Edwina

Just come back from Spain. Been up to the site and managed to get into one of the 2 beds apartment in phase 1 which i assume is identical to all 2 beds in that phase. I measured up the room sizes and am shocked to find that the master bedroom is some 60cm shorter in length then the plans which i was given in 2003. The plans which i have show the distance from the patio wall to the wardrobe to be 3.35m but this actually measures only 2.86m similarly the length of the wall from patio to the main entrance door is 4.97m in the plans but actually only measures 4.39m. Effectively the master bedroom is smaller then the 2nd bedroom! The 2nd bedroom and lounge measure up more or less as per the plan, i didnt measure the bathrooms or kitchen. I have taken all the measurements for the bedrooms and lounge including window sizes which maybe helpful for anyone planning out furniture layout curtains etc. I will try and post these later. Another shock discovery is that some people are going to struggle to park their cars in the alloted garage spaces. In block 3 my garage no 2 is only 2.13m wide which means that i can barely fit an average size car in it and even then will find it near impossible to open the doors! space 3 next to mine has a pillar in the middle of the space making to only 1.82m wide which i can only think wont get used (in which case i will be ok) but in other blocks both spaces 2 and 3 are very very tight! Having looked at the contract it states the garage space to be 21.19m2 this space is nothing near that! I have taken some pictures of the garage and also of the development in general but at time off writing am having difficulty uploading them, will have to give it another go tomorrow!

Hi interested to here about the garage  sizes, as I only have a small car it's not that important to me, how do we know which is our space ?   I live here already and the last time I had a look around the garage in phase 1 block 3 wasn't even painted.(about a fortnight ago)

Hi Calv, Your garage space number will be in your private contract or also on the initial reservation form which you signed when placing your reservation deposit.

Hi Max, I also thought that there was a mistake but the fact that the overall length from the patio wall to the entrance door is also 60cm shorter leads me to believe that we are being conned by the developer. Most of the apartments were closed but i managed to get into 2 and both of those measured the same so i am afraid we have all got a smaller master bedroom then we were told! In the private contract it state that measurements are approximate, a couple of cm or so here or there is fine but 60cm is taking the p**s!

Hi RG,

I am disappointed to hear about the garage measurements especially as ours is No.3 in Block 1.  You say the width is about 1.82m at it's narrowest point I presume? I will have to check the width of my car to see how this looks!

I think it is rare to find that rooms correspond exactly to the plan measurements in apartment blocks but certainly a difference of .6m which is practically 2 feet is a bit much to swallow!

 

Hi Gericom99, Yes the width measured is at it's narrowest point. In block 3 there is a supporting pillar almost in the middle of car park space 3 however i did look in a few other blocks and in those the pillar is on the edge of the space 3 which means the space is probably about the same as my space no 2. I have taken some pics in which i have parked my hire car in the space to show the fact that the space is not usuable but unfortunately for some reason i cant seem to upload these on here. PM me if you want me to email these.

There wasn't any gate you can drive straight up to the development and most of the garages were open so you could drive straight through!

In reply to RG's message about the room sizes.

I am a qualified bricklayer & carpenter. I can only presume that the drawings you have include external measurements, as you have to take into account the thickness of the external walls. This is normally how we are given a set of drawings to work to. If the drawings dont clearly show any indication of an internal measurement, then it may be a sneaky way for the developer to get you to think that the rooms are bigger. As for the garage sizes, I would have thought that there are some form of building regulations regarding the minimum dimensions of a garage space. Maybe a solicitor could find this out.

Cheers

Westport

Hi Westport, The drawings i have clearly show internal dimensions, even if what you are saying is correct the two wall of this room either adjoin the neighbouring flat or the lounge i do not think either of these walls can be half a metre thick? As most of you know solicitors in Spain are not very good. I queried this with my solicitor who phoned the developer to enquire about this matter and they told her that nobody is allowed on site without authority with this she came back to me and said that basically nobody is allowed on site and therefore we cant do anything untill snagging / completion.... like this is a snagging issue (not!)! Sad that considering I found this lawyer independantly and was not recommended by any agent developer etc. Anyway i have emailed Perla about this and am waiting for a reply. I am also waiting for a friend in Spain to give me details of another lawyer which her firm uses and she says is very very good.

Apologies for the big block of text somehow even after inserting paragraphs in the post reply box the paragraphs are not appearing in the posted reply.

Hi Westport I have sent you the photos by email to the address you gave but the mail has been returned to me undelivered are you sure you gave me the right email address?

RG, thanks for the photos. Not at lot of room there!  There are two parking spaces per apartment in Phase III - it looks like some of us will be lucky to get one useable space in Phase I. With no other parking available (so far as I remember) it is going to be difficult for a lot of residents. It's a good job that not all of us are planning to live there permanently.
I can't believe that the room measurements are so far off! A lot of people are going to be furnishing from 'afar' and are relying on those plans to make informed (!) decisions on what will fit and what to buy. It's very frustrating that these issues keep cropping up, and like you say,  it's more than a simple snagging issue.

Are the rooms different sizes in all the apartments? Is the overall size of the apartments still 82M2 but with the internal walls moved? As we can't (officially) get onto the site never mind into our apartments we can't get answers to these questions. When we can get access I plan to ask PSI (or whoever we decide to ask to do the snagging) to do a property survey on the apartment. I will want this done before we make the final payment because if the overall size is not as stated we will be asking for a reduction in price. If however the internal walls are moved but the overall size is as originally stated I would not expect to be able to have the price reduced. I haven't seen your photos yet RG but I have seen a number of basement garages in Spain with very tight parking spaces. It may not be to bad as initial occupancy is likely to be less than 50% and even after a couple of years there is unlikely to be more than 70% occupancy except in peak season. There will also be people like us who plan to go "green" and use the train and taxis to get around.

The two apartments i managed to get into had more or less identical room sizes the only difference being where they have placed the supporting pillars or the size of them. I dont know if the overall size is still 80m2 (as per original plans) if this is the case then there isnt anything we can do as it is the overall size which is in the contract mind you the overall size in the contract shows areas which includes communal parts so in essence we may never win this one! Even if this can be proved and we make a fuss i dont think we will get very far with them at best they will probably say that they will refund all our monies and put the apartment back on the market as they know that they can get more for the apartments now (particularly if you have placed deposits way back in 2003 / 04). As for the garage in my case the space 3 next to mine is only 1.86m wide (6.5ft) which means nothing will fit in there except a bike! so iam hoping that the developers havent given this to anyone in which case i will be ok! I am still waiting for a reply from Perla on this matter. By the way if you are getting a mortgage then the survey that the bank has to carry out should also show the actual m2 as this is how they base the valuation.

Hi everyone,

When I put the deposit down on my 2 bed apartment (block 2 planta baja) in Feb 04 I asked my solicitor for proper drawings showing dimensions.On inspection is seems that the apartments are about 71m2. When I asked Lena about this she said that the 80.14m2 is the "constructed / built" area and when you take into account internal and external walls the m2 will reduce by 10 - 15%. Even so I have taken measurements and the master bedroom is still smaller than its supposed to be. So we definately need to get confirmation and if the developer is in breach of contract we need to apply for compensation based on the m2 selling price. I will up load the plans showing dimensions to shared photos.

Regards, Andy

P.S there is the same problem with the store rooms.The developers are selling 3 m2 store rooms for 1000 euro per m2 but they are smaller at about 2.2 m2 so again they are ripping us off! I will also try to up load info on store rooms to shared photos.

 

Hi,

The drawings and docs have been uploaded and have been resized and are not that clear. If you want the originals email me at aotter@freeuk.com.

Regards, Andy