Advice required

Has anybody received a copy of the minutes and a breakdown of the quarterly charge.  I have been informed that the charge is to be 649 euros per quarter which seems excessive.  I ran a thread under (Running a Community) to try and gauge what sort of charges others were paying and most people were agreed that the charge was very excessive.  If anyone can shed any light on this it would be great to see your replies.

Cheers Dean

Hi Dean,

I attended the inaugural meeting on behalf of a client at Green Valley, where I manage a number of properties.  I have a set of my own notes which I  prepared for my client and which you are welcome to have a copy of.  These notes may differ from the official minutes.  I understand that in Spanish Law the accuracy of official minutes, signed by the President and the Administrator, are not subject to approval by the members of the community and can only be challenged in court.  

With regard to the quarterly charge, in my experience the charge is in line with those levied in similar communities where I have managed clients and where I have produced community budgets myself.  The charge is based upon the initial budget prepared by the Administrator and it is a "best guess".  Typically, the first year's budget tends to be a little over-estimated.  This may not turn out to be the case at Green Valley, but it is normal.

If it cheers you up, you might have been paying another 200 € per quarter if I had not intervened at the meeting to point out that 24 hour security was going through "on the nod" without consulting the majority of the owners.  It was agree that this should be the subject of an EGM.

Best wishes

Michael 

Hi Everyone

I'm sure that this is undoubtedly the process for Spain in terms of establishing a community with president etc, but it hardly seems a very democratic way of doing things given that the meeting was held and community established prior to what would appear most of the owners completing ! What rules are they governed by in terms of circulating agendas, minutes and outcomes etc ?.

We do feel the charges are excessive compared to what friends within other developments have quoted us and were very suprised and somewhat alarmed by it. Meanwhile we still do not know what we are actually receiving for the money.

Hi Michael

Thanks for the info but I still have reservations about the figure, until I can verify the breakdown.  If you look at my other thread on the main message boards under Owning a Property/Running a Community you will see that the majority of replies seem to think it is an excessive charge even Justin himself.  I understand what we need to pay for ie. the communal areas, gardens, pool and insurances along with the fees for the administrator, but assuming we all paying the same then there will be well over 126,000euros being paid in annually.  After speaking to a few people on different developments on the Del Sol, some of whom only pay our quarterly charge for the whole year I have to concur at this moment in time that our charge looks excessive.  The main expense I can see normally is for lift maintenance which we don't have and we are not exactly surrounded with masses of exotic gardens and multiple swmming pools.  Until I can see for myself the full facts which I hope to do soon I will remain sceptical about the figure.

Cheers

Dean