Are Banks cutting Back on lending

Hi Max

This is quite worrying.  I hope it's not Brits as we've a bad enough reputation for taking over things without upsetting a multi national community. Was it Brit installers or should that be cowboys?  I also hope that this will not give ammunition to the community take over bid?

As much as I enjoy my Sky viewing I'm happy to go with the flow and have whatever's available. Watching Spanish television will improve the language skills.  Bachir frequently watches TVE on Sky.  I understand about ever 50th word.  As long as I can watch my Spanish football I don't care what language the commentary is in.

 

Sonia

Hi this is why i asked how many people in each block to see if we could share 1 sky dish with less mess to everyone.But i think not many people no about this site and dont no they can share a sky dish.Also they dont no they have to ask the community first bye irene/peter

The Spanish see Don Juan as an outstanding architectural design which is very pleasing to the eye. They are also very concious of how a well disciplined community where everything matches enhances property values by as much as 20%.

We, on the other hand, see Don Juan as a group of apartment blocks built on the side of a very steep hill using mustard coloured cement. We do notice the gravity defying balconies but more because we are glad they seem to stay up than because we see them as architecturally beautiful. To us satelite TV and aircon are essential and we don't understand why anyone should object to us having them installed. We are also not used to being patient and so some have installed dishes for our own use.

For us to live together in harmony we both need to understand each other. We need to have respect for our hosts and what they value. They on the other hand need to help us by providing us with a way that we can have our precious Sky and aircon without upsetting our neighbours. To avoid many more people putting up unapproved dishes the community will need to do this as quickly as possible.

If the developer is defeated next week with the support of the ex-pat community I will be pressing Max to ensure that they come up with firm proposals for the planned community meeting in December.

Hi max does the spanish tv have any news in english or any tv channels in english thanks irene/peter

We watched the Brazian Grand Prix on a UK TV with built in Freeview plugged into the Don Juan aerial. It was very entertaining - the picture was what we were used to and the Spanish commentary added a comedy dimension. The UK Freeview decoder picked up the Spanish Digital Signal automatically. we did not find any dedicated English channels - even CNN was in Spanish but if all you want is for example the BBC News24 service - it is worth checking with a local TV installer if it is broadcast by the Spanish before investing in Sky - it is possible there is some English Channels on the free Spanish Digital Service. You can connect to this simply by connecting your TV to the socket in your living room using a normal co-axial cable but you need a Freeview decoder to pick up the digital channels.

Hi Max  and Davmunster

Even though we have made it quite plain that one of our requirements is some form of sky/cable tv so that I can watch Coronation Street ( saddo ) and Chris can watch the footie but we would not dream of doing anything without the community agreeing.- (We just hope that it will be a majority request and will be passed  ) -I do believe that there are quite a few of us who do want it and some may not even have mentioned it yet

If the illegal dishes have been put up solely by the Brits then I like some others of you are disappointed at their actions. In there defence perhaps they do not really realise that Don Juan like any developement in Spain is a community and issues are dealt with properly by vote at meetings. Are any of them known to the forum, - Could they just be 'rental' properties which is more attractive with all mod cons......

The problem is how would anybody actually get them to remove all these illegal fittings - either dishes or aircon ? If the elected officers from Don Juan are ignored can you actually remove things by force ? - If these people have put these things in without any regard for others then are they really going to take any notice if someone demands that they remove the offending objects. If not that could leave the 'law abiding' citizens with no choice but to do the same............which would obviously lower the tone even more as they say

With all the other more important problems to deal with it will be a great pity to create a divide between neighbours whatever the nationality because of this  - Obviously to stop this 'disease' spreading I agree with Davmunster it needs to be addressed properly and quite quickly it seems 

 

 

Hi Mozza

I agree that many simply do not know what the rules are or how you are supposed to act when you are part of a community. We (the English speaking part of the community) need to play our part in ensuring that our neighbours know the rules.

The Horizontal Property Act (section 7 for the anoraks) puts an obligation on the president \ vice president to "urge the offender to desist under admonition of a court order". The legal process therafter is very robust. A written warning is issued. If it is ignored the community can apply to the court for an injunction. If this is ignored the next stage appears to be "the deprivation of the defendant's right to use the premises for no more than 3 years"!

I am sure it rarely goes that far but the community has all the power it needs to deal with offenders!

Hi i think we should have put a letter in every apt post box as people where moving in to tell them they needed the community to pass a vote on these things.I still think people did not no they needed to wait for a vote on this.Also not everyone is on the web bye irene/peter

I think, to be accurate, Section 7 (2) of the Horizontal property Law refers specifically to unpermitted "activities"  by owners or occupiers such as activities causing damage to the property, those not permitted by the statutes, or unhealthy noxious hazardous or unlawful activities.  If the offender persists in such activities court proceedings can ensue.

I am not sure if erecting a satellite dish falls into this category since the law also makes specific provision for any owner to request this facility, which can then be agreed by a third of the members and I think such a motion would be approved relatively easily. .  However there seems to be no doubt that permission is required and damaging or altering communal elements without proper authorisation is not permitted.

As Max has said several times, we are the community and any owner can get a matter they have concerns about placed on the agenda for the following community meeting. All owners must get proper notice of the agenda, date, time & place etc. of a meeting so that an opportunity to vote is available.  I suppose the biggest problem for most of us will be to coincide our visits with the meetings and have the (dubious) benefit of listening to various points of view (in Spanish or English) for several hours. Nevertheless we cannot expect to have  good administration without some pain!  

This message was last edited by gericom99 on 11/2/2007.

I think Irene's suggestion that a mailshot goes to all apartments is a good, if time consuming, one. I know you said that currently information gets sent to all registered addresses but would some of these, for those of us yet to complete, be our lawyers?  Sorry I'm still trying to get my head around all the complexities. I was thinking a letter from the President, Vice President and Administrator in possible Spanish and English outlining the community regulations put in everyone's box or even under the door?  It would avoid face to face confrontation.  Well done Max for trying. It's not pleasant trying to dissuade someone from doing something as I've learnt myself living in a flat with arrogant neighbours.  (don't start me on that one!)

If I hadn't stumbled across this site I would have known nothing about community regulations etc. and would have relied on my lawyer or the developer to inform me. In England when you buy leasehold property the terms include responsibilities of both you and the freeholder.

Hi if i was over i would have sent letters to all apt my self  in there post box or under doors but dont no any spanish bye irene

I think the idea of putting leaflets into everyones letter box is a good one, and it would not take that long, as all of the post boxes are together on the wall. The only problem I see with that, is how often will people remember to check their post boxes. Maybe puting them under the doors might be better. Another issue would be the translation. There are a number of nationalities and languages on the development from  Spain, England, Ireland, Holland. Denmark, Scotland, Usa, Birmingham(only joking Mozza). Dont know if there are any others, Max would probably know, maybe French ? There are some free language translators on the internet, just go into google an search. How accurate they are, I dont know.

Westport

The free translator tools are fairly crude but they are better than nothing. For example Max suggested I use Bebel Fish. This is the translation by it of the extract from the minutes of the last meeting quoted by Max yesterday:

In addition to these precise concepts, the administration notices that the positioning of apparatuses of conditioned air, satellite dishes and other elements that can damage aesthetic or the security and comfort of the residents, will be susceptible to be denounced at the moment of the approval of the Norms, independently to the personal actions that they want or they can undertake the neighbors to own mutuum.

Seriously I think we only need to have it in English and Spanish. Most of the offenders are English speakers and the good people form the Netherlands and Denmark are a lot better at English than we are at Dutch or Danish!

This message was last edited by max! on 11/3/2007.