The chit-chat area

I am one of the 99% of people who did not have a clue who Max suspected. Max said quote  ' Unfortunately I know who did it. I discovered the break in as I already suspected it. I showed the damage to David to make sure there was a witness. There are some circumstances which made it relatively easy for me to identify the offender. I won’t reveal what I know, but I hope the person makes himself known'.  He did not openly accuse anyone but gave any guilty parties the opportunity to own up. They could have done that by PM. I am sure had they done that Max woud have handled the situation discreetly. I for one was grateful to him for looking after the welfare of our community and felt relieved that he may know who the perpetrator was.

A few months ago the door to the Water room in our Block (not Block 9) was very badly damaged literally smashed in, it was during a time the water had been turned off for a few days. The person who did it obviously felt that if they could gain access they could reconnect the supply which of course was not possible. I have my views on who did this but could not prove it. ( I am now hoping the person who did this will now own up ) but equally this does not make me quilty of accusing anyone directly. And l like Max was only assuming from previous incidents who the guilty party may be. There is no smoke without fire. 

I would like to remind everyone that Max & Saskia are a young couple who are trying to make ends meet like most human beings, we should respect their privacy. Saskia is trying to run a business and look after her daughter. If we go to them for advice it should be in friendship and not demanding from them what is not their responsibilty. If we do ask their advice we should not argue with their answer just because it is not what we want to hear. We may not all need to use their business but cannot blame her for looking for custom and advertising her services. How else would she start her business or offer a service to the community. They have both been a valuable asset to this community as has David.

 If anyone has a grievance they should do it in private that is what the PM is for. Can we please keep this site for pleasurable or informative information only, as I have said before it only degrades the whole developement as does malicious damage to communal areas.

I do not want to open a debate so therefore would prefer any replies to come to me by PM PLEASE

Hopefully this dispute is now over, or resolved by PM. After reading your comments Janmet regarding your water room being broke into, it makes me think how many more of these incidents are going to happen, as it seems to have been happening since day one. Another suggestion I have, is for a notice to be put on each of these doors, giving information on who to contact if access is required. On a number of occasions I have arrived at our apartment, sometimes late at night, only to find our water supply has been switched off. Thankfully this problem now seems to have been resolved, but its not nice not being able to flush toilets or wash, but it certainly never crossed my mind to break into the room. Having a note on the door of the room where the water valves are, would be a help, but if access was required late at night, instead of people calling on Saskia, maybe the mobile number of the security guard could be listed. Just another idea to make life that little bit less stressful.

Westport

We first met Max Saskia and their daughter some 20 months ago. We got on well and met a few times while we waited for our apartments. We wanted to enjoy the adventure of sorting out our apartment ourselves and we never had plans to let it out so we were never going to be the sort of client Max and Saskia needed to make a living. Even so they answered all our questions and helped us find our feet. I don’t think our experience was unique and I’ve been thinking about what has gone wrong.

It was Max that persuaded me to get involved with the committee because he wanted someone to be involved who could more effectively represent the interests of non resident owners. He wanted me to in a sense be watchdog over him as he did not want people to think that he had any kind of conflict of interest. Clearly the recent conflict with the Irwins has not helped but it is I think just the last straw. On www.wetakecare.es they say “What you would need is a friendly neighbour” ... “We are that neighbour!”  I don’t buy the “serious conflict of interest” that Andy alleges. It is simply not born out by the facts. However I do think that some residents have been unable to see the division between Max’s voluntary work as VP and the perfectly legitimate aim of Saskia’s business of making a living from serving the residents of Don Juan. If Max was VP (a voluntary position that he was elected to) and (let’s say) he earned his living as a train driver – would people think it was OK to call him in the middle of the night for directions for their taxi driver? I think not! Because he is VP AND they are “wetakecare” they have been taken for granted as a free service.

 I know it is not nice to arrive in the middle of the night and discover that your water is turned off.  So what do you do? Phone Max who out of the goodness of his heart gets dressed and goes and gets the key to the water room. He turns on your water but instead of thanks he gets berated as if he is responsible for the anti social behaviour of the neighbour who keeps turning it off!

I know of at least 3 occasions when people have been injured and needed hospital treatment. I notice these are not mentioned on Saskia’s post but on every occasion they have been good neighbours – taking people to hospital and even taking family to visit over an extended period. This is being a good neighbour and I guess something they did out of compassion and should not be confused with being at everybody’s beck and call.

Hi all,
I'm so disappointed and upset for Max and Saskia to read all that has gone on recently. Max was such a fantastic source of information early on and has continued to provide us all with an  insight into the workings of the community. For those of us with little or no knowledge of the Spanish language (and who do not get over as often as we would like), he has been an invaluable source of information.

We had a major problem on our first visit when we found our furniture van had broken down when it should have arrived ahead of us. It was 10 o'clock on a Saturday night and we were all but stranded at Malaga airport. Who did we ring for advice? Why, Max of course. We really appreciated the help and support he and Saskia gave us when we needed it. 

In fact we have only positive things to say about everyone we have met (thank you Eddie for your help with the electric!).

It has to be a knee jerk reaction for people to say there may be a conflict of interest, as for the life of me, as David has said, I can't  see where it is. Everything to do with the community has to be accountable and justified as far as I see. Saskia could still have set up and run her business without Max being VP. The Eye on Spain forum has been the vehicle to get people together. In fact it helped make Don Juan really feel like my second home before I had even slept there for a night! I would hate that and the genuine feeling of a real community to disappear because of one or two inconsiderate residents giving Max and Saskia unjustified grief.

I'm so looking forward to our next visit in a few weeks and meeting again my good neighbours.

Michelle

Hi Max,

I have not been on the EOS site for a number of weeks but I have just read some posts, a lot refer to some people making slurs against you and treating you with no RESPECT! I do not know the detail but  DON'T LET THE BASTARDS GET YOU DOWN! you have done a fine job and unfortunately some people only know how to complain even when it is relating to things outside of your responsibility.

This DON JUAN thing has turned out to be such a PAIN! 
It is just such a shame, we all have our dreams but people destroy them, If you step down as VP I would not blame you as if it had been me in your position I would of either punched or shot anyone who did not show me or my family respect (yes I would be in Prison or on the run). People may not always agree but you should respect your  neighbor and show the consideration you would like to be afforded but clearly certain people do not live by these principals, shame they did not buy elsewhere.

I will post David to ask him to ask a question for me to the Administrators, I think you have enough requests.

Can you let me know when the AGM will be?

All the Best

Neil.

Today our daughter called from Don Juan. Her and her freinds were stucked inside the lift in our blok - It was totally dark and no electricity.(and very hot). I did not know what else to do than calling Saskia. She acted very quickly and helped to get them out.  A BIG THANK TO SASKIA.

One of the girls is suffering from panic fear - but thanks to Saskia they were quickly "imprisoned".
Regardening all the gossiping I just want everybody to know how helpfull these people are

Grethe

Since we all want a responsible and harmoniously functioning community I really don’t think there is anything to be gained by using words like “inconsiderate”, “selfish” or “bastards” for instance, to refer to some of our neighbours when discussing an incident publicly in posts to our forum on Eye on Spain.  With 10 separate blocks and 200 apartments approx. in the Don Juan development the reality is there will always be things (hopefully small) going wrong and maintenance issues of one kind or another and human nature being what it is, some will approach the solving of these in a reasonable manner while others will perhaps “lose the head”.  This is not to excuse such behaviour but if someone requests Max to do something for them personally then surely they should be willing to pay an appropriate fee and not expect his time and efforts to come free. 

For my own part, on one occasion I arrived at 9 pm to find my water turned off and having called Max he very kindly put the matter right within a half an hour for which I profusely thanked him and paid his call out fee.   (Needless to say I seriously doubt that he would have sent me a bill for it).  He provided a service promptly and courteously and as such deserved to be remunerated for it.

We are very fortunate that he is on site and so willing to help people with problems but it is clearly not sustainable to have him at everyone’s beck and call so to speak.  Obviously when he is wearing his “community hat” people may rightly seek him out for information etc to do with the community, however when he is wearing his “business hat” providing a service etc he deserves to be paid.  I don’t think it is possible to have someone permanently available to deal with sudden problems that arise for individuals, and what the solution is I do not know, however the matter should be up for discussion in an effort to come up with a more satisfactory approach.

As for the water issue, it would indeed be nice to know what specifically the problem is and is there a way to solve it. The last word I heard was that the developer had to modify the infrastructure for the connection in some way but couldn’t do it because it involves doing something on the land owned by Adif, the railway company.  So it appears that the matter of the access road and the water problem are complicated by Adif the owners of the land concerned… prizes to anyone who can think of a way to bring pressure to bear on Adif and the town council who are protagonists in this matter while our developer claims it is outside their control and so waits on the sideline it appears!  Could objection to the habitation licence for Phase ll be used as a lever I wonder?

I don’t know what the story is regarding community fees for unsold apartments etc but those that are sold of course whether for resale or not are liable.  Unpaid community fees is a problem that crops up in many communities and it is difficult to eliminate completely.

The AGM was held in January last so presumably the next one will take place in January 2009.

Hi Gericom99,

That’s a thought provoking post.

I once (I never thought I’d admit to this publicly) forgot to bring our keys (my 2 tasks were bring the keys and passports – well I remembered the passports!) and had to call on wetakecare (who hold a spare key) to get into our apartment. Some neighbours heard that we had paid 20€ for this and said he charged you even though you’re his friend! Actually he didn’t want to charge me but I insisted on paying. The service (worth every penny) had been provided and I insisted it was only fair we paid the going rate.

With regard to the water supply the situation is as you say. We are on temporary supply because the developer is unable to complete the pipe work under the road beside the railway to connect us to a permanent supply which we will have to pay for. Under the terms of the 1^st habitation licence the water is to be provided by Arrohabitage until this is resolved. They have been unhappy about paying for the temporary supply since the AGM. They have not paid any money collected from completing owners for the community to the community stating that they are using the money to pay for the water supply. It now turns out that they are not paying for the water and that is why there is a threat we will be cut off. I hope that the meeting to be organised by the town hall involving all parties will result in progress.

It may be that the Phase 2 licence is affected by this issue. We have highlighted the terms of the Phase 1 licence and the unresolved issues to the Town Hall but have not directly sought to block the Phase 2 licence. Clearly if it is issued they will face the same problems as we have.

The committee are all ordinary people with no particular expertise in how to deal with this and all the other major issues we are faced with. It is an awsome responsibility and quite stressful. Arrohabitage are completely unreasonable and it seems we have no option but to fight them on every issue. We are running out of money and our administrator is not efficient in collecting it. Even people who want to pay are finding it difficult to do so!

All things being equal the AGM will be in January. I will press for advance notice of the date. It is however possible with all the crises that we are dealing with that an EGM will be required before then.