garden swimming pool ?

 hi , this is a little update on the swimming pool  ....  which is now fully built , filled with water and with a nice satinless steel ladder to get into it ....... i have managed to persuade the Administrator to call a community meeting . It has been largely due to a friend who put me in touch with the presidente of a large Wimpy developement not far from me . He has what he calls the ' bible ' for community living in Spain . It contains the Horizontal Stuctures Law and definitely says that 100 % permission is needed from owners for this type of permanent construction . My Administrator has said that the pool builder can get permission retrospectively apparently . The interesting thing is what happens if the vote goes against him ? Has anyone any idea ? Can't see the owners wanting to get into a lengthy battle .... but i can see him carrying on swimming regardless !

If any body has the ' bible ' in Spanish i would be very grateful for a pfd ( or whatever ) I have it in English but as the owners are mostly Spanish ( and the Administrator doesn't speak English )  i would like to have a copy to wave under their noses !  I will put a PS later. if  i find that the Official title of the ' bible '  isn't the one above .   xx

Patrice

Go to :-    http://www.comunidades.com/legislacion/comunidades/lph-ley-de-propiedad-horizontal

                                                 and open the PDF file. It seems to be what you want.

Remember the post a week or so back......About fitting a door into an existing partition wall....What a performance that was with all the replies.....License for this that, license for that, permission for everything, pay this person, pay that person, sit in the town hall for days, what happens if the neighbors See's you with building materials and snitched on you....How many hairs up your A***..........

........And your asking does a swimming pool need permission.

minor works !!! excuse me John this is a hugely major affair . It takes up half the garden , is just under my lounge window and there will be no regulations .... they will be cavorting in that pool till midnight i am sure .  And no , not even inviting me in will put this right !

I do thank you John for the PDF info i will surely look  as soon as get to my home computer .

Well Baz , i was actually talking about other flat owners permission . Not sure how many hairs you have in delicate places is relevant to the subject ......or have i missed something ?

Patrice. as you will see my reply about the licence was to Baz's post not yours.

Well Baz , i was actually talking about other flat owners permission . Not sure how many hairs you have in delicate places is relevant to the subject ......or have i missed something ?

Yes.

sorry John , i have a habit of claiming all interesting things as my own and ofcourse i do exaggerate a little bit . i will be more observant in future .    patrice

Dear All,

we had a case here on TV where a chap living on a flood plain subject to regular flooding, seen using a boat to get to his front door in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by high hedges, was given planning permission to jack up his whole house to relieve matters.

Having done this he then imported soil to raise his garden level plus hardcore to form a terrace against the house and above flood level to suit the higher house position.

Apparently in the eyes of the planners that was a step too far and he had to be stopped at all costs, made to remove all back to original ground/flood level.

After a number of years fighting for his englishman's human rights he was bankrupted and advised by a "law lord" no less, to comply with the enforcement procedure.

The strange thing is he did not have neighbours and new build on the area would not be permitted.

we live in strange times and the last thing we want is neighbours enjoying themselves even in a "holiday home" in the sun.

Regards

Norman

 Hi Patrice - did we ever establish whether this was built in a garden owned by the downstairs apartment?  This will make a huge difference of course.   I had never seen the swimming pools built into downstairs gardens as a problem, but I guess if you are upstairs and looking down it could be.   I have always wondered why someone would buy on  a community with pool and all the fees etc, and then build a pool in their own garden - but for sure it happens around here.

Away from Almeria - it is clear that a lot of people do not 'get' the idea of a ground floor apartment being sold with garden but it should be obvious if it is communal land or not.   A garden will be partitioned off from the communal land in some way - with distinct boundaries.    

Keep us informed because it is a really interesting post - and I have to admit made me look with different eyes on pools I know.  I really can see that if you are in the upstairs apartment they could become a nuisance - even if very beautifully done!!

Dear All,

my post was to illustrate everywhere suffers from unecessary regulation, some of which is unbelievably stupid.

the flood plain victim should have proved that the general ground level was sinking and not static, had been doing so since the middle ages - would the wise law lord then come to the opposite view???? or would have blind stupidity prevailed???

I am no fan at all of Spanish urbanisations/communal living and the fraud that is perpetuated when these are sold as holiday compexes.

But as usual information is lacking........why is someone elses private garden directly under your lounge window????

this is communal living with a vengance surely????

why are you so eager to make complaint in advance about imaginary nuisance from a private pool????

when it is clear you have a holiday home on a community of holiday homes where the weather dictates that the outside is inside and holidays are fun times with noisy rejoicing until quite late, as is the mode and entirely to be expected???

communal or mews type developments are wonderful when all owners are considerate, nightmare when they are not, all as expected on purchase.

it would seem that the complaint is premature and unneighbourly, could not be sustained if the pool was above ground and even noisier.

perhaps you believe that they should not be allowed a hot tub either to make use of the wonderful climate and all holiday makers should be asleep by 10 pm????

Unrealistic

Regards

Norman

actually Norman the block of 18 apartments are all residential and when i bought the apartment from the local developers they assured me a swimming pool in the only two apartments with small gardens would not be allowed .. The pool is app 6 foot above the ground made of concrete blocks and bricks , fully tiled ,  6 ft deep ( they dug down to put footings in ) and i guess about 11/12ft square  . It has a ladder to access the pool cemented into the ground and it is full of water  . It is below my lounge window because i am the apartment above it . The block is an L shape i am in the shor part of the L so my lounge looks over their garden . It is my home . I have some beach land in Sri Lanka but have never owned a holiday home of any kind . I hav lived here for 7 years with no complaint to anybody before now . The current owners of the pool are grown up and  am sure , will be tucked up in bed by midnight  , my anxiety is when they sell the apartment . They want to move to the Canary Islands .  Every owner has lived here since the apartments were built 7 years ago . There is a community pool if they are willing to pay a higher community fee and a gorgeous beach and town 8 mins walk away .There is no doubt that te garden is privately owned , other than a paved area around the front and side of the building there are no external communal areas . The back garden apartment look onto campo .

 If it is privately owned - then I think your only chance is the licence card.   I cannot see that a licence would be withheld if it has been applied for.   A bit like in the uK where neighbours can object, but they cannot argue a loss of view as a viable reason for stopping someone building.   I can see your concerns, I really can - but I suspect you are stuck with it.

Sorry!!!!

Dear Patrice,

your post.......

well , i can't be certain as i don't speak Spanish and nobody at the community meetings speak English but i am away for months and my water bills are always the same . I pay the bill every 3 months . To be honest , there are so many other things that drive me crazy paying a bit too much for my water seems petty . Tho' paying for someone's swimming pool may tip the scales ! I have lived near a swimming pool before and the noise is awful even when there are restrictions for use ..... and it mars my stunning view .

you seem determined to be upset in advance, i.e. in your imagination of future difficulties, not even for yourself but for some future owner.

as to wonderful views directly down into someone elses garden, don't you think that is carrying things too far????

I repeat "unrealistic"

Regards

Norman

but i was not going down the legality side of the issue , i was wondering if community permission is needed to build such a permanent construction  The second meeting we had in the year I arrived was to vote on the possibility of sheds / rooms built on private roof gardens belonging to the penthouse owners . It was rejected . As was hanging washing on the balcony , enclosing the laundrette  and using empty car parking spaces in the garage . Since then there has been a change of Administrator and when i approached her , just as the foundations were being excavated for the pool , she informed me that it was no ones business what garden owners do in their own garden . It has taken 6 weeks and now a fully funcional swimming pool to ascertain that indeed 100% of owners need to give permission ...... soon a meeting will be called to vote on it . Too late now ofcourse .......he is going to destroy his very costly swimming pool if the vote goes against him ??????  or maybe he'll promise not to use it . Is there a dfference between roof gardens and ground gardens ? 

Anyway  , do you need council licences to build an above ground permanent swimming pool in your privately owned apartment garden in a block of residential apartments in Mallorca i wonder ?

Patrice

Dear All,

priorities and concerns are relative of course to one's position.

here at the moment we are freezing with lambs dying in our hands, Cyprus and the rest of the EU is going to pot including the UK.

and the ex-pats are much concerned about what the excellent caring neighbour is doing in his garden.

the mind boggles

Regards

Norman

  i wondered why you were being such a pain Norman . Envy is a terrible thing !

i pay my taxes to the UK and spend my money in Spain . I do my bit .... i would change the weather for the beautiful lambs if  i could .

Sorry Patrice I was merely taking you at your words...............

 "they will be cavorting in that pool till midnight i am sure" ....... "am sure , will be tucked up in bed by midnight"

you should really make up your mind what it is you might one day be objecting to????

but perhaps I had forgotten.........

" ofcourse i do exaggerate a little bit"

the serious side of this is the mischief caused to your good neighbour if he is forced to board over his pool and put an above ground one on top.

you will have caused serious cost and aggrevation for no purpose whatsoever but creating immense animosity, once created such feeling can lead to worse trouble.

I think you had better invite a policeman over with good Spanish.

Regards

Norman