Control of the Community (Entity)

There are 150+ villas on our development here in Murcia but we are having problems with the Developer/Builder not releasing the Entity (Community) to the residents. The Town Hall  accepted the Developer and his merry men as a provisional Committee to initially set-up and run the Entity (Community) at creation but will not acknowledge or accept the new Committee to take over,as voted by the residents. This is causing major problems, for example a charge of approx 300 euros per month per villa for Community charges, no work whatsoever done on site like emptying of rubbish bins, tidying the green areas, cleaning the roads. We as a Community just don´t know what we need to do next and we need help. We need to take control, we need a good HONEST Administrator who will work on our behalf and we need this fairly quickly.  At 300 euros per month per house and all of the contracts given to the Developers own Company we can understand why he won´t let go but there must be a way to get him out---legally!!

Dear Nosey.

What is happening in your community is not legal. You have voted and that vote must be respected. Communities for to long have been money machines hence the crooks (and let them sue me) hang on for dear life. Unless you live in the most luxurious community in Spain and depending on your m2 what you are being charged is a downright robbery. We are at present communicating with a worst case scernario of daylight robbery in the Canaries. I think your case is similar. Do not let them do it, you have the law on your side. Chin up and fight on.

I don't really understand the connection between your community and the Town Hall. Local authorities have no say in the running or administration of individual communities, they are legally registered at the land registry by a notary, not the town hall.

How many properties remain unsold, ie. still owned by the developer? If he holds a majority, he has you by the short and curlies. He can out-vote the rest of you.

Hello Roberto. In this case we could presume that it is a recently new developement or one which needed to be urbanised, access etc. In many cases the community can be assisted and even come under the town hall until it puts its infrastructure in place.  The community can then decide to set up on its own.

Hi Roberto

As Myra states, we are actually classified as an arm of the Town Hall and are therefore called an Entity as oppossed to a Community.

However your view point is appreciated as is the information provided by Myra.

Committee 

   It would be a good idea to have a good translation of the public estatutos of your 'entity'

We have just had the Statutes translated and have drawn up a list of modifications

but in the meantime the original rules apply.

Happy to be corrected. Learn something new every day!

Entity does sound rather like something out of a sci-fi horror - was it Stephen King? Seems like your situation is a bit of a horror too. Good luck with finding a solution.

Here is how our community is run, a quote from the 2009 AGM minutes,

"The board accepts renewal on condition that they be allowed complete freedom in their respective posts and extensive power of decision to act on behalf of the community"

Tomorrow the world..............

Bit like the EU, then?

Roberto, my thoughts exactly..........!!

Irene, would love to get involved myself but do not spend enough time there yet or know enough Spanish. In the meantime we are supporting some Spanish residents who are trying to get things changed and a new president.

Regards, Poppyseed

As VP of Irene's community I have a slightly different perspective. In the 2 years since we started there have been 6 general meetings at which all major decisions have been taken. We have faced all kinds of problems which I guess most new communities do.

I would like to have seen us make more rapid progress than we have but compared to some of the situations you read about on EOS we are in pretty good shape.

Hi a question for Maria,

We had an EGM  two weeks ago and voted  to take more non payers (of community fees) to court. It was then agreed to put lists of non payers on the notice boards within the entrance halls of the property.  However somebody has now put more notices on the communal  entrance doors to the properties, and these lists can now be veiwed by the passing public who do not have a vested interest in the community affairs. I am concerned that we may be acting illegally and I also think that for any persons who are trying to sell there property that this will have a negative impact.  It is my opinion that our community affairs should be kept in house.

Thank you await your reply.

Not sure about the legal aspect - I'll leave that one to Maria or the other professionals to answer. But......just as a general point, in light of what many of us know now, it's a damned good idea for anyone thinking of buying a re-sale, to do their best to find out about the state of the community before commiting to a purchase. Easier said than done in most cases, but when viewing a property, always try to keep an eye out for that pesky notice board, make an excuse to drift over to have a nose at it, even try to check out who the administrator is and try to get in touch and find out if they are willing to divulge any useful info. Is the community heavily indebted? Is it planning a major overhaul - new lifts, painting the building etc? Not things most people think about when in buying mode, but since I've yet to come across the utopian community with absolutely no problems, perhaps we should do.