Refund obtained

Hi Margo & David

The whole system is geared to the exclusive benefit of the local business's rather than us, the customers, with no regard to service or standards.

David - I knew the Town Hall was in a bad way but I didn't realise it was as bad as that - that's bankruptacy in the real world, but of course this is Spain and those rules don't seem to exist here.

If they're only collecting €6 million per year, with an average IBI of €350 per property, that means there are only 17,143 properties they are collecting from. Surely there must be more than this in the general area ? 

How can a Town Hall be paying out salaries of €13 million with such a small constintuency ? No, I don't know either except it's all incompetence at best.

Margot - if you look around there are lots of BritIrish business's but I always thought it strange that there were no local management companies catering for the BritIrish market, which form the majority of Urbanisations in the area.

They would be very very successful in my view, especially if they played with a straight deck of cards and within the rules of the game as we are used to back home.

However, it's Spanish law (as far as I can see) that at least one member must be in the College of Property Owners. I wonder what the odd's are of qualifying successfully for that if you were a foreigner ?

That aside, computer and software (plenty of packages to choose from - look at http://www.condosoft.com/en/enproduits.htm which seems to do everything you would think of, plus a lot you didn't)

Get a small office, proper coffee machine (essential!) and away you go. Alright, plus a few other things :-) But essentially that's it. Just like at home, you would have a contact list of plumber, electrician, joiner, painter, gardener etc. The only thing different is the numbers and size of it but the concept is the same.

Be red hot on the maintenance programmes, fixing problems as they arise, and most important of all, keep everyone advised and in the loop.

I find the most frustrating thing here is when you report something, that's the last you hear of it. No acknowledgement, no reply. Just nothing. Yet you are spending a small fortune each year on Community Fees.

Taking a couple of tablets now...........

Will

Where did the average IBI of 350 euro come from.

We pay 715 euro for a 2 bed 2 bath apartment of approx 100 sq mtrs

I know that if you took this as an average it would only work out at 8600 properties.

Hi Daffers

The figure of €350 came as an average from other Urbanisations in the area. (We haven't had ours yet as it's new)

We have a 2 bed/2 bath of 84 sqm plus 25sqm of terrace, and were advised to budget around €350.

If it's now around €700 that really puts the boot in, and yes, that would make the number of properties around 8,600. That's even worse in relation to the Town Hall salary bill !

Off now to find another non existant €30 in my monthly budget just to be on the safe side. Or maybe to h*ll with it !

Is there no end to all these bills and charges ?

Hi Will:

350euros was about right for 2007 but in Sept 2008 we had a bill for 715 euros plus the garage making a total of 750 euros which appears to be a common esclation in the Manilva area.

We have had our apartment since Aug 2005, and I put a posting on the Furniture Stores thread on 13th January at 8.27pm itemising all of our costs for 2008. I keep a spreadsheet of all of our costs, so these are accurate, not a buget figure or an educated guess, but actual.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it is better to be pre armed that have an awful surprise unexpected.  

Hi Daffers

Thanks for the heads up on this. I'm a bit paranoid on budgeting for things, and your're right, better to be prepared. I thought I had all the extra bases covered : basura tax, rental tax and of course this IBI.

I would be very grateful for a copy of your spreadsheet - that sounds an excellent idea and I would be able to compare against my budget and adjust where nescessary.

I'm on private email wflem007@aol.com

I was aware there is a lot of disquiet in Estapona where they raised the IBI by 50% last year.

Thanks for your help on this - much obliged