Golf Gardens Miraflores Community News

Well the second major debtor to the community paid today, leaving us with a couple of stragglers owing less than 2500 euros, which isnt bad after 5 years of community life, there cannot be many communities in the same position.

Our new Presidente thought that it would be nice for the owners and residents of the community to have a BBQ in the community gardens on the 25th August (Bank Holiday Monday) at the moment the food for the kids is on order as is ice a few drinks a music system and a magitian to keep the youngsters amused.

we are hoping for in excess of 50 people to turn up and done the VIP thing by inviting the presidents and friends off the 2 other phases of our complex. We are also hoping the administrator and her team and the grand community president will make an appearance....should we go on a mission to get them all dancing on the tables!!!

In preparation for this the gardener has been put to work to make sure everywhere is spick and span, the cleaner has been polishing anything that moves and lets just hope we have some sunshine!!!!

i'm starting to pack now for our flight on Thursday morning, i cannot believe how depressed i am with the weather in the UK at the moment...roll on that 6.30am flight.

will do a final round up before i go so that you have the latest information on everything.

Well we spent the money and installed the gleaming new set of 60 engraved and tagged, lockable post-boxes outside the main gate, hopefully to quell the steady stream of daily complaints that the president was receiving. All because the postman doesnt deliver the post anymore, he just sticks it all in the letterbox for one of the other phases or puts it on the wall with a stone on top if we are lucky!!

So two days into the new system and the complaints are now about the postman still not using the new postboxes and what can we do about it???

It looks like this may have been a total mistake and whatever we do how do we overcome a lazy postman that just gets a handful of letters and throws them in a communities general direction............

Faxes, letters and emails are hitting the sorting office in La Cala on a daily basis to try and resolve the situation, but we think the Postman may be from a different planet and doesnt understand the principal of a letter and the fact that for the system to work it needs to go to the address on the front of the letter not just to the general area, where he believes it will then find its own way home!!!

We have yet to experience the leafletters who possibly still think our postboxes are behind closed doors, when they spot them thats when the rubbish will start to blow about and make the area untidy.

Our cleaner is now tasked with keeping the postboxes clean and tidy, which shouldnt be hard if they are not being used....the saga continues...we'll keep you all updated on how we get on after a weeks postal deliveries.

For all those owners on GGM2 please check your postbox inside the complex in the next few days to read the leaflet on how you can get your new postbox key. Our president will be bringing over with him personalised nametags for all the boxes next week so that we can keep the fronts uniform, clean and tidy. Please do not put a personal sticker on your postbox as it is not necessary with the engraved apartment number and personalised nametag.
 

Wow some great news, we thought that the owner "Benalflat" had dissapeared in a couple of our old Blogs as we had neither seen nor heard anything from them recently, but we have just been informed by our administrators that they have paid nearly 8000 euros into the community account, clearing the last 4 years community fees, plus interest and legal charges!  WELL DONE EVERYONE involved for keeping the pressure on our debtors - it does get results. 

Its a fantastic success story for the community, as you will have read in the AGM minutes, through the new discounted charges system our administrators introduced, we reduced the debtors from 50K euros down to 14K over the past 12 months which was a splendid effort, however 12K of that belonged to Benalflat and Janet Hua Le Ho 2 longstanding debts we had passed to the lawer to initiate legal action to sell their apartments through auctions so the community could get paid. It now looks as though we will have been successful in getting all that 12k repaid by the end of this week, leaving us in a situation with just one owner that seems to pay as and when they feel like it and a couple of owners that always pay the interest and one quarter in arears.

Earlier in the summer, we received a complaint from one owner regarding the level of charges and interest the community had implemented on their outstanding debt, the administrators answer on behalf of the community was a simple one, you chose to ignore the payment requests so pay up or legal costs and interest will get higher! They paid up in full !!!!!!

There cannot be many communities along the CDS that have less than 2K outstanding on their community fees!!!

Once again this all points to the fact that our community is being well run, the complex is in great shape and with all the funding coming in we are able to budget, not only to keep the standards up, but to improve on them. Confirming our intention to make GGM2 one of the best places to live on the Costa del Sol.

Well done again to Alison and all the team at Intercala who do get pushed by the presidente and the committee to work tirelessly on getting our money in for us. If we can now concentrate all our chasing efforts on the one debtor we now have outstanding we can hopefully get that resolved soon - we will be in "zero debtor" situation.....What an achievement!

Joke, Ivett and Dave are today having a walk around to inspect all the work done, changes made and repairs that are needed whilst joke has been away. Updates on that report will follow.
   

In an attempt to resolve the post issue we have invested in a new set of postboxes that have been installed on the wall just outside the community front gate.

Each postbox is engraved with an apt number on it and there is space for people to put their name on the box as well, although for image purposes we may produce these for everyone in the community.

The cleaner will be asked to ensure the postboxes are kept clean and dusted and that any pieces of junkmail sticking out of the letterboxes are removed and disposed of in the dustbins. The community will also securely hold a spare key for each box to ensure postboxes are kept from overflowing and looking untidy. Please ensure you check your postbox reguarly or get a neighbour to do it for you if you arent here all the time. 

We will have to accept that this is not a perfect situation, but we are having to do everything possible to ensure the postman has no reason to just dump the post on the wall as he has been doing. it will now also be easier for wrongly delivered mail to be redirected to us by the other phases.

The community and surrounding areas is having numerous powercuts at the moment, which is causing concerns in the heat, this was compounded today by the waterpumps refilling the pool tripping out and leaving the pool half full for a number of sunny peak hours, this wasnt spotted by the gardeners who were working elsewhere. However its refilled now and again we would ask users of the pool to shower before entering the pool, as suntan lotions and dirt from the gardens has clogged up all the filters again recently.

The community is also looking to replace the original sign at the entrance to the community with a tiled copy of the community logo, our administrators are obtaining quotes for this, and Dave is looking at replacing the cheap and nasty floodlights over the gate with some more professional looking lights. it is hoped that the concrete plinth above the gate will also be painted. this will all enhance the image and first impression owners, buyers and renters get of GGM2...the best place to live on the Costa del Sol! 

It looks as though we have been successful in contacting one of the two owners with a serious debt to the community and hopefully that will have been sorted out by the middle of next week. She was unaware of any problems as due to personal reasons hadnt been out to her apt for a couple of years and simply hadnt given anyone her new address in the UK, so she didnt know about the change of administrator, change of bank account and that she was about to have her apartment sold by the courts. Hopefully all that will have been resolved now, so please, if you move house let us know.

Unfortunately the Benalflat debt situation seems to have taken a turn for the worse and the person who was using the apartment and had offereed to clear the debt now seems to have dissapeared and the contact telephone number for him has been disconnected, so if anyone wants a cheap penthouse...theres one coming up in an auction soon!!

Invitations for the community BBQ on the 25th Augustwill be distributed by the end of next week under everyones doors so keep a look out and let us know if you and your guests can attend.

Have a great weekend its close on 35 degrees............. in sunny Manchester this afternoon and i'm going home to cut the lawns..........   

We are having to partly drain and refill the pool this morning hopefully it will not be out of action for too long. The reason is the latest lab analysis of the water showed the conductivity level was too high, so we need to get some fresh water into the pool to bring it back to normal.
With the number of people that are using the pool at the moment its important that everyone uses the showers before entering the pool or we are likely to find the filters just can’t keep up with the job of keeping the water clean & fresh. We are really sorry for the inconvenience.

Lots happening on the community today, theres a big meeting with the surveyor, lawyers, administrators and committee regarding the problems we have with the roofs on the community and the legal action we are taking against the developers.

Today the surveyor gives us the news as to how big and expensive the problem actually is...so we all waiting with anticipation hoping that its not as bad as everyone says it could be!!!

We have not had any further action or cash from the Benalflat situation since we were promised payment nearly 10 days ago, so it looks as though that was a possible stalling tactic, however the lawyer has now informed us that we are just days away now from receiving the date that the Benalflat property will be sold at auction for as much as it fetches, we will get our payment and the owner gets the remainder, however much that is in the present climate!!!  So the community will win eventually.
 
letters are going out to all dog owners on the community after the recent spate of Dog Muck on the lawns in the gardens from someones dogs being let out at night to use the gardens as a toilet, because the owner couldnt be bothered to walk their dog(s). If any owners see this taking place can you please let the owner know you have seen them and communicate the information to the presidente so that further action and "clean up" charges can be applied.

I've just had a call from one of our long lost owners that the whole community thought had dissapeared as the apartment has been empty for nearly 2 years no community fees have been paid the electricity has been cut off and the community were about to sell her apartment at auction.......it all comes down to the problem of not letting anyone know she had moved.....she therefore didnt know about the change of administrator and therefore change of direct debit details to a new bank account, her on-site manager couldnt get in touch as she also lost her mobile with all her contact numbers on so all in all a real mess, however janet Ho has said she is going to sort everything out later today, so hopefully another debt resolved.

Not sure what the latest is on the community party....JW needs to post an update on that which i'm sure will include updates from all the last few days meetings.

 

Well silly month has started well for the community, people screaming in the pool at 2 am waking owners and children up and having loads of fun at everyone elses expense.

We are a nice luxury complex where it costs over £750 a week to rent a place...so these people must be able to read...but there again owners of properties must leave a sheet out or inform their guests about the community rules in the lifts...we cannot make it any clearer.

Sorry to everyone else that was distured, the presidente did manage to clear the pool without any violence or drownings, we could send a letter to the owner, but i'm sure this is just a case of holidaymakers having paid their money they believe they can do whatever they like, to and in the apartment and the community complex it is on.

The good news is that its now the third week of the main holiday and there's only another 3 to go until everything starts to settle down again.

Earplugs are available at the supermarket down the hill

If you are renting your apartment out to friends, family or unknowns, please tell them about the community rules which are there for everyones benefit, these are displayed in the lift so nobody can miss them, they are in every noticeboard and if you leave a set of community rules out for them when they arrive, we are sure that your guests will enjoy their holiday loads more if they get on with everyone around the pool.

Thank you    

The community has requested time and time again for owners not to use the visitors and delivery parking spaces as their own car parking places. 

All the past presidents have commented that the number of complaints about this problem exceeds almost anything else, as its a major inconvienience when you have something being delivered and the drivers cannot park in the designated spaces.

So after the last AGM the regular offenders were written to by the administrators and informed that if they continued to park there the community would have to install parking barriers.

Obviously community rules and getting along with your neighbours are not very high on their priority lists, so the community took action last week and installed 3 barriers. Keys are held by all community committee members and contact details are clearly available in all the noticeboards should you need to use a space at anytime. 

So obviously one of the resident parkers took exception to the bollards and late one night last week "a red car" was seen putting its tyre against the post and accelerating and ramming against it, in a sheer act of vandalism in an attempt to bend or break it off.

The owner of the relevant "red car" has been identified and the administrators have written to them informing them that the cost of replacement and repairs will be added to their community account .

It's dissapointing to report that this sort of thing happens on our community, but thats life and when people dont like the way everyone else is prepared to live, perhaps its time they moved on!!

However the system is working, the gardeners can park safely and the red car is now parking outside the main gate where it should have been anyway.

As we move into August and the major holiday season, lets hope that the car parking on the community can cope????.................i doubt it?  

Our community has been receiving mail for the past 4 years without a problem, the postman had the door code, he came in and delivered accordingly into the owners boxes, occassionally leaving obscure letters neatly under a stone, in the dry, on the side for owners to try and deliver themselves using their own personal knowledge. this seemed to work quite smoothly up until a few months ago when we were informed that the rules had changed and "POSTMEN DO NOT NEED TO GO ONSITE" they can just leave it at the gate and thats enough?

Our post for the 3 phases started being dropped at the sales office and then was distributed around when someone called in or went past. Now the sales office has closed, we were finding heaps of mail stuck between the railings outside the main gates, on the floor and soaked through from the sprinkler systems on the community....its a complete nightmare for all 3 phases.

We therefore decided to install a large community postbox on the wall outside our main gate. Every owner was sent a sticker to rebadge their own postbox to make things even easier over 50% of owners have now clearly identified their postbox. 

A couple of the resident owners then agreed to check and deliver the post into the inside boxes on a daily basis, this appears to be working at the moment, but what happens when they both go away at the same time. We have also toyed with the idea of paying the cleaner a little extra to do the job for us, which puts it on a more formal footing. 

What is concerning is the amount of incorrect mail we are now receiving for the other phases and more disturbingly lots of other communities. It's as if the postman just goes around the communities in the area and sticks a wad of letters in any postbox he sees, so that his bags are empty when he gets back to the sorting office. We reguarly have to put 30-40 letters a week back into the post for resorting, that have been delivered to the wrong community...so how many of our letters are going elsewhere and binned????

All in all, the post in Spain has become a total disaster, it was never great, but it did appear to work and its important for a lot of people who are looking out for pensions cheques, birthday cards, family letters, new bank and credit card post, not to mention, community fees, summons and legal letters that are being sent to debtors.

We then investigated moving all our postboxes outside the main gate or to install a complete new set which has a cost implication of over 3000 euro's, but then we are all concerned that the postman will just leave the post on the top anyway and all the junk leaflets will be left to blow about the place and make the whole area a complete scruffy eyesore, so that has been abandoned!!

Has anyone else experienced the same problem and how have you resolved it, any hints or advice greatly appreciated.   

Having got back to GGM2 after a couple of days back in the UK I am pleased to report we have finally received the quote to repair the brickwork in block 3-2 lift, the go ahead has been given for the repair. This problem has been dragging on for some time with the lift company so apologies to the owners. You may have noticed the new stickers in the lifts as the lift company Michonic has now been taken over by Zener who originally installed the lifts.

Well done Ian on tracking down one of the major debtors I am sure our lawyer will be straight on to her to let her know the property will soon be going to auction unless she pays up her debt. Still no sign of payment from our other large debtor I understand this is now getting close to going to auction as well.

The barriers to stop the problem with the parking near the post boxes were installed on Saturday but come Monday one had been vandalised. An owner saw a red car repeatedly ram its tyre into the barrier to knock it over! A new barrier will be fitted and we will ask Intercala to look at passing on the costs to the owner of the red car.

We have a meeting next Tuesday with the surveyor to go through his report on the roofs in preparation for legal action against the promotor.

Plans are underway for the community party at the end of August all owners will be notified shortly. We will also look at another party in Spring so any owners that can’t make the August party can hopefully attend the Spring party.

The pool is very busy at the moment, Marcelo has replaced all the pool skimmers where they were broken or missing.

Unfortunately we have some renters that are using the pool after the closing time of 9 o'clock. Tonight I had to ask some young lads to get out, it was close to midnight they were making a hell of a racket. Please could all owners that rent supply a copy of the community rules to there guests so we can avoid these disturbances.

I hope we can reach a long term solution in the next week to solve the situation with the post deliveries . We have had a quote for new post boxes outside the gate I am just checking the size and the final cost as it looks likely to be over 3000 euros. There are some concerns that the postman will not bother to put the mail in each box and just dump it in a pile on the top. The alternative is to continue with the system we have at the moment of the one box outside the gate and having someone distribute them to the boxes inside, if we continue with this for the future we will have a cost of about 400 euros a year but at least we know the post will be delivered satisfactorily.

On the Garden thanks to Ian and Linda Cook for all the work they did with the planting and the weeding and dead heading while they were over a great effort thank you.