quick question about community fee's?? :)

Hello all, Hope I'm posting this in the right place.....

Well out time is almost here, we're flying into Alicante Airort on the 1st of May for a week-long trip to finally complete on our house!! yay!!!

Although we're signing at the notary on the 6th May, we won't be moving out until 1st Septemebr :( I phoned our After Sales Owners Club rep today to enquire about community fee's and although he tried to sound knowledgable it was clear he didn't have  a clue how to answer my question (not the first time they've been stumped, 700 Euros well spent )

Anyway, my question to him was:  Do we begin to pay community fee's when we take possession on the property or when we actually move into the property?  I'd be interested to hear how the people here went about this.  I also asked how we find out who our communtiy president is and how we liase with them in between completion and moving and again it was clear he didn't know.  I know that all community's are run differently but if I can get a few answers from you guys, it might give me an idea of how the whole community thing works.  Do I literally need to knock on my mew meighbours door and ask them who our community president is? Will I get something in the post?  Crappy Owners Club can't seem to tell me a thing!!

Also, can community fee's be paid annually or does it have to be monthly?  Again I know that it propabably differs from place to place but I'm just after an idea.  We haven't even been told how much our community fee's are!!

So really, I'd just like to hear how people found out how/when and who to they pay their community fee's!!  And if this thread sparks responses beginning with "Don't bother with Ater Sales...." All I can say is  - I've learned my lesson!! and it's too late for us now! It's paid and done and almost over, Thank God :)

We found out what our community fees would cost by looking on the Viva Almeria website and looking for renters on our complex!! They were able to give me a rough idea of the costs involved. It wasn't until we stayed over Christmas that we started talking to a neighbour and asking questions. We were told where the administrators offices were and the presidents duplex was pointed out. The president wasn't particularly helpful and basically wasn't interested when we tried to introduce ourselves. We now deal direct with the administrators.

Fees should be paid up by the developer or seller until time of completion. At that time, you become liable for the fees as even though you may notmove until Spetember, the pool needs still needs cleaning, grass must be cut, etc.

Mark

Hi Jenna, do I assume your community has already been set up from what you say or don't you know ?

When we completed on a new community there had to be a community set up & it wasn't done for a few months after we completed. The community fee is sorted out at your first AGM, after determining what the community needs to pay out. It can be paid monthly, quarterly of annually but it is up to the community to decide how they want it to paid, we are asked to pay annually in advance. Often a brand new community will ask for annual payment in advance because otherwise your community has no money to buy things like to sort out the community pool & pay the administrator. 

We have Roberto, an ex president on EOS plus Karensun, whose OH is a President so they will likely see your questions & answer although Karen's in the UK at the moment.

Good luck with your completion.

Thanks for your replies,

To be honest, I'm assuming our Community has already been set up - we are the last phase of villa's being completed, and people have already been living on the community for 2 years, we're just the finishing touch  I would have thought that the "helpful" people in Aftersales would have known at the very least how we communicate with our community but they seem as clueless as I am. The guy there did tell me though that we would probably start paying when we take up residence, but like you said Mark, I thought it would be upon completion as facilities need maintaining whether we are there or not. 

When we go out in May, I think I'm just going to go door knocking and annoy my new neighbours with lots of questions - if you are living on Pinar Lo Crispin in Algorfa, watch out!!!

Have you tried doing a search on here to see if your community is listed?

Also you might find there's a notice board near to the communial pool which will could give you a clue to who your president or administrator is.

I pay my fees yearly but if they are expensive then they can be paid half yearly or quarterly.

If you are on a gated complex or if you need a key to get into your pool then you will not receive the required keys or zapper until the community fees have been paid.

As you're not moving in straight away you've plenty of time to get all these issues sorted out.  A friend of mine moved in in August and found herself locked in, the bullders closed her exit when they shut down for the summer holidays.  Didn't help either that the president was away and the vice president didn't want to help.

The joys of living in Spain, collect all the information you can but remember not all of it will be correct.  What works for some people will not work for you.

Good luck 

Hey Jenna, our very own "Georgia" lives on Lo Crispin  & we are just along the road at El Raso. We have a villa that looks much like a Tamarindo.

More EOS meets in the air, stay in touch.

Hi Jenna

In reply to your query over the Community fees it is a little disturbing that if the Community of Owners has been set up i.e paying for the upkeep of Communal areas, insurance and the Administrator etc.,  that the Administrator did was not more forthcoming.

Speaking as  the President of our Community for the last four years I have experienced a lot of problems and got off to a bad start with owners who bought direct from the builder years after the Community was handed over.  In essence Jenna, the Constructor should pay any fees due between the Community being set up (the Administrator should have the exact date) and the day the you sign, I think you said in May this year.  You should obtain a certificate from the current President to state that all fees are paid up to date and this should be given to the Notary on the day of exchange.  Many, many solicitors and big agents have failed to do this on our urbanisation and therefore, the builder has got out of paying and the new owner has a large debt not of their own making.  Please,  please check with your solicitor that there is nothing outstanding in the way of fees as many of our new owners have fallen foul and their solicitors do not want to know (they have their money by then of course!)

Nothing to add - Denise said it all.

Ex-president.

Thanks for your input Denise, I've emailed our solicitor to ask her about it.  I'm still in disbelief that our agents don't know about these things!  Or perhaps they do, but because they know of these problems they fail to comminucate with you over them until their job is "done" and you're left on your own to deal with things like this. 

My "things to do for Spain" list is getting ever-longer by the day!  Now number 107 is making sure I get that certificate!!

If your agent does not know about this, they are quite simply not a bona fida agent. I would be very cautious. The only justification for the seemingly high estate agent fees in Spain is that they do a lot more work (conveyancing, if you want to give it a fancy name) than UK agents, so if they don't know about very basic things such as this, something is seriously wrong.

P.S. some communities make a small administration charge for the certificate - complete rip off in my opinion, but since so many communities have financial problems, perhaps not surprising!

We've gone through Parador for the sale of the house and in the last few weeks they have had a "Reorganisation" of their Aftersales department.  We had a good rep prior to this but she's suddenly left and lately it seems that the staff I'm now dealing with are either new and don't know what their doing or just too lazy to do anything for us at all.  I know alot of people have complained about Parador, but I'm finding that most agents similar to Parador have been complained about in one way or another. 

It is concerning though that the staff there seem so clueless,  and it's worrying especialy as we're so close to completion, but I'm trying to stay positive and tell myself that in 3 weeks time we'll have keys in hand (hopefully!!) and no more dealings with parador.

Don´t  want to add fuel to the fire Jenna but Parador were one of the agents who failed to get the certificates on our Urbanisation and also did not mention the fact that Community charge was payable or that we had a President and Committee who would do all they could to make a new owner welcome.  They knew us because the showhouse was next door and we used to chat to all the reps.  Saying that Altas, Masa, and a few of the well known but smaller agents did the same.

As Semijubilada mentioned try the development forums on this site and see if you can contact Georgia if she is an owner on your Urbanisation she will know who to contact, and if there is a website for your Urbanisation.  They may also be able to put you in touch with another owner who  can rent you a property on your own Urbanisation while you are moving in which most of our owners have found better than staying in a hotel (even one subsidised by the agent).Also as Semijubilada states there should be a notice board somewhere and this is usually near the Communal pool, when you come out in May have a look.

Hopefully,  your moving in will go smoothly, I only wish this site has been known to us when we decided to buy it would have opened our eyes to a lot of things, but then as they say no pain no gain!

Thanks for your advice Denise, I phoned the manager of our aftersales today who has promised me he will look into this further....

However, I have just receievd an email back from our solicitor stating that our community is yet to be set up - she said that there are 13 houses on our phase and only 5 have completed and a community won't be put in place until we have all signed. Therefore there are no outstanding community fee's.

Now what confuses me is that there are already houses occupied, and have been for some time on our urbanisation - so I take it that we fall under a seperate community to other people living in the same place?  Talk about confusing!!  She also said that there may not be a community on our phase as we do not share any common elements apart from the aeriel - so does that mean we won't pay community fee's at all?  So confused!! 

She's also thrown up other issues, but I've put these on another thread - with two weeks to go before we sign, I'm left trying to sort all this out, plus work full-time and run around after a 1 year old who's just discovered he can walk and climb.  I'm off to find myself a red cape, gotta save the world tonight too......

Hi Jenna

Know what you mean about confused thank goodness for this site is what I say, at least there is someone out there with an answer to most queries.

Your Community may be built in phases which is why one section is occupied and another is not.  On ours we have phases 1, 2 and 3.  Phase 3 was built 2 years after phase 1 and has its own Community.   If you have no pool, no gardens, no internal walkways, no Community lighting (not the big lights on the main road) then you will not need to form a Community.  Hope this is the case for you as it is much less trouble in the long run.

Denise, that sounds about right - we are the last phase to be completed, so it sounds like we will fall under a different community - if one at all. 

This is all new information to me though, as when we were sold the property we were told we had access to the communal pool, and now we find the only common element with others on the community is the aeriel.  Our phase of 13 houses is right on the edge of the community so as far as I'm aware we don't share any internal walkways or gardens, we are just a small row of detached villas with private gardens and driveways. 

Thanks for your advice on this, it's been really helpful, it helps to speak to people who know what they're talking about!