26 Jan 2009 2:14 PM:
I have been president of our small community for three years after taking over when the previous committee resigned amidst accusations of self interest and misappropriation of funds. Having encountered all the usual problems as described elsewhere in these forums I feel that three years is enough and have appealed in vain for other owners to take over. The community is a mixed one with Spanish, British, Dutch, French, and Scandinavian owners, with many properties on long-term lets, and some time-shares. Of the resident owners, two are British and one is Spanish.
The main problem is with a Spanish owner who lives in an adjacent community and has her property here on long-term let. This owner causes more disputes than the rest of the residents put together as she appears to believe that the community rules do not apply to her or to her tenants. I have been told privately that if I do not continue as president this Spanish owner intends to stand for the office. She is at present in arrears with her community fees but apparently intends to pay these at the AGM. On past experience I believe that this would be a disaster for the community. We do have an Administrator, who looks after the legal side of things and deals with the authorities, but he is pretty ineffective and the majority of the community affairs are handled by me. The community fees are already high as we have a full-time directly employed gardener who after 24 years we cannot afford to make redundant, and so we are unable to afford the fees of one of the better administrators.
I now understand that a couple of the non-resident British owners are proposing that I should be paid a small fee to continue as president in order to safeguard the interests of the other owners, although nothing has been said directly to me. I have always believed that the post of president is strictly an honorary one, and that no remuneration can be paid to the president. Am I correct in this? Also should a motion to this effect be proposed at the AGM what would be the position regarding the proxy votes which I hold? I can see major problems if I voted payment for myself!
Any advice would be very welcome as the AGM is tomorrow and matters have come to a head today with the arrival of several owners for the meeting.
This message was last edited by tuckswood8 on 1/26/2009.
This message was last edited by tuckswood8 on 1/26/2009.
Thread:
Presidency
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