Just Testing

Max your last post was so funny I nearly fell off my chair.

 

As Max has already reported we had a 5 hour shambolic meeting. Every subject was debated endlessly and the same points made over and over again. Sometimes even after we had voted they continued to debate the same thing.  The drama was entertaining. It seemed surreal sitting talking about how rubbish Arrohabitatge is and agreeing to sue them with Nuria and her sister sitting there. At times Nuria got into ding dong arguments with some of the Spanish neighbours which were a sort of side show to the main meeting and they had to be told to be quiet. This is Spain and this is the way they work so there is no point getting upset and we did actually make some progress. My apologies for the length of this post but I have tried to give as much information as possible.

The road beside the railway which is to be called Boulevard Street cannot be built until the railway company agree so it was proposed by Nuria and agreed to threaten the railway company that if they don’t give permission soon the residents will block the track! I am not sure if they really will but they discussed when to do it and about making banners and inviting the press and TV. The president will decide if the railway company does not respond positively what action to take. This was the only decision which Nuria supported.

There are serious defects in the buildings and as Arrohabitatge have not responded to the report prepared by GICS (the administrator) we agreed to have a professional report prepared which will have legal standing. The “Special tax” which we will have to pay on 15^th March to cover the preparation of the report and lodging it with the court will average around 50€ with 1 bedroom owners paying less and 3 bedroom owners paying more. Unfortunately this is becoming normal in Spain and we had no viable alternative. There was agreement to appoint a representative for each block and for that representative to advise the administrator of any snags and particularly problems when it rains as these may have been missed in the initial report. However we did not actually agree who the representative for each block should be. I suggest if you are willing to represent your block let the administrator know and if there is no one else already representing your block you get the job! The administrator also needs to know if there are any structural defects within your apartment – cracked walls etc as this is part of the fabric of the building which will be included in the community report. Non structural faults within your apartment such as defective tiling etc are not to be included.

There is confusion over what initial community charges have been collected by Arrohabitatge and not passed on to GICS. There will be a list published on the community website of the money received from each owner and you are asked to check it and let GICS know if you paid money which they have not received. The budget and accounts will also be put on the website but they’re not there yet.

We are all on “builders supply” water. Although this is free the quality is not guaranteed. The reason we are not on mains water is because of a deal done by Arrohabitatge with a small water company who is not licenced to supply us. The proper water company is to fix the installation and start supplying water but they do not seem in a hurry to do it. We want a satisfactory solution and continuous supply of sufficient pressure to be satisfactory in even the highest apartments and GICS will work with the developer to urge the water company to complete the work but we did not agree to pay Arrohabitatge anything in the meantime.

It was agreed to arrange group action to sue the builder for any Plus Valia tax and mortgage cancelation fees paid and the deadline for providing receipts etc to join the action is, I think, 15^th March. If I understood correctly you can also sue for defects in your apartment which have not been fixed.

The debate on security was 1 of the longest (and I am to blame for making it longer by suggecting all the alternatives to employing a guard). Apparently you need 100% agreement to install cameras as they intrude on people’s privacy and you need someone to watch them anyway. Maximo had a proposal for a properly employed security guard which will cost 9€ per hour. This will cost an average of 6.50€ on the community charge but was already in the budget. This was agreed although I registered against for 1 of the proxies I held.

We are allowed to erect the mini dishes required to make Don Juan a “hotspot”. GICS is to investigate this further as only 3 are required to cover the site. We would then only have to pay a monthly subscription for wireless connection plus VOIP phone of 20€ per month.

Aircon wasn’t really discussed. Maximo just told us the units were only allowed on the terrace, at a level they would not be visible from the road and must be a minimum of 1.5metres from your neighbour’s patio doors. On 1 and 2 bed apartments this means they would have to be between the patio doors or partway along the dividing wall with your neighbour’s terrace. I am not sure that this is workable and will try to get clarification from Maximo.

I had listed all of the issues raised on this site and by individuals. Max gave the administrator a copy of the list the day before the meeting and when the meeting dissolved (everybody just started leaving) I spoke to Maximo who promised to hold regular meetings with the “Committee” to make progress on all of them. Max (and I when I’m there) will do our best to make these meetings happen and to get Sky installed quickly. Any questions????

Thanks to Max and DavMunster for the comprehensive and entertaining reports on the Community meeting.  I can well imagine what the meeting was like and I think a lot was achieved given the circumstances.  I fully support the special levy for hiring the professional to report on the structural matters etc, I presume we will be notified in due course of the individual amounts to be paid. I also think the security measures proposed are a good compromise until something better or less costly can be organised.

I suppose if I were to list the most pressing items needing attention, I would choose the access road, the water supply, the structural problems and the pools.

Until the railway company agree on the road, is it possible I wonder to at least get the developer to put down some gravel where the road is particularly bad for instance near the railway bridge?

There seems to have been no mention of the pools at the meeting.  Is this correct?

Also do we know how many completions are outstanding and how many apartments are actually unsold?

Hi Gericom

There was no mention of the pools (needless to say it was on the list!). The problem with the poughed field effect near the bridge is caused by the torrent of water that flows down from El Higeron when it rains. We can try and get it smoothed out but if it rains again it will come back.

There are 68 appartments which the administrator has no notification of being completed but the developer only registered 33 as still in thier possession so there are probably 35 that they have simply not passed on the details to the administrator. Of the 33 we don't know how many are not sold.

Thanks to Max and David for reporting the results of the meeting on EOS. Interesting point about the group action and the wifi connection. I would be interested in the internet / voip how can we get more information on this? Also would be interested in the group action for recovery of plus valia and mortgage cancellation fees. How many people have joined this action so far? and what would be the costs per person? how do you join? does it matter if like most people you signed a waiver to these rights at the notary?

Hi RG, There are apparently a number of internet access providers who use the same infrastructure. One such provider is www.VIP-WIFI.com I cannot say this is the provider we will use but their website explains how it works and will give an idea of costs etc.

We all "signed our rights away" at the Notary or our nice lawyers did it for us. This does not prevent you from being party to a claim. However the receipts, contract etc are all required by the lawyer before he can confirm that you can join. In the short term make the administrator aware that you want to join by e-mailing them at donjuan1@comunitario.es I am not sure how many people have joined so far. There is a great deal of interest and they decided to set a deadline so people would get their paperwork together so that they can get on with it.

Thanks, I have just emailed the administrators for the group action.

This message was last edited by max! on 2/13/2008.

Hi max thank you for the information.If you tile the floor by the elevater on the garage level this will need to be slanting down to the garage so as to keep the water from the store rooms as well.Also block 10 has 2 drains bye the side of there gate at the front of there block and this then takes the water  out of there block to the area where they are going to build the road and you can see the pipe and the water draining out of there block and is this what all the blocks need and should the builder do this?This is only a pipe about 2 feet under the grass and could be done to stop the water going down the steps to  the store rooms.The store rooms are unusable as they are and i am still thinking of an easy way to solve this for everyone does anyone else have any other  ideas bye irene/peter

Thank you Max and Dave for keeping us all informed, as you know i was at the so called meeting on the 23rd January and i thought your accounts of the 5 hour debarcle were spot on, can we see about selling TV rights to this soap opera? i am sure it would make avid vewing, Threats to stand in front of a train! To cut the rail Track! Protest with banners TV News and newspaper media in attendance! Developers daughters making wild threats! Stealing of electricity supply! Neighbour disputes! Court action! plus the meetings themselves with the villans (Developers daughters) in attendance, etc, etc, it beats any TV soap i have ever seen!

Keep up the good work i look forward to the next episode!

Neil.

Max, thanks for bringing up the issue of the shed. I contacted the administrators at the beginning of this week and they informed me that they were going to write to the owners instructing them to remove the offending building. Let's see what happens.