HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANICE

Hello All

Just to give you an update as we were in Altea over the weekend 28th October. First of all the weather was extremely good with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 80's although apparently the weather is due to break at the end of this week. The building work is still going well and we were told that completion is still set for June 2007.The weather over the winter will be important as a sustained period of bad weather may delay things. There is a sign by the gates to the development stating 99 days to go although I am not sure exactly what this refers to. Apparently once all the work is completed the builders have to obtain a permit from the Town Hall confirming the property is fit for habitation so I guess that it will be June before we can obtain the keys.

We did call into the Ballester office and were shown a virtual DVD of the inside and outside of the building although there was not a great deal to learn from this. The American lady in the office offered to copy this DVD and post it to us although we have not yet received this.

The show apartment seems further advanced than the others judging by the outside of the building and I assume they are trying to get this completed as soon as possible to help sell the remaining apartments.

With the help of our agent we visited a furniture shop in Benissa and bought some furniture for our apartment including beds, chairs, table, outside furniture etc. We also received a  quote for lighting and obtained a lighting plan from Ballester although we are still trying to interpret this.

In addition we visited an electrical store in the same town and bought a washing machine, fridge/freezer and dishwasher and this will be delivered and installed prior to "moving in". 

Will keep you updated.

best wishes

Nigel and Marian

 

Hi there everyone,

thank you Nigel and Marion for your news of Jardines,it seems to be coming along well.Lets hope the weather isnt too bad and that they will finish on time.We weren't too sure what the days left meant and our agent seemed to be confused too,99 days  doesnt tie in with June.No doubt all will be revealed.Thank you for the furniture info,do you know the names of the shops in Benissa,particularly the electrical one as it would be great to get those appliances installed.Does anyone know if lighting shops will also come and put up light fittings ?

Hope N and M that you have managed to sell your other apartment,I have no idea what the spanish property market is like.I am surprised that Jardines have only got the show apartment now as they seem to have sold lots.

I cant quite believe that Jan ,Dave,John and I and the 2 of you are still the only ones on this site.We hit on it by chance did you all do the same ?

Well all the best from Colchester, and here's to Spain !!

Gilly and John 

Hi Gilly and John,

Just to let you know the names of the shops we were taken to in Benissa. The furniture store was called Martinez and the electrical shop Milar Giner. Although they seem happy to take orders this far in advance I assume you would have to find someone prepared to oversee delivery and installation for you if you want them before you move in. Maybe your agent provides this service like ours? We have finally placed an order for the lights, it's amazing that we need 15 light fittings despite the terrace lights being included. (That is possibly two more than some people as there are two lights on the stairwell up to the solarium). We are having them from the furniture store which doesn't sell lighting as a matter of course but offers a catalogue service to customers buying furniture. Prices are not particularly cheap but do include installation, from past experience we know its not much fun to arrive and have no lights so we think it'll be worth it.

Bye for now

Nigel and Marian

Thanks for info about furniture shops,cant wait to get going with choosing things.

all the best,

Gilly and John

Hola fellow Jardines owners

Seasons Greetings

We are on countdown to our trip over to Altea on Friday 15th December.  Just a quick 4 day visit before our trip to Wales for Christmas.  Have not heard anything as yet from our Agent re the Show Flat but we have scheduled an appointment on the Monday.  Is there anything you would like us to find out.  Our Ballestar contact has left Spain but we will touch base with their on site office while there.

Feliz Navidad

Jan & Dave

Hi Jan and Dave

Having been out to Spain in October we found that the show apartment was being made ready although it had not been completed at that stage.Hopefully by now it may be ready. It would be good to get an update from you on your return as to progress and also find out when it is hoped that we will be able to "move in". We have flights booked for the middle of July and so we are hoping that everything will be finished and all the paperwork completed to allow us to use the apartment by then. 

In the meantime, enjoy your trip.

kind regards

Nigel and Marian

 

 

 

 

Hi All,

Good wishes for the festive season and here's to next year as the proud owners of our 'Jardines' apartments

Cheers,

John and Gilly

Hello and Happy New Year

We had a brief but productive visit to Spain before Christmas.  At this stage Ballester is very protective of anyone entering the building site but we were able to make an appointment to view the show house.  It was on the ground floor level and in the A block.  It was unfurnished.  The finish was very good.  Overall we felt that it was smaller than anticipated but the light colouring on the tiles gave it a feeling of space.  The area for the swimming pool has been dug out and there is a lovely natural stone wall starting to take shape.

The agent for Ballester confirmed that the completion date remains at 30th June, 2007.  After which time the paper work has to be done with the Town Hall.  She said that we would all be notified when ready and a time frame given for completion.

Altea Hills continues to grow.  It is such a beautiful area and we enjoyed the views.  We even made it to the top and had the view to Benidorm and over to Calpe.  The weather was sunny in the day but chilly when the sun went down around 5:00.  We would like to think we will be out again in the Spring but no plans as yet.

Hasta la Vista

Jan & Dave

 

Hi Jan and Dave

Thanks for the recent update on Altea Hills.

We are have already booked airline tickets to go out for a holiday in mid July to Altea Hills, so we were wondering after you note about completion if we will need to rent a place. If completion isn't until 30th June, it may be that by the time the licence is obtained from the Town Hall it will be too late for us to complete on the apartment before the 18th July.

Let's hope that things are completed before the end of June or that if not, the licence can be obtained very quickly. We will contact our agent to see if they can give us any guidance.

 

kind regards

Nigel and Marian

 

 

 

Hola Nigel and Marion

The Ballestar rep and our agent, Parador Properties both stressed that we would not be able to arrive and take up residence - and that it would take at the very least a day or two.  We are not certain of our time schedule as yet but think we will book ourselves into a hotel for  a possible week.  I believe Gilly and John are going out soon so they may have more information for us all. 

Fingers crossed that it will all go smoothly.

Jan and Dave 

Hi everyone,

We are off to Spain at the beginning of February so we will attempt to find out as much as possible about completion.Any other issues do let us know and we can add them to our list.

All the best,

Gilly and John

Hi Gilly and John,

Hope you had a good trip to Spain in February. Did you manage to see the show apartment or find out anything more about completion?

Best wishes

Nigel and Marian

Hi there,

Good th hear from you.

Yes we have been out again since and it was fine to visit show apartment.The ruling has been changed so that owners may now visit it.All looking good although as far as we are concerned we dont like the brown tiles in the bathroom we prefer the white shown on the cd.However it seems it is too late to change them without extra costs involved.

The completion date on the board outside the development was changed when we were there from 30 something days on one day to 90 something the day after so we are unsure when we will complete.We are booked to go out to Spain the first week in July but are wondering if this is a bad idea !

Have you had any news at all about completion ?

When you bought in Spain before did you go out to complete or give your lawyer the power to do it for you - we are wondering if that would be less hassle.

all the best,

Gilly and John

Hi Gillian

We too are hoping that everything will be completed by the end of June as we have flights booked for July.

When we bought our first apartment near La Manga, we granted power of attorney to our solicitor in Spain which meant all the legal issues were resolved before we went out for the first time. The only minor problem we had was flying out on a Sunday and then driving to the builders offices in Torrevieja (40 miles away) to collect the keys. Fortunately after some confusion about whether or not they had the keys there, they were able to produce them.

We are flying over to Spain for a weekend in May and are planning to drive up to Altea for a day so hopefully we can give everyone an update on progress at that stage.

kind regards

Nigel & Marian

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Nigel and Marian that is really helpful

Hi everybody,

   We have just found this sight and have been reading through all of the info that you have been exchanging over the past months and years.We purchased g6 in 2004,so like others we have seen the property rise from the ground.At long last we are almost there!!

     I spoke to ballester a few days ago and they seem to think that the completion of the building work will still be as anticipated and the certificate of habitation will take about 3-7 days to come through.I noticed that a few have been allowed inside,did you measure the rooms,if so are the floor plans accurate to the scale intially given,this would be really helpfull if anyone did have exact measurments as soon we will be ordering furniture.

  Look forward to hearing from you and happy easter : )

 Mark and Debs

Hi there Mark and Debs,

How lovely to get an email from Jan and Dave to say that someone else has joined the web site !

I was interested that you have been given info re. the completion as I tried yesterday and was given no info except  the following.". THE JURIDICAL DEPT IS GOING TO SEND  A LETTER TO ALL OWNERS ONCE EVERYTHING IS READY FOR THE HANDOVER OF KEYS.BEFORE THE RECEIPT OF THIS LETTER IT IS NOT ADVISABLE TO MAKE ANY ARRANGEMENTS.THE ISSUE OF THE FINAL CERTIFICATE WHICH PERMITS YOU TO LIVE IN THE APARTMENT IS IN THE HANDS OF THE TOWN HALL."

As you can see it wasnt much help as we are hoping to ship out some furniture and are trying to sort out a date.

Do you know anything about snagging and whether we can gain access before completion ?

John and I have been in the show apartment .We really liked most of it but it was difficult to get out a measuring tape as we thought they were not too keen on that.I would be interested to know what measurements you have been given,are you working from the to scale (we hope ) drawing they gave us when we purchased the apartment .

Not much help to you really but its great to have this web site so that when one of us gets some further info we can share it.

all the best,

John and Gilly

 

He everyone,  reading John & Gilly reply and like all of us there is some concern about the snag list.   We have a copy of what a snag list is all about and the rules and timing by which it can be done.  I'm a little concerned about posting it on a open board as it comes from our property agent and they may not want us to do this.   However, I'm willing to share with our new found friend's.   If you want a copy email me at david.omeara@bm.pwc.com and I'll send a copy back to your address.   John & Gilly I think Jan is sending one to you today as we already have your email address.   Also there is a new photo on the Ballester web site showing the current look of the place.    If anyone does get over and is able to measure up the apartment, we are interested in the size of the bedroom and living room windows as we want to hang vertical blinds.   Like wise if anyone sees such blinds in Spain can you let us have the address, at the moment we are thinking of shipping the blinds from Bermuda as they are readily available here and less expensive than the UK.     Bye Jan & Dave 

Hi Jan and Dave,

Have just spotted your enquiry about the size of the windows in the apartment and although we have not been in to measure up we e mailed Ballester through our agent  last September and received the follow information from them: Living room H210 - W270 Bedroom 1 H210 - W180 Bedroom 2 H115 - W140. We had a quote for some voile type curtains in the living room and bedrooms and a white blind for the kitchen whilst we were in Spain last October. However we have now bought some curtains to take out with us. Hope the sizes they've given were accurate!

Nigel and Marian

 

Hi there,

Just checked your measurement of 270 width for sitting room window and its exactly the same as I make it on the plan - that's got to be a good start !!

Hopefully your curtains will fit like a glove.