Just Testing

It is planned to hire a proper venue for the AGM and it is likely to take place during the day. The administrator is to book a venue then we can confirm the date. Neil and I and possibly others need this confirmed ASAP so that we can book flights.

This is probably the most important meeting there will be as not only will we be receiving the accounts to the end of this year and agreeing a budget for 2008 (the normal stuff) but we will also be agreeing the rules on everything from where you are allowed to instal aircon units to when the pools will be open. We hope to have a proposal for satellite tv.

The disputes with the developer have not been helpful and unfortunately I do not think everything will be resolved before the meeting so community snags, including the flooding will I am sure feature as will the unfinished road and water supply.

As has been pointed out before, this is our community and it is up to us to decide what rules we want and which ones we don’t. I am sure we will be able to utilise proxies for those unable to attend but before then we need to agree what we're voting for. 

when in January?

This message was last edited by max! on 11/27/2007.

worked with me. Eda

I think most of us will be out for the new year and a few days after, is there any chance the meeting could take plaece early January when everyone is over there.

What dose everyone else feel

I did ask for the meeting to be around New Year but it is a holiday period in Spain just as it is here and the administrator will be on holiday as well. They need to complete the accounts for 2007 after the year end as well as prepare the budget for 2008 and all the other preparations and the 17th (which is still only a provisional date)was the earliest they said they could be ready.

Sorry

The 17th January would be fine by us

As we are there for New Year and will not be able to return for the 17th i assume we can do proxies again ?

Hi All,

Terribly sorry but the date for the AGM has changed to the 26th of January. They felt really bad about it because of possible flight bookings and asked for my permission, but in the end I agreed because the president couldn’t be there on the 19^th (he needs to be in Argentina that week) and that would make the meeting more or less illegal. As this is the most important meeting of this year I thought it would be wiser to inconvenience you than disrupt the whole process. They promised me that there wouldn't be more changes. (it already shifted from the 17th to the 19th but I thought it wise not to communicate that before I had a very very firm confirmation)

Sorry.

HI Max

What time of the day will it be held and how long can you expect it to last?

It looks like we wont make it on that date, its a shame as we really would have liked to be there

This message was last edited by max! on 12/4/2007.

I learnt a lot during the meeting Max set up with the administrator and I will share the information when I have more time. I am also back in the UK bfore the 26th Jan but plan to go over for the weekend.

Proxies will again be important but it will be less clear cut. We wont have the figures in advance and if the question is, for example, do you want your community fees to go by 10€ for a state of the art security system and guard or 5€ for something less? whoever is holding the proxy will have to decide for you. 

The papers for the meeting have now been posted in all the letterboxes in Don Juan. Sky is on the agenda as is security. Other items such as the pools will be dealt with under community snagging. I am interested to hear people´s views on what we should be trying to acheive at this meeting. For example on Sky the solution I would like to see is for the community to pay for the instalation of dishes which are then the property of the community. Those who want Sky will then be responsible for paying for the connection to their apartment and the digibox etc. If this is not passed we may need to have a fallback position that in every block where Sky is requested a dish will be installed and the cost shared between those who are going to use it in that block. The difficulty with this solution is how to deal with someone who wants to join later.

Hi Everyone, I already have sky installed - I feel it was unreasonable to be asked to wait for 4 months to have the same facilities available to me as my spanish neighbours, therefore I went ahead and had this installed.   I was advised that there could be at least 8 connections to the one dish.  I do not feel that everyone will want satellite tv but if they do they should be prepared to bear the cost themselves as there are other issues that will affect every single owner that should be prioritised, namely security.  I also feel that the visible presence of the security guard will better serve our community than video cameras. As there are many more people who will add their two cents worth to this I will only cover the two topics mentioned for now. 

Hello All,

The topic of the siting of air conditioning units is of equal importance  in my opinion.  As, I believe, they can be quite noisy i am dreading going over at Chtistmas to see whether or not next door has positioned their's next to our master bedroom at the side of their terrace.  I feel that occupants should be made to put them in the middle of their terrace in order to avoid disturbing their neighbours on either side. 

Anyone else have an opinion?

SRS

With regard to notices of meetings, agendas and minutes etc I would like to see a motion passed that the administrator would try to communicate these to owners by email and  with an English translation, where possible, apart from posting them in individual letterboxes as well.  Many people use email addresses now all the time and this idea which is in operation in another community in Fuengirola that I know of would help to mitigate the problem where important post is collecting in post boxes of owners who may be away for months on end.

Satellite Dishes: I agree with Davmunsters suggestion - get the community to install & own the dishes - those who use them then pay the supplier for the connection and additional equipment supplied such as satellite receiver etc. However it is possible that the Spanish & other nationalities will not vote for the community even paying for the dishes alone, if they see no benefit and perceive that they are paying for something of no use to them.  As this is a very good solution in my opinion, to overcome such resistance I think it could be pointed out that the cost of installing 10 dishes only, spread out over the 200 owners or so, would amount to a very small once off charge of around €6 per owner and it would be preferable to have the dishes owned by the community in the first place.......(as long as they are pointing in the right direction of course, ).....If this doesn't work then Davmunster's fall back suggestion is a good one and for people wanting to join later some sort of nominal charge could be agreed which would go into the community budget for maintenance of the equipment for instance.

Security:  This is a difficult question - ideally the complex should be well fenced and gated and access to each block possible only through permanently locked doors.  A security guard is a good solution but can he be there 24 hours a day and how costly would this be? Video cameras would help also so maybe a mix of both ideas would be the way to go. The fact that Phase 2 completions have yet to take place complicates matters further. This might mean that until Phase 2 is completely handed over and up and running the security guard is the only option in the interim. Further down the road it might be worthwhile commissioning a security consultant to advise on best measures to take.

Air Conditioning:  Perhaps I am wrong but I didn't think that the outdoor unit of an airconditioning installation was very noisy - I thought that when choosing it was important to ensure that the indoor unit was as quiet as possible.  Having said that, as far as I can see, the only possible place for the outside unit for semisotano owners is on one or both of the terrace dividing walls.  The reason for this is that when the patio grill doors are in the fully open position there is not enough free room left on any part of the main wall to accomodate an airconditioning unit.  I am only talking here about units to serve the lounge and main bedroom, not the back bedroom which is another problem altogether.  With regard to the terrace dividing walls and the gap between the top of these and the ceiling above I have seen, in another development, white framed pvc opaque glass units of a uniform size installed in such a situation to increase the privacy  between terraces.  Something of this nature could help to abate noise, if any, from a neighbouring aircon unit.

This message was last edited by gericom99 on 12/6/2007.

Gericom you are right about the air con, on the semi sotano level the only place you can have the compressor is on either end of the terrace wall (not the dividing wall but next to it) it is impossible to have it in the middle due to the security grill doors and also the terrace light point. Also you can get some brands of air con which are whisper quiet so it won't disturb anyone.

I think the community sky dish is the best as i am sure max and david will maintain them and make sure the are put up correctly and with out any damage to our community properties as there was some damage on some ones roof in the past.Air cons should as max says be instilled in a place where you are not disturbing people next door and by not putting them to high up on the wall.Also if we ask our neighbour's first where possible when we are putting air cons up as this is the polite thing to do. Secrurity i would like us to be a gated community when phase 2 is completed bye irene/peter