not like how we have been treated by the developer we believe it would be crazy for us to pull out now, so close to completion. We're prepared to wait it out  and look forward to enjoying our fantastic new appartment in a wonderful location.    Marianne

thanks for that guys. you sound really positive about the whole thing.  when i returned in june i was exactly the same.  it helps to go and see for yourself i think ( even if just to make sure we never all imagined having an apt in the first place).

suzanne

Thanks for the report Will and Marianne. The park has now been relocated to behind block 6,. The school behind phase 2 is a secondary school. And the affordable housing has been built in front of blocks 1 & 8 next to the Guardia Civil. Not sure about the aparthotel and club house, wouldn't be surprised if that didn't happen.

I have been informed by an acquaintance also purchasing in phase 1, that his solicitor has said that the issue of the licence is to be issued for blocks 4, 5, 6, 7, 11 & 12 in October. There is a meeting this week with the developer where more news should be given.

I do hope that this is for real and that completion will start soon.

Thanks Will and Marianne for the information i had a little spark of excitement, not too much just in case.

we found your information of your exploits very amusing i couldnt stop laughing just visualising your adventures on the development.

Lynn & Len

We received the following info from Elena ( solicitor) today relating to Phase 1.

She says blocks 4,5,6,7,11 and 12 should be released in October, we are in block 15 and she says this is scheduled for January!!

I am so bored with this farce and are rapidly running out of wine, sorry patients. Anyway she was very positive about 4,5,6,7,11 and 12 so at least half of us should get the keys soon.

Well, this is all now looking very positive indeed.

It was always going to be unrealistic that even if the whole Phase 1 (464 apartments) were given First Licence it would have to have been phased in anyway over a few months.

There is no way 464 snaggs were going to be completed overnight.

We are in Block 10, I really don't care one way or another that I am in the later phase, so long as things are moving for all of us.

Just looking afresh at the Site Map, and trying to get my head around it.

If anyone knows different please let me know, but here is my take on it :

Phase 2

At the rear of Phase 2 the map shows a large grass park, a Clubhouse (Bar & Restaurant) and seperate Sports Facility.

(At present this area is occupied by the Primary School and sports ground)

The Clubhouse and Sports Facility looks as if it has been superceded by the proposed ApartHotel situated at Phases 5 and 6.

Phase 3

This will now be a Grass Park.

Phase 4

As per Site Map

Phases 5 and 6

Now looking to be where the proposed ApartHotel will be built, presumably along with other Blocks.

Hi Wardy,

I think thats whats so disappointing, missing Xmas.

She also mentioned the OFFER of compensation as being 3% !!, I assum that we go back with 10% then 4%, 9,5,8,6, etc etc, if completion is after 30/10 then delivery is over 12 months late so should be better than 3%. Should we all be coming up with a figure that we all would except?

We went to the site in August and got chased off by 'Canon'.   We were given no info as per everyone else and refused entry to the site.  We were told they would call the police if we took photos.  Subsequent to our visit all sorts of other problems have arisen with the road etc.  This gave us a very bad feeling about the whole project.  And we subsequently cancelled.  We received our monies back today.  What a relief.    It was a sad decision, but the right one.  We have spent 4 years waiting on this to be completed and for 3 or those no info whatsoever.    I truely hope that all of you who are going the distance have a very happy outcome.  We lost confidence in the whole project.  We were just going to use the apartment for holiday breaks.  So it wasnt a life changing event.  If you are going to invest a lifes hard works worth of money in this, go check out the site very carefully and  be 100% sure this is right for you.

The Disney theme park is a myth.  A possible holiday camp for kids.  On Radio 4 last week a reporter had also been checking this out and also declared it a myth, one especially given by

an agent with bill boards all over the area.  With his big smiley face on them.

We were there on the day they were changing flags!  That was the only thing going on, apart from chasing us off.

It will have to be given a licence in the end.  Just make sure you're not all here this time next year waiting for it, or driving yourselves mad that the site is unbearable due to all the roadworks etc going on.  Sometimes you just have to take the emotion out of a situation and make the right decision.   Thats what we found ourselves doing, was pretty hard unpacking all the boxes full of stuff we had bought for the flat.  And having to explain to the childrent who we had taken on several visits to see it progressing.  Well it never actually progressed, we just visited!

Good Luck Everyone

Elaine

Will and Marianne

Thanks for the information, it was most enlightening!

As Elaine says, the Disney is not your typical theme park, but I understood that Warners were looking to build something down the coast towards Gibralter, and there is likely to be a marina development/extension in the next few years - I think our investment is good.

The primary school "appeared" last year on the site of the proposed clubhouse - along with this, the recinding of phase 3, affordable housing above the commercial centre, and now the work to THE road - all to pacify the council and get the license. The garden behind Phase 2 is pretty much as planned but I understood that there was the possibility of the clubhouse (or facilities of a clubhouse) being incorporated into the Aparthotel which is effectively Phases 5 & 6 combined (someone on the forum previously stated that he thought he'd bought on Phase 5 but was told it was the Aparthotel). Paul did say it may be between the commercial centre and Phase 1 but I doubt it. The least expensive for the developer is to combine it in the Aparthotel, the regular income from us frequenting the bars and restaurant may encourage an investor to buy it along with the commercial centre. I'd guess they would complete these before my Phase 4.

Phase 4, is still a rendered shell, and whilst not too concerned, it would be good to know there isn't a major problem.

Phase 3 I'd guess will be "garden" for now, but I don't think it's part of the park works which have commenced behind the supermarket and are fenced off with pavements going in.

There is plenty to explore and it's worth a walk along the front (towards Estapona) on market day in Sabi right up to the Moorish(?) "castle" (soon (?) to be renovated) where you can get a meal/drink at a decent beach cafe - it takes about an hour to walk there.

I'd guess that Elena is right with regard to occupation of the specified blocks as it is pretty logical in relation to the roads and the need to spread out the completions as others have said - when I go out in 3 weeks things may well be getting in full swing - just need to think how to get some photos with Cannon in attendance.The Christmas party could well be on!

David

PS You don't remember Perry Mason as well do you!! - now there's a lawyer we could have done with!!