Question for Maria

just came back from our second visit to our appartment 3 weeks after completion we have a ground floor appartment block 27 horrified to find.  damp and mould on the walls from the ground up in the lounge and various places in the main bedroom. reported to keymare who said they were aware of the problem ( though no one told us )and said the constructor would be fixing it has anyone else encountered this problem. we have paid a lot of money like you all and want a proper repair job not just a lick of paint or this will be a recurring problem if anyone else is in this block especially ground floor please reply i know our neighbours are not returning until easter god knows what state yheir appartment will be in

Hi

We know the people who have bought in block 27 -02 & they were in Spain last week as well as ourselves. When they visited the development & looked through their windows, they could see that the wardrobes in the main bedroom had all been pulled out.

I will email them to let them know about this situation.

Thanks

Noreen

 

We have a ground floor apartment too and when we were over in September, we noticed a little bit of paint flaking off through damp by the door to the second bathroom.

My keyholder says it hasn't got any worse and Keymare have been made aware. They said that there had been a leak in the place upstairs and this is what has caused it but I'm not convinced.

I checked the circuit diagram for the pipes and there's one right behind that part of the wall (for the aircon) so I reckon it might be leaking there.

Anyway, my wife is going out next so she'll kick a** if necessary!

Cheers

 

We have No 5 (inward facing duplex) and were last out in September, and all looked OK. We have snagging going on at this moment so I will check with our agents (medsea) who are overseing the work,  to see if they can check through or ask a few questions. We will not be untill Spring so I am now very concerned. Any one - any news - please let us know.

Rob

We have just been to our apartment for 10 days & have had a problem with damp in the 2nd bedroom.

Key Mare supposedly sorted it out & did a patch up job with the paint (you could still see the "tide" mark) but over the course of our stay the paint has been flaking off & the black mold marks are back.

We understand that there are quite a few apartments in block 28 & block 30 that have damp issues.

Strongly suggest that anyone on the verge of completing gets someone to inspect the property before completion.

Noreen

Check out the gardens sprinklers.

 

In block 27 the side adjoining the tennis side is all ways flooded and to the front the lower wall is all ways wet from poorly set up Sprinklers. I did notify the builders, but as usual no reply.

Its not the sprinklers in ours - its on a dividing wall not an outside one.

Others that I have heard of have damp on all the living room walls to at least half way up them.

Agree that the sprinklers need to be adjusted so that they do not spray directly onto an outside wall though.

Noreen

We were also over at Christmas and the builder had been in doing some snagging to damp on the wall by the front door (block 9 on first foor) that we did not have 5 weeks previous in November, nor had we got this on our snagging list!. Some of the snagging that is being done is not on our list, so the builders seem to have a list of their own. Trouble is the mess they are making is worse than if it was left not done. Also, beware of checking that the contents in your apartment are all still there and not disappearing. We have had items going missing from the bathroom; electric shaver, aftershave, perfume, manicure set, hair slides/clasps.

Stella & John

I would strongly suggest that those of you that have "open" outside terrace areas which have a drainage channel, remove the cover from the drain in case there is a heavy downpour.

I "key-hold" for a number of properties which are, on the whole, left unattended for long periods of time. I have noticed that, during extreme weather conditions, due to there being no gutters, there can be a build-up of water which sometimes settles near to the front and patio doors. Once you remove the drain cover, the water drains faster (also check that the "trap" isn't full of silt or leaves).

Regards,

Lorraine.

PS. Don't forget to put your drain cover in a safe place, it's surprising where they end up!!!

the picture all by its self should have been with this text,sorry

whilst checking the apartments we look after we are finding many ground floor units looking like this

we do take photographs and issue them to keymare and follow it up

You might find your insurance company will insist you have a key holder for your insurance to be valid should you ever need to claim

in the future .

There are many people who offer this service in the area ,they can catch the problem early on if you use one

but use one that is legal i have been told the police are starting to make checks , as with renting your property out

i have been told the tax man is checking web sites

dave 

Hope this is a picture of one of the apartments on Andalus Hills?

Wouldn't want any prospective purchasers/renters to get the wrong impression about Thalassa DB.

Could damage EVERYONES reputations!!!!

Regards to you and yours,

Lorraine  Braid.

That picture looks familiar!

Like Noreen, our problem is with a dividing wall; they came and did it once but when we were back at Christmas, we noticed it had come back again.

I intend to speak to my solicitor about this on Monday.

Cheers.

Lorraine

This is happening on Thalassa so how can it be giving a wrong impression?

We have got the situation in our apartment & know of others in block 27 & block 30 where it is even worse.

It isn't about these pictures giving the wrong impression, it is about shoddy workmanship & appalling aftersales.

Noreen

Lorraine

Sorry ,it is from the thalaus it was taken yesterday whilst anita was doing the weekly checks

it is block 9 ground floor on the thalaus   not the hills

whilst i was fitting the lights a couple of weeks ago i told the owner there was damp along the kitchen / hall wall

she reported it to keymare on her snagging list  it has now spread all along the lounge party wall and under the bedroom window  

i have sent keymare 5 photographs of the apartment and a cc to the owner

i put the picture on the site to make people aware of some of the problems that are arising

on the site and to use the keyholding facilities you and i do .Keymare promote the concept of owners having a keyholder and

having the property checked once a week ,as if there is a problem and they are informed the damage done can be limited

it was not my intention to scare people off from buying or renting on the site ,

if i have done that i apoligise for the posting

dave

In reply to Noreen,

I would not wish to give the impression that everything on Thalassa is tickety-boo!!

I am well aware of the problems that some owners are having, and I can fully understand their frustration at not being "on the spot" when wanting to deal with these issues. There must be no worse feeling than seeing "second hand" the effects that water damage can have.

During the festive season, a great deal of the "snagging" work (which was being carried out prior to this), has petered out, and as we are about to celebrate All Kings Day here in Spain, this means that telephone calls are going unanswered, e-mails are not being responded to, workers are not on site etc., etc., (you get the picture!)

Hopefully, it will be full steam ahead once the celebrations are out of the way, and the New Year will bring about more positive results for all those who are feeling less than happy with the after-sales and customer support.

Lets not lose sight of the big picture here.

If you purchased a new house in the UK which suffered from the same problems, you would be able to converse in your mother-tongue, actually see people face to face, and complain like merry-hell, safe in the knowledge that you don't have to book a flight at (sometimes) considerable cost/hire a car etc. before confronting the issues.

I am not trying to ignore what is going on, just keep a balanced view of the proceedings, whilst keeping my eagle-eyes peeled so I don't miss any patches of damp!!

 

Lorraine

I am fully aware that Christmas & New Year have happened & 3 Kings is about to happen. ( I don't live in a bubble - get the picture?)

The poor aftersales & lack of response from Key Mare is not a new situation & has been occuring for months, so these events cannot be used as an excuse.

I am perfectly capable of dealing with these issues without hopping on a plane but feel that more progress would be made if KM were committed to resolving the issues.

Still, I shouldn't complain, at least the water drains from the patio now, and KeyMare took the opportunity to complete a long-list of "snagging". HURRAH!!!

Although when you make posts such as this one, I guess you don't have a lot to complain about, particularly as I am told that KM are concentrating on the urgent snags first (like damp & air con issues). If you can "jump" the queue, "buck" the system or whatever by being on site, then your experience could be considered more balanced than ours. 

Noreen

 

This message was last edited by nfm2862 on 1/5/2008.

This message was last edited by nfm2862 on 1/5/2008.

Hi

Happy  New Year  to all.......

 Sorry to read that there seems to be a significant problem with damp at Thalassa. It's not a totally unique problem but it does appear to be

more prevalent on your complex. I had a bit of a 'mould' problem (faint dark patches appearing) next to the front entrance door (on the dividing wall)

and also under the main bedroom window. Fortunately I paid a personal visit to check out the problem - the only thing KM seemed capable of doing

was to say that they had received my emails but that was as far as any response went!

A bit of fairly easy investigation found the two potential sources for the problem:

1. I found a hole in the wall where the upstairs apartment patio had not been finished off properly (where the edge of the tiles meets thewall). Water was clearly running

 into the hole and downwards so of course the damp was coming through the wall below.

It was farily straightforward 10 min job to fill the hole with silicone sealant and then top off with some spare tiling mortar to cap off the gap.

2. The main bedroom window hadn't been properly sealed with silicone and water was able to seep into two gaps, which is probably where

the damp was coming in from to the bedroom wall. Again I simply finished off the job properly.

Hopefully these remedies have cured my particluar problems but the message in the story is that there are certain flaws in these constructions and KM

have clearly got the profit bug to the cost of their quality assurance strategy. These type of complaints will badly dent

KM's reputation and obviously their provision for aftersales service is so stretched that they cannot keep up with the demand to remedy the number of reported snags.

It was easier and quicker to fly out myself and sort the problems out (plus an excuse to top up my tan!!!!).

One thing I would agree with is DAVIDANS observations about keyholding and it's important to find someone who will keep an eye on your beloved property

on a weekly basis but also get these type of snagging problems sorted for you.

It is of course a little naive to expect perfection as morally and rightly we should, having owned 2 new properties in the U.K and a refurbished older property, standards are not

always so great over here and there are plenty of nightmare stories from owners of new property in our home country.

KM had a really good and deserved reputation but their standards have evidently dropped  - it would be a great shame to see this reputation evaporate and at a time when the property market both here and in Spain is

quickly diminshing in demand. The company needs to step up a couple of gears and make a concerted effort to sort out these unacceptable type of problems.

Damp is bad news and should be treated as a priority issue !!!!

I wish you all well and hope that your snagging issues are put right soon.

Regards,

Dave Hall - Andalus Hill (groundfloor apartment)

P:S:- EYE OF SPAIN - WHY NOT INVITE KEYMARE TO PROVIDE

A RESPONSE TO THESE ISSUES?

 

 

 

Returned from Thalassa today (5th Jan) after 10 days

There was no sign of damp when we arrived but after a few days damp patches appeared on most of the walls.

We contacted MRI and were told they were meeting with Keymare and the builders to try and resolved the damp

problems. MRI aftersales visited our apartment and said they will keep us informed.

My husband turned off the sprinklers as our bedroom wall was soaked every time they came on.

Di and Paul Block 27

I agree, in that issues such as damp and poor finished build quality need to be raised and highlighted. Maybe name and shame may help. Damp is certainly bad news.  I do think that it may be time for some group action. A meeting with Keymare at Exec level maybe? They certainly need to be informed. Is any one getting any replies yet to EMails?