drains

I have a town house on phase one and last year while some friends of mine were visiting there was a problem with the drains.It started with a bad smell in the downstairs toilet and gradually got worse and worse.  They woke up one morning and sewage was coming back up into the toilet and also up the shower plug holes.  As I was not there to do anything they went to security who did nothing,they then rang a friend of mine who then called out a plumber.  The plumber went out and had a look and told my friend that the problem was not with my drains. it was the drains in the street that was the problem. They were not adiquate and they were totally clogged. It  was a majer problem it even affected the garage, there was leakage coming out of the pipes in the garage.  and he needed to call in a company that could do the job. They brought in the big machinery  and eventually cleared the drains      This left me with a large bill which had to be payed. And I did pay it although i can hardly afford it as i had just lost my husband.

Anyway as I thought it had effected everyone on that block [ I know this as while they were clearing the drains a lady came out and said that she had also reported the problem to security, who did nothing ] I went to marisol with all reciepts and she was prepared to give me the costs, but I said that i would deduct it from my next community charge, which I did.  

Then came the surprize.  marisol told me that the president thought that I should pay the bill, and now they want the money back..I So my son on my behalf emailed marisol and the president to discuss the problem.  He did'nt even get a reply from either of them  as I did not when I emailed them. and now they are sending me bills and the amount has doubled.I do not know the predent but I thought he was there to represent the peopleon phase one.

I have always payed all of my bills promtly as I know I should but I draw the Line at paying community bills and also if the drains are not adequit don't you think it should be investigated before it happens again.  Also if anyone has any thoughts  on this matter Iwould be glad of the imput.    regards  fluff

If the lady that was there at the time reads this could you please contact me as I would like to get this sorted out.

Hi Fluff, you are posting on the general forum "Introduce yourself" board, so we have no idea where you live, who Marisol is or what phase one is, but.......

We have a similar problem, thankfully not coming up the toilets or showers of apartments, but every time it rains the underground garage floods with sewage coming up through the drains. This is due to inadequate drainage in the street - same as you were told about your problem. Unless you live on a private urbanisation which also owns the roads (and therefore the drainage system) this is not the responsibility of the community, rather the town hall or water/sanitation department. In which case, I would not expect the community to pay the bill. You must continue to pay your normal community fees, otherwise you will be classed as a debtor and the community could take legal action to recover those fees.

Do you have insurance? If so, you should contact them to see if you can reclaim the costs. Furthermore, if there is a problem with the public drainage system, something should be done about this - but that's much easier said than done. Speaking from experience.

Hi fluff

Many apartments have been constructed with inadequate sewage/drainage and if in low areas which are prone to flooding this could be a recurring problem. I have seen many underground/garages flood. Another problem I have noticed is in adequate access points.

But the mistake you made was you jumped the gun. In situations like this you need to find out where responsibity lies - community or town hall?

But just like in the Uk the ownership of drains is a very grey area and even where some urbanisations believe they own the system it has been held that they must allow other urberbanisation to connect and pass through etc. Some times these running battles delay the first occupation licence as it would appear the last thing a devopeloper does is figure out where he can connect to water and sewage and also electicity as everyone wants money to cross a bit of land or whatever and always someone en-route who will be awkward.

The other issue is that in many areas the infrastucture is totally inadequate and needs to catch up with the number of properties build over the last 10-15 years. You might say there is a bit of a funnelling effect.

Roberto mentions calling your insurance or what I call the claims refusal department. The problem here is if you had called them they would have sent someone around usually within 4 hrs to inspect and say if it was covered. Now what tends to happen here is they tell you you are covered for all damages caused by the flooding but not the repair and they will lift a few manhole cover and tell you the problem is no theres and suggest you call whoever is responsible or the drain doctor privately. In Spain never do a repair until the perrito has inspected and agreed etc

Faro:  Absolutely spot on, all points made.

Dear All,

I believe Roy among others has highlighted the build inadequacy generally experienced in Spain, despite the certificates issued.

Assuming this is supposed to be a combined system of sewage plus rainwater.

Drainage is designed to suit an expected event - a storm, but not any storm - the bad storm is an insurance matter for damage but not for improving the system or for paying for routine maintenance.

Was this just a maintenance blockage or was some fault found?

Did the contractor leave a report?

It becomes more complex if the expected event designed for is never to have all apartments occupied, I suppose.

Any poor construction makes matters impossible - live with it or get out.

Matters can be helped if there is a solid community of determined improvers working together to "make the best of things".

Good luck

Regards

Norman