Allison - blackmailed by my builder - is it legal

We have just returned from a fortnight in our apartment. While there we met several other owners, The Parkers, Kyleman, Pauline & Peter, and five or six other couples. Everyone was incredibly helpful to us.  We found the site very well kept and extremely attractive. We had huge fun going around the shops buying furniture and other necessary household items.   We loved every minute of our visit except for the time we wasted trying to get workmen to understand us, getting our keys sorted out with Ana, dragging luggage, furniture, shopping etc up the stairs as the lifts do not work yet. Our snagging list was not addressed although we received many promises of "tomorrow" when one of us would sit in the apartment waiting for workmen who never turned up. Our air conditioning did not work and was only finally fixed the day before we left. We seem to have a nasty drain smell in both bathrooms as there do not seem to be S bends in the drainage pipes. We have asked for this to be fixed, but have been told by the workmen that this is quite normal. Does anyone else have experience of this ?

We are in building 14 and know that three other apartments have been sold in that building, one of which is now up for resale. If the other owners in building 14 are on this site, please let us know.

Hi Thea / Peter . Welcome to the site and back to the UK. Glad to hear you had your AC fIxed,  I contacted Pauline the other day and no request for the key so our AC still needs fixing, did they say what the problem was?  As regards the S bend problem in the bathroom, just before we left we had a workman come round and insert an S bend in the guest bathroom.  He just appeared and as such I thought he was working his way round the site as he had the jailer with him ( the guy with all the keys ).  I asked about the main bathroom, no S bends fitted, but he indicated not needed so we shall have to see.  Will be in touch.

Brian

Hi

We have raised the question of the S bends before with Fran Vega and he told us that the silver disk in the floor was a large S bend for each bathroom.  Having not had a look inside we could not argue but being a builder/plumber in the UK we did not feel that this was quite right.  There was a smell in the show apartment (block 17) as soon as it opened which led us to believe there were no S bends fitted.  Definitely something that needs sorting out en block.

We do not know whether this is common in Spain but having looked around we have seen developments with and without S bends.

We will be contacting Ana next week and would suggest everyone else bombards her as well. 

Mike/Carol

Fran Vega is no longer with the company, he was gone at the end of June apparently. The plumber and Oscar both looked at our plumbing and insisted we did not need S bends as the main S bend was under the metal plate on the floor. Peter took the metal plate off the floor while they were there and they opened the tap on the bidet, looked into the hole in the floor and pronounced that all was as it should be. Furthermore, they both insisted they could smell nothing and therefore would do nothing. We were appalled. Ana Garcia was on holiday for our last week there, so we could do nothing further, but I did report to my lawyer who said she would take it up with Victor Sanchez.

We are going back to Spain at the end of October for several weeks and will make serious noises if nothing has changed.

Hi All

Well we're about to go over to our apartment for the third visit since we completed (back in June).  We've lived in the apartment with the temporary water and electricity for a week at a time and it's been more or less fine except that the lifts weren't operational and there's always the worry that the water lorries will run out !!  We've had two different renters in our apartment (July and early this month).  The first loved it so much he's booked again for next year and the second - which was a work colleague - loved the apartment but wasn't enamoured with the building work still going on.  They also had problems with the drain in the ensuite bathroom which although it has since been fixed it's only now occurred to me that there could be a problem due to the lack of S bend - so thank you for making me aware.  I will take this up with Ana.

Who would have thought that three years after buying the plot that the builders would still be on site !!  I have a friend who's bought in the Murcia region.  She had temporary electricity from the construction generator for nearly a year and didn't pay anything at all.  Seems crazy but this might be the Spanish way !!

Look forward to meeting you all one day - See you and Mike next week Carol and good luck with your move !

Isobel and Kenny

Hi everyone.  I tend to agree with the Macs we have been over twice since completing and not had any real problems, apart from still no Air Con and the lifts (we are on the top floor).  We had one day when the water stopped but a phone call to the office soon had it reinstated.  Not aware of what the problem was, maybe the workmen had shut off a valve.  As regards the development still being a work site the main problem we experienced was the building work going on not on our site but across on the other hill looking towards Gib. (we are in block 4 ) with a digger working on site such that every time it went into reverse its warning beeper sounded.  Maybe seeing as we are not being charged for services at present then we should not knock it to much but all move out for the winter months, mind you if that happened then I think something would happen quick as I do not think the electric and water supply would cope.

I see from Thea / Peter thread that Ana has been on holiday.  I hope not long term as I have been trying to get hold of her to get my AC fixed.  Any one else had a problem this week contacting the site office?

Brian ( Kyleman)