Dear Neighbours,
Since the lifts within the Mirador de Las Palmeras complex were first activated for use, we have, as a community, become steadily more in debt to the lift company. This is due to the fact that too many apartment owners, for a variety of reasons, do not pay community charges. In order to address this issue the Administrators are of course pursuing non-payers. They have also negotiated a new contract to help prevent the situation worsening. In addition some lifts in unoccupied stairwells have been temporarily deactivated to save money on routine maintenance and electricity. The lifts are reactivated as and when the stairwells are reoccupied.
Recently changes were made to the way electricity billing is carried out in Spain. This, along with price increases, resulted in the community receiving a high bill in the first billing period of 2009. The lack of available funds forced the Administrators to take an early payment of community charges to cover this bill. This was required to avoid having the electricity supply cut off to communal services such as the pumps supplying fresh water to apartments, the television and telephone systems.
To avoid a repeat of this, a review was carried out to establish what sensible measures could be taken to reduce the overall amount of electricity consumed within communal areas. Working in conjunction with the Administrators small but significant changes have been made; for example, the booster lighting in the garage has been deactivated whilst ensuring sufficient lighting levels in all areas. Also decorative underwater pool lighting is switched off along with lights that served only to illuminate the garden areas at night. The three main entrances are no longer permanently lit internally. The lights in these areas are now only operated on timer switches that will illuminate the area for 1 minute. Each main entrance has an external light to aid initial entry from the street at night. Stairwell lighting has also been reduced to 1 minute. These small changes have very little impact on the general appearance of the complex and will, in time, help to generate more available funds required to carryout routine maintenance and repairs.
There has been a great deal of questions raised about what can be done to remove any unpleasant tenants from the complex. After advice it would appear that, unless those people who actually witness or are involved in incidents with these tenants are prepared to put their names to official reports, very little can be done. Not much comfort for those living in close proximity to them, but it is possible problems like this will resolve themselves when tenancy agreements are due for renewal.
Should the latest rumoured petition to obtain a “Vote of no confidence in the President” be successful I will look forward to seeing how my successor will better deal with this and other similar issues. It does however seem a little unnecessary to waste already stretched funds on an additional meeting to remove me from a position I will stand down from in June at the AGM.
Kind regards,
Jacqui
President