Signing of Apartments ?

Hi All,

Just asking a general question to all owners on this forum,we were wondering how many of us all have actually signed and taken possesion of their apartments ? If you have not yet signed for your apartment are  there any reasons why ?

There seems to be a long list of forum members but not many posts from you all ?

This is this start of the community and we all need to know as much as we can and if there are any problems with the development.

We will be going over 22 / 5 / 09  for 10 days. send massage if you will be there too.

Kind Regards

Soozy & Royston

Hi Soozy

We will be there in the same period. Since there is stil some doubts as to when exactly we will receive our furniture (I'm driving down with some of it myself but the rest is being delivered), we have decided to rent one of the apartments that haven't been sold for the duration of the stay. I don't know where it is but I should be fairly easy to find around our apartment with a drill, a screwdriver and a hammer.

Hi All,

Our lawyer in Marbella signed for our apartment in Block 2 on 22 March on behalf of us. We went to stay on 13th May until 18th May to check our snagging and also to receive our furniture installation from Villapac Furniture in Malaga. We ordered it from their showroom in Bolton in January, it was meant to be delivered by Easter but was eight weeks late.

The apartment was fine other than some small snagging issues and the service centre staff were very nice and so helpful. They have agreed to complete the snagging by the time we return on 5th July for a fortnight.

Both swmming pools are complete and the gardens around them have been finished, there is a lot of planting and landscaping still to be done although the common areas which have been done are well finished. There wasn't any sign of any more planting being done when we were there. There is a security guard at the entrance gate 24hours a day and quite a few workmen still working in the apartments and gardeners cutting the grass etc. All the roads and lamp posts are finished but the entrance drive is only partly landscaped on one side.

Many of the apartments look like they are empty still, with no furniture in them and no sign of any life. All of the seven blocks look like they are finished. The sales staff gave us a welcome pack with some nice gifts and all the paperwork and rules for the community. Apparently the community committee had their first meeting and AGM in january ( two Spanish owners and one from Calaceite!) and agreed the budget for the community charge for each apartment for the year commencing in April 2009, but we haven't paid any money yet other than the 400 euros deposit to the community fund.They will be billing each aprtment quarterly in advance but haven't  said how much, which is a bit confusing. It may be because so many of the owners have not arrived yet and a lot of the communal work has still to be done.

There is no sign of any work on the golf course yet which is very disappointing nor the Marina or the Marine Park, but I understand the Marina plans are out consultation at the moment and the mayors of Torrox and Nerja are pushimg to start the work asap.

The views from the apartment were stunning and the weather was superb - 26C and blue skies every day. Only a few residents were on the complex and we had the pool to ourselves.The views from the pool areas and gardens are breathtaking all the way along the coast to Torrox and Nerja and straight out across the Med. There is only a dozen sun loungers at each pool though they will need to provide a lot more.

There is no sign of any work on the second Phase behind Vistamar it seems they have stopped working on this just now, the building work is only half complete.

Please reply if you want any more information on anything specific I will be happy to help, i still think we have made the right choice as the location and views are second to none..

Regards

Mike and Hayley

In connection with the safety aspect; the Sales Office has explained that the access to Calaceite is a public road and so they can't prevent anybody entering. However, the urbanisation is closed and nobody without keys or remote control can have access.

Bill

HI Bill

I dont know what proof they have to say that the apartments have been checked 4/5 times but Stevie Wonder must have looked at ours!

If the access to Calaceite is a public road why have we installed a road barrier to block it off ?  what can the security guard  do to prevent access  on a public  road?

The matter of people getting in only with keys and fobs is questionable as the gaps under the gates to the garages is easlily large enough for a person to get under, therefore being able to enter the garages and store area and lifts , which gives them access to our front doors with out being seen. Also they would be able to use the facilities of toilets ,swimming pools etc.

Kind Regards

Sue & Royston

Hi everybody

To my knowledge, our apartment was only checked once - in our presence - but I have to admit that the Calaceite guy was rather thorough and found far more shortcomings than we did. To the untrained eye, everything seemed more or less OK ...

About the security: Calaceite is obviously a private 'urbanizacion' with no thoroughfare so I don't understand the part about the access being a public road. Anyway, I will have to speak to the security people later this week (we have rented one of the unsold apartments during our next stay to keep us comfortable while furnishing our own apartment and we will have pick up the key there) so I will try to get more information about what they can do and cannot do.

Bjarne

Hi all,

Latest update is I have been advised by Calaceite that they estimate my community charge for a one bed apartment will be 134.40 euros per month, and if you pay your quarterly bill within 30 days you will receive 10% discount which would make the cost 121 euros per month I think. No idea when we have to make the first payment though

 The golf course has not been started because the Council have not signed over their plot of land which will be used as part of the course so the developer can't start. until then. I don't know why this is the case; you would think the council would want to start the course as soon as possible. However you can get discount on the other golf courses in the area by booking through Fuerte hotels.They cannot do any more planting because of the Council Decree on the drought and  they can only plant what they have enough water to maintain

It seems that the two owners who attended the first community meeting both also work for Fuerte hotels , I think they are husband and wife,  how bizarre!

regards

Mike

About the golf course: we were in Calaceite last week and one fine morning I went for a stroll (or rather a hike) in the hills behind the development. From up there it seemed evident that some kind of levelling activity is taking placing in or close to the area where the golf course is supposed to go.

About the marina: as far as I remember, we were first told that they would start working on this project before the end of last year. Nothing seems to have happened though, and now I have just read in a local newspaper (Diario Sur) that the regional government (Junta de Andalucía) is 'confident' that the work will start before the end of the present election term (that is in 2011!). Right now they are waiting for the preliminary environmental impact study to be finished (hopefully this year).

And with about the bank, supermarket, cafeteria and gym which were supposed to be part of the Service Centre and be ready for ... when was it ...?  Patience is indeed a very important virtue.

Be careful with the lifts in this initial phase: our neighbours in block 6 got stuck a couple of times which is not something you want to happen, especially at night when there are very few people around (even the security people seemed to disappear from time to time).

But apart from all that, we are actually quite happy with our apartment ...!