Annual accounts/AGM

I think that some people have now been in a year.  Does anyone know what happens about an AGM and when it is likely to happen.  I realise it is too early to think about kicking Prienesur out as they have a big majority but we should be seeing accounts at some point to see how they have been spending/wasting the money.  Other than gardening and minimal maintenance of the pool, I can see no other expenditure.  It also begs the question as to whether all the phases will be kept separate as far as accounts go.  I really am not sure how these things work, but its probably time to start thinking things over.

i agree paul but i dont think we will see anything until things move on further.  I presume we will not be expected to pay anything else towards community fees apart from what was deducted on completion until we take over as a community.  i think the money already paid we can write off for now.  I am not expecting to get anywhere on this one for a long while.

suzanne

You may have read Will & Marianne's post on Manilva Life to realise the problems that can develop once management companies are involved.

http://www.manilvalife.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&p=62779#p62779 They already have a management company running their development, this was organised by I assume Ros y Falcon the developer. So for the first year it would seem we will have to jog along with whoever Arenal places in this position...hopefully a company that will answer our emails! When that year will commence your guess is as good as mine...has it already commenced?? I would suspect not, as there are not enough occupied units....BUT???? Inevitably our honeymoon period will draw to an end and we will all be asked to contribute to the community/urbanisation.  I would like to think that Priensur will write to us outlining the current situation and they way forward, but I wont be holding my breath as communication has not be a strong point in the past. 

What concerns me is the road, work will obviously recommence at some stage. However I hope that we will not be asked to contribute for this. I think that 'El Hacho' had a similar problem and all the urbanisation's within 'El Hacho' had to contribute to a road, can't remember if it was a new road or just renewing an old one. It was some time ago and I would have to research back on ML but if my memory serves me well I am sure there was a big to do about it, which resulted in them petitioning the town hall.

Thank you to Suzanne    for finding out the information whilst on her holiday. 

Hi Everyone - great to see the same names posting regularly and a bit of Community spirit gathering strength. It's a fantastic development and we never changed our minds on this even through our troubles with Priensewer. Stick on if you can. Laurdan/Peps/Suzzanne/Flossie have all kept the faith. Even PD seems happy.

Been a while since I posted here but I still peek-a-boo frequently to see how you are getting on. In other circles it would be called loitering.

Just to bring you all up to date we have now issued legal proceedings to recover our deposit of €78K which now with interest and penalty charge is now €95K.

Despite legally cancelling the contract (which Priensewer accepts with no quibble)  14 months ago we then had to find a further €5000 to cover 50% of the legal fees needed to take the case further. That's now a running total of €100K and is proving very expensive and we still might have to wait another 1, 2 or 3 years. Nobody knows.

Anyway, welcome to the strange wacky world of Community Management where even the Mafia would blush at the outrageous  prices inflicted on new developments. Watch out - here comes the Gangmasters.

Let me give you a few examples : Multiple choice answers here please.

We have 2 gardeners who also do the pools. (which are much smaller than yours though more of them) Have a guess how much a year  ?  : €30K/€50K/€75K/€100K/€150K

we have three cleaners : €30K/€50K/€75K/€100K/€123K per year ?

Answers : the Gardening and Pool Gangmaster charges us €180,000 per year, and the Cleaning Gangmaster charges us €123,000 per year.

We have a Maintenance guy. Or maybe two, nobody really knows for sure. We are budgeted close to €200K for this lot.

Security ? we have, I think, 2.5 people (we share the cost of a Guard with Duquesa Village) nobody knows for sure at the best of times - they either go walkabouts for hours on end or have their friends turn up. €83,000 thank you very much. Actually that sounds like fantastic value when you look at the others.

We have no quibble with the Gardening and Cleaning teams - they do a great job but I bet you a miilion they are on nothing more than minimum wage.

The level of corruption and scams is eye watering.

Even the purchase of your apartment is scary - there are fees and charges that nobody told you about, right ?

Anyone got to grips with the Rental Tax yet ? And if you don't rent don't think you are off the hook - you're not. Budget €600 a year for that bad boy.

We have our AGM coming up in March. Our so called administrators are none other than the infamous AEA (Action on Elder Abuse ?) We have asked many questions, got no answers. Refuse to speak to us as individuals or as a Residents Group.

I can only comment on how I find them - useless. Let's hope you didn't draw the same short straw.

We have tabled a Motion to re-tender for a new company, someone who will be a lot more responsive. A brick would do that.

We are charged €40K by AEA for a fourth rate service and there is only 127 apartments actually sold and completed.

Yep, even the Mafia look embarassed.

Let me give you another example. We needed WiFi and AEA came back with a rough price of €36K.for the whole Urbanisation.

A few of us got together, talked to a couple of companies and we are able to get it installed at 0 cost. Nil, niet, zero, none, zilch, nothing, free, gratis.

Starting to get the picture amigos ?

I was happy.

Hi All ,

First thank you Will & and Mairanne for posting there costs as we now have an insight of what to expect and can be more prepaired to argue the costs,

With the amount of money the are charging I may aply for a job on the complex,  

At present I do not see how we could set up a committee as on the last count I did, there are only about 37apartments occupied, so I think we will have to wait untill there is a much bigger percentage on the complex, assuming the do not just turn around and say the year is up , it is up us to run it now.

i'm scared... where's the vodka....

Peek-a-boo by all means in future will

suzanne

Hi Guys

I have tried to post here before but for some reason none of them ever appeared. That last one did (after 2 days) so I might be back in business here. I thought I had been barred, not for the first time, but it has always been bars before.

It really defies belief that these costs are just accepted as anyway normal. You would never never ever get away with this anywhere else. Even in Sicily. It's money from America, winning the lotto, your boat has come in, all in one.

I think the yardstick is three years - for the first three years you get your left eye wiped, then your right, and then they come and remove the eyeballs completely. They then send you a begging letter on behalf of the blind asking you for more money.

After three years everybody wises up and puts a stop to it by electing a proper Management Board with financial controls -  someone from Priensewer will be your President, and they will appoint the management company who will be utterly tame and subservient to the President. That's the way it works here. Do not expect any favours from your management company.

Robbie - even with 37 Owners you can make a difference. You only need a couple who are willing to stand as Board Members and you can start and make change.

Coto Real is now at Year 4 and the Community have now blown the whistle. We have nominated five Owners at the AGM for election with express powers to sign off every invoice before it is paid. RyF still have 300 of the 426 votes and so can defeat us at every turn, but we'll see if that vote is used to block the many sensible Motions we have proposed.

One of our proposals is to reduce the Community Fee by 25% - the €/£ rate has dropped by 27% in the last year and if we are to avert a disasterous rise in Delinquent Debtors, Fees must be reduced as a matter of survival. Every Urbanisation must be looking at that, and if not, why not ?

So on the face of it you would think our developer, who is also the President, would be first out of the starting blocks supporting this.

I'll keep  you posted.....

Suzanne - Keeper Of The Faith Extrordinaire - love reading your posts.

Marianne and I are over Mar 4 - 13, and Mar 24 - 31. If anyone from the 'hood is around fancy a drink ?

We have met Bob & Jane Ludgate the last couple of times we were over and it's been real fun - lovely couple.

You can get me direct at wflem007@aol.com