British women are the fattest in Europe

That's really interesting!  I read somewhere that Telefonica still hadn't put lines up there and nobody could get landlines at the moment.

What's the news here?

I was wondering if they had finally agreed to put lines in as I saw a Telefonica Van parked near block 3 last week.  If you have more info on that I would be interested in finding out what we have to do.

The phone and internet service we have is from Telefonica but Myra at CAB organised for us to have a 'radio' phone until such time as there are lines.   Works the same but can only get dial up internet not broadband but we are not complaining.  Much better and cheaper than using mobile phones!!

There is a company called Connectivity Warehouse who are providing mobile broadband to a number of people in DV presently. Problem is its on a contract basis not pay as you go. There is a string on the website about it I am sure as its one of thesuppliers I have looked at on behalf of AEA.

Hello to all fellow residents of Duquesa Village. With reference to all the problems we are encountering, a group of residents  have decided to get together to find soluctions to the problems we are having with the Community.  Anyone interested, in improving our urbanisation please contact us at akwaabamorton@hotmail.com or with Costa Advice Bureau who are supporting us.  Details info@costaadvicebureau.com telephone nos 0034 952797821 or 0034 951979481. Bob and Sylvia who are permanent residents in Duquesa Village are exceptionally disapointed with the current service provided by the Community AEA. We will be attending the AGM on 27 March, should you not be available please pose any queries that you might have through us to be presented at the AGM.

(It would appear that the amount of apartments sold, a large percentage, including ourselves, are on the debtors list which would create the impression that the majority are unhappy with the financial workings of the Community AEA.)

Regards

Bob

 

 

Hi, It is good to see that individuals are concerned regarding the community and I for one second everything that has been said, but I am just afraid that if we start splitting into sub groups etc we may not get so much done.  John, Paul, Michael and Geoff are very active on this site regarding DV and we regulary meet up when we are out at the same time, John in particular has had several meetings with AEA and together we put forward a very comprehenisve agenda.  Paul and Geoff have also set up a very good DV website on wetpaint.  How about having a chat to them prior to setting up another group - just a thought!

 

Regards M

Hi Bob

I think you'll find that about 60 apartments (of which five are in judicial proceedings) is less than 20pc of the apartments sold - maybe still a fairly sizeable amount, but the list is not accurate and there are many mentioned on there who are in fact up to date with their community payments.  AEA's admin skills have been questioned before on this score!!

One has to remember that it may be Ros y Falcon still have the majority vote - although not sure on that point.  But DV is a very large community and until, I would suggest, all apartments are sold or at least the developers are off-site, it will be a major problem changing the administration company.  One would need to find a company well experienced in dealing with large communities - from what has been mentioned before on this development forum (been discussed in quite some detail over the past couple of years!), there aren't many companies who have the ability (AEA may be one of them!) to deal with such a large development.

Edited to say:  Agreed Mimmie.  I got side-tracked and you obviously posted before I sent mine in!

This message was last edited by Pitby on 3/14/2008.

Can someone help us with regard to the community charge we completed on our apartment 15.11.2007 we are John (aka Jean French spelling of John) and Karin and we find ourselves on the debtor list, a bit of a shame this is our introduction to the community but hey we will get over it :-). We have confirmation that our lawyer paid an initial fee of 300 euros and wondered if our debt of 634.23 is correct (we have every intention of settling our debt asap). We are unable to attend the meeting and if someone would be willing to act as proxy we would be very grateful, we would also like to get active with community matters and perhaps meet with some neighbours the next time we are out, any info at this stage on the monthly/quarterly community charge would help my confusion. Thanks John and Karin

Hi John,

Contact Rosa  email osaescuadra@aea-administracion.com
to obtain a statement and arrange direct debit.

I had the same problem - paid the 300 Euros on completion and assumed that the direct debit was being taken.

Because you don't get any post in DV  - it all goes down a black hole somewhere (my pet rant subject) you won't know
you have paid until you see the AGM notice !

I asked AEA a few questions about this and still waiting for answers.  As they seem capable of sending the AGM notice to my home address in the post (and emailing it to me)  why can't they do the same with community charge statements?  No answer as yet - maybe someone can ask that question at the AGM please.

Once AEA have your bank details they will have no problem is collecting the money each quarter.

As regards the amount of the charge see here.

Hi John (Jean!) and Karin

Basically, as mentioned below, the 300 will probably be the sinking fund payment.  Your quarterly fees will depend on the size of your apartment.  I would contact AEA and ask them for full details.  For a two bed I think I can say approximate fees would be around the 360 mark (although could be much less or much higher, depending on the size, terrace size, etc.).  You will owe fees from mid-November to end December (the last quarter, apportioned) and then this quarter (1st January to end March).  Next month the next quarter will be due (I was told that payments should be made by the 9th of the due month).

Do make sure that AEA apportion the Oct-Dec. quarter, as they didn't with us and we had to point it out to them, as we completed mid-February.

Hope that's helpful!!

Thanks very much for the very quick replies we have received this has been very helpful and we will contact AEA to confirm. We will certainly be keeping our eyeonSpain via the forums. Regards John and Karin

Hi Bob/ Cornwell,

you mention 'a group of residents' have been formed. I dont want to sound petty or anytthing.

I'm sure you are doing a good job in promoting your group and costadvicebureau (which costs 95+ Euros to be a member ). They do certainly seem to be a useful site to know about. Have you for example, negotiated a special deal with costaadvice, that several members join your group, and only one membership fee is paid?

As Mimmie has already said, there are already two other groups covering Duquesa Village community issues.

Having a third just dilutes any power that any single group has.   You dont mention much about your site, other than an email. Have you got any further details?

I dont have a solution, I just think that 3 groups are too many.

However, this site seems to be the most widely read and although it has no specialised knowledge/skill/power , at least it is a good starting central forum point. What do you others think ?

This sounds yet another good topic to discuss over pre AGM drinks the night before the AGM .

Hi All

We have to agree and think John, Jeff, Paul and a few others have been doing an exceptional job trying to get our security tightened up amongst other matters.  We agree with Mimmie that it would be better to stick together rather than go off into lots of different groups.

Bob,

Does the costaadvice service have a website we can review?

I found this 'advert'  here
http://www.ukclassifieds.co.uk/advice_bureau-o421531.html

But the link to the site

http://www.costadvicebureau.com

returned a "Server not found" error.

I tried the map view link that was provided on the above advert to see where they were situated,
but that  returned a map Ware Shoals in South Carolina, USA.

Anyway, based on the advert above  I would say that much of what  costaadvice do for you for a fee you can get free
of charge from eyeonspain  through our very active community self help forum.

As you say DV is a large development which brings with it some advantages associated with the size of the community and the collective wealth of knowledge from your fellow residents and owners.   I've certainly learned a lot from this forum and long may it continue.

I'm told that although the forums are called a "off plan developments"  Justin has no intention to pull the plug when the development is completed.  In fact the opposite.  With a full compliment of owners the synergy grows.

Bob

What Paul says is in fact is what is happening, we all contribute and learn from others. Paul has developed our own website which I can recommend for us all to use and I am also in close contact with people from other developments to learn from them. Geoff and Michael, mentioned below, have a wide experience which benefits us all and there are many more people on this site who contribute to the development of DV into the development we all want.  If you have tapped into this other organisation that could be another source of knowledge which will benefit the whole community. I am sure their advice via you would be welcome as all advice is.

We are aware that not everybody in DV is part of the EOS community so we do know we don't speak for everybody , but most people on here share similar ideas about DV.

BTW ...who is going to the AGM from this site ?

I am , John Hughes is , Rene is I see from another message string. I am carrying  a number of proxies so If anybody wants to put me down for them I would be happy for that to happen.

Hi John

Thanks for your helpful mail.  We felt isolated since moving into Block 18 in DV having  had so many problems thrown at us, and no help from Community we enlisted the help of CAB.  We had no idea that there were other groups involved with the suggested improvements for DV.  We will go with the established group. My wife and myself will be attending the AGM on the 27 March. 

Regards Bob 

Hi Bob, now that you've seen Eye on Spain and have a link to our own website you know there are many others out there, you're not alone!!!

We all want the same thing - a functional, friendly, inviting community!  With or without AEA!   But that may take time and effort!!

Wish we could spend more time there, but with no direct flights to Spain from the UAE it's a real problem for us.  Hopefully, it will change soon and we'll see more of you lot there!!   Until then, we'll see you in the summer.

Good to know there are at least a few attending the AGM.

Hi Bob, Len and I will be at the AGM, so look forward to meeting up with you then along with others.

Regards M

 

 

Sent this to AEA today to try and find out what will happen at the AGM

Rosa, Melisa

1. In the accounts you have sent there is NO cost for auditing the accounts and there is no mention of them being audited or any accompanying auditor's report. How are we meant to approve the accounts without this signoff.
2. I haven't seen a proposed budget for the upcoming year. How are we meant to approve a budget we haven't seen ? Perhaps I have not received it yet , I am not sure.
3. Security. This is a big issue as you might know . Jeff Layton has had his place broken into for the second time and DV has now become a place well known for burglaries. This is not good for anyone. I will list some thoughts and questions below
   1. Due to the timings of these braekins there is a feeling that the people responsible are either residents, garden cleaning or building staff. Can AEA meet with the representatives of these companies, make them aware of what is happening in DV, vet their staff and if any are illegal, or have criminal records consider replacing them. Advice them that if these people when caught are employees of their companies then they will lose the contract and AEA will ensure that this is broadcast to other communities. The question I ask is why these workers never see anything happening ?  They are there all the time and if they are there surely they would see this happening. If we had security dusring the day how would this be any better.
   2. Can AEA obtain from all owners a list of all tenants who are renting. We have discussed this previously but as this is now a criminal matter perhaps ask the polce, in the process of their investigations, to demand this list to aid their inquiries. As AEA know the owners names perhaps an email to them initially to say what is happening.
   3. The question of a gate entrance will need to be addressed at the meeting. Can you request our President to update the AGM.
   4. The costof the security overnight seems excessive to me for what he does. Can this be explained in  more detail.
   5. How can we get agreement on security grills for windows?
4. Debtors and payments to AEA. Some people are on the list but have paid AEA, also there is a view that AEA should be advising people when payments are refused by the bank and not just add that person to the debtor list. Some proactive management of the accounts is  needed.

I am sure other people have issues too, but if you could give some thought to the above it would be appreciated.

 

 

Hi Everyone

We're unable to make it to the AGM unfortunately and Mimmie has our proxy but I forgot to mention to her about the smoke problem in the apartment.  Could someone bring this up at the AGM, it might already be on the list of things to be discussed. Maria from RyF has been to our apartment but was unable to detect any smoke, probably because our neighbours were at work.  We were in DV in February and couldn't smell any cigarette smoke but again, this was probably because our neighbours were away.  The smell seems to occur in the evenings and weekends when they are home and I don't expect anyone from RyF will be willing to attend then!