Entitlements

Hi All

On a recent trip to Los Olivos we were able to obtain a copy of the "Internal Regulations" complete with "Living Together and Look Rules", and the "Rules of Community Owners", all appertaining to Los Olivos.  It seems that these were delivered to some (but not all) residents by Marinasol.  Some of you might have received these by mail or email.  We certainly had not seen them before.  If not, I would suggest that you contact Marinasol for these documents, if only so that you can have a good laugh!

I personally like point 10 in the "Living Together and Look Rules" which states, "it is prohibited to hang out on the balcony".  Well, that's my social life hampered then!  And why is it called a Juliet balcony if you can't hang out on it?

Clearly these are rather generalised rules as some relate, for example, to gated complexes.  Some things are sensible and some are just plain ridiculous.  They will surely raise some animated discussion between us.  Of course, what is most ridiculous is that we owners have had absolutely no part in setting the rules by which we are legally regulated.   This brings us back to the point that was discussed on this site prior to our completions; that if we don't get our communal act together then the builder/administrator will do it for us.  Although this has already happened, at least allowing community services to be put in place and the pool to be opened (the fact that it was green, slimy and out of order for the last 2 weeks of October, and maybe still is now, is yet another story) does not mean that we should now sit on our collective behinds and just let things happen (or not) around us. 

I wasn’t at the July meeting but I hear that Marinasol were not very good at chairing the event.  As someone who is familiar with the dynamics of meetings, I do recognise that for things to happen in an efficient and useful manner then there needs to be planning and well thought through and clearly articulated points raised from the ‘floor’.  That can be difficult when there are only a hand full of people and their individual views.  How much harder then when there are up to 80 people to be represented?

There also needs to be meeting management so that the content can remain focused and the attendees orderly.  This duty, of course, usually rests with the Chair, but if Marinasol are not strong in this area then there is even more reason for us to present ourselves as a collective and controlled union of owners.

Despite Marinasol suggesting that the next meeting of our community could wait a year, I believe it was suggested that, during this initial period at least, the next meeting should be only 2 months on.  Obviously that has not happened but I know that some of us are pressing Marinasol for a meeting date sooner rather than later.  So, how shall we prepare?

My suggestion is that we use this forum now as a place to voice concerns or questions that we might wish to put forward.  Next we should elect (by nomination, seconding and acceptance) a few people (maybe 4) who will speak on our behalf at the next meeting.  That will not prevent other people from attending but these nominated people will take consideration of all the points we have raised and they alone will be responsible at the meeting for voicing our collective points in a sensible and straight forward way. 

I do recognise that this forum is only used by some 49 of the 73 current owners, but that is a good percentage to gain views from.  I doubt that Marinasol would give us a complete list of owners, but some of us may have contact details for neighbours who are not online.  We might be able to gather their views by post or telephone.

In the long run, we will need to be more involved with this whole process by which our community is governed so why don’t we start focusing ourselves now.  Let’s set up some processes that will stand us in good stead for taking control of our own environment.

Well, those are my thoughts and suggestions.  Your responses will be appreciated.

Terry 19b

An excellent starting point Terry.  I will e mail Marinsol to get a copy of the rules and the living together document.  I have not received anything at all. 

I agree that we need to get this focused, and  avoid the problems some communities have had when they have simply run out of money because money is not collected or used effectively. 

My first concern is what is happening with the community charge?  Is it being collected efficiently from everyone?  How much is outstanding and do we have the right to look at the accounts.

It seems to me that all we are getting at the moment is the grass cut and the pool seen to - and if they are failing in even that, then we have to find a way to move forward. 

Linda  

1. Terry/Janice kindly obtained a copy of the rules for us. They appear to have been taken from rules for a block of flats and have little relevance to Los Olivos.

2. Perhaps someone feels like proposing some sensible rules that can be discussed here before going to a meeting.

3. Marinasol should not have been left to chair the last meeting. First, in the absence of the President a chair for the meting should have been voted in. Next time!

4. 25% of the members can demand a meeting  be called.

5. We are in Los Olivos for another week - the pool is still not available (for the very brave!!)

Eddie 20B

Hi there Los Olivians

I do hope these next few coments are helpful - I am not trying to tell you how you should do stuff up there on the hill - thats up to you guys - Its your Communidad !!

However , the  whole Communidad thing does take a bit of time and effort to work out ..................so a few pointers perhaps .............

This is from my own experience as I am currently the  President of the Los Azahares Communidad and we've been operating for almost 4 years now, we are only 16 apartments so it's not been quite so complicated - but in the early days bno-one really knew what was what and so we had to kind of work it out from scratch - and we did make some mistakes. 

#1 its your communidad - it exists to protect you all collectively - and actually the Comminidad actually owns all the public spaces , l.e., the pool and you have a % share in that Collectively owned Space.

#2 - in a large development like yours or the Jacaranda's the builder has to appoint an Administrator to get things kicked off - a President has also to be "found" from somewhere and if one of you guys did not put themselves forward - then a President will be appointed - in the case of Los Rosales for instance - this was a BMS director ( OK to get the post filled and OK for someone speaking Spansih but absolutely NOT OK to lok aftere your interests. It took Los Rosales a year to get their own President identified and elected in.  

#3 - The administrators are just that administrators - they can only administer a set of rules that you the residents wish to have icreated  - in the event of there not being any to kick off with - they'll create something which they think is suitable . But their main job is to adminster.

• Aminister the collection of your Community charge
• Admisnter paying the people who you ( or they)  decide to contract with - and in the early stages of a Communidad most contractors just seem to be related to either the builder or the Administrators 
• But in essence they have no power at all - the power lies with the Comminidad and its "Officers"
• All properties have to pay the Community charge once the Communidad is establsihed, if the apartment is still owned by the builder - the builder has to pay the charge - I understand the Community can block the sale of an apartment being finanlised if there are outstanding Community Charges.
• the Communidad approves ( or should approve ) any and all alterations - especially things like colours of awanings / pergola's and especially any alteration wich cahnges the outward appearance of a property - you will find that your "enscripturas" - your title deeds, have a clause in them about "uniformity" which really means that the apartments have to fundementally look the same .....so one person can't just decide to paint their property pink or whatever.  

So in essence its down to your guys to decide how you want things to be and go about ensuring that marinsol dance to your tune and not ( as it kind of sounds at the moment) you dance to theirs.

If you havn't already you must decide amongst yourselves who is going to be the President elect and who are going to be his/her officers

• Perhaps a deputy President
• Somone to look after or watch over Finance
• A secretary/ Communicator
• Other  other deputies who are going to assist the President and if necessary ensure the rules are adhered to ( I believe  Los Rosales ( 70 odd apartments) actually has Residents ( Communidad Officers) who keep careul eye on Pool behaviours and noise ) I can't all be down to the President and people on site need to know what is OK / Not OK and act if necessary.  You need to decide how many deputies you need but with 90 odd apartments you are going to needa few 4 or 5 perhaps

The fact is that until youu take control of your own community the administrators  (Marinsol in your case ) will kinda do what they think is best for you .....................................and that may not be what the majority of you want.. Incidenatlly its up to the Communidad to decide who they have as adminstrators after the 1st year . You choose ! Your adminstrators are there as a service provider to you , if you don't like 'em , in the same way as if you don't like the gardener .....you have to decide to chage them

Its always going to be difficult with 90 odd apartments and trust me you'll never please all the people all the time - but you can decide on some fundementals or key Principles and its then up to your Pesident and his / her Officers how they proceed. the position of President is an important one and it does have legal powers - so it needs to be someone you trust and someone who is prepared to put a bit of time and effort into doing Communidad work

hope that helps a bit ...there are several other Commindads set up on Huerta Nueva - I suggest you have a chat to a President or two and get your own Communidad set up as you want it  

Lastly ......................................bloomin good luck !!

Thanks Barryj. Most helpful. Hope it prompts more Olivians to take an active interest.

Eddie

Don't want to tread on anyones toes, god forbid, but at the time of the meeting with Marinasol if my memory serves me correct was a President Elect, Vice Pres and 3 committee members selected ?

If this is to continue it would help if members who are resident out in Los Olivos participated in the debate as people at home are in the dark most of the time, jump to wrong conclusions etc .

Okay I'm back to sleep

Barry 18A

No mention of election of a President Elect, Bice President and three Committe Members in the minutes. IIem was not on the agenda and those we spoke to who were at the meeting no nothing about this!

Eddie 20B

Hi, the meeting I refer to was held prior to the meeting with Marinasol at a certain persons apartment and in preporation for the Marinasol meeting, seems logical to me, while we were recently out there another person was refered to in conversation as " The President Elect ". The fact that it didn't come out at the Marinasol meeting was because it was less of a meeting more a case of this is the situation.

Oh no don't tell me someone was taking the Michael and I've fallen for it, heavens above the disgrace,   Help!

Regards

Barry 18A

This is on a slightly different point, but I just wondered if everyone had seen the new proposed Community Sites that are going to be available free from the Eye on Spain Team.  I would be very keen to register for one of these, and would like comments from others as well.   Eye on Spain community website

I am increasingly concerned about Marinsol, since we have just discovered that since the first payment, theyhave not been taking any money out of our bank.  We will remedy this straight away, but I wonder whether they are actively pursuing any outstanding amounts e.g. is the developer paying for the empty apartments?

Barry's comments are, as always, really helpful, and it is encouraging to hear that other communities have had problems to begin with.  I am uncertain how we should take this forward, and it may be that we need to get Christmas out of the way, and then really try to get to grips with the situation.  We seemed to decide some time ago that if the residents are prepared to take on the responsibility roles, they should be encouraged to do so, but I really feel they need support from us holiday people as well.  We need to start with the processes, rather than get embroiled, as we have in the past, with finer details of rules etc - which as Barry points out, are for our convenience.

Linda

Just wanted to reassure eveyone that our payment of community fees is now sorted.  Marinsol did have all of the paper work so I do not know why this happened, but it does leave concerns that other fees are not being collected.  They  certainly responded quickly enough about our concerns about NOT having paid!!!

Have a good weekend,

Brian