jimena latest

In the solicitors words the problems were in order for the owners to be able to make the contracts for water and electricity in their properties. I will be visitng the site Monday so hopefully I will still get to look around though I dont expect to get any straghtforward answers. I saw my solcitor today and she says maybe a week or two ???

Hi guys,

My past experience with another Arenal complex... water and electricity were all right from day one after signing the deeds...... there were problems with telephone service for a couple of months and eventually they got sorted.

I do believe if they are ready to sign they have to provide you with 2 documents stating the reference number for the electricity and water counters... they give you these documents not at the notaria but when you actually collect the keys......that is my 2 cents.

Regards. 

What is the best thing to do regarding bank accounts, is it better to have a UK based account or a Spanish account. Has anybody any experience with the different banks in Spain, which offer the better services and least charges. Also money transfers, what is the best way to convert Sterling to Euro and transfer to Spain. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.caxtonfx.com/ ) that you might want to check out.............. I will have a mortgage with a Spanish bank so I'll stick to it for everything...........regards......

I am still paid in Sterling (work in Gibraltar) so have to frequently fund my Spanish account. I would highly recommend using a currency broker. I personally convert 3 or 4 months worth of expenses at a time but you can set up a monthly payment schedule where you fix the exchange rate today, pay a deposit and the broker then takes your £s and sends €s each month. I use Baydonhill.com (was Currencies4less) and have always found them reliable and offer decent rates.

As an aside, I notice that a great deal paving on the site around block 1 has been dug up. in the last couple of days. I assume this is something to do with utility supplies but who knows!

Well am now back in sunny England. My solicitor thinks the water and electric will be sorted in the next couple of weeks and the girl and guy I met on site said the same thing. I managed to get to look around my apartment  to take photos and measurements as well as the show house and was pleasantly suprised with what i saw, not too much in the way of obvious defects and was a bit more spacious than we had imagined. A nice kitchen given a bit more space with the washing machine and scrub sink kept outside on the utility balcony along with the boiler which works off a gas bottle. The bedrooms were big enough and a a nice fitted unit with plenty of storage space in the main bedroom.

I can see the problem in the shower area with the window opening in and I supppose a sliding window would avoid the problem. As with fitting a shower rail as the ceiling is ceiling tiles you could overcome the problem by fixing the rail to the tiles by putting a couple of plywood patresses above the tiles fixed to the back with adhesive and then the rail brackets can be fixed through the tile into the plywood. As I work in construction its something we do when fixing rails to ceiling tiles in the likes of Hospitals.

I noticed a couple of flats already occupied by Spanish, one in Block 1 and 1 in block 2 not sure how they manage to cook and wash but the cooking smells were drifting under the door. It could be they work for Arenal but they had the family with them and there were names on the mail boxes by the door

I will try to upload the photos i took. If you have any questions fire away and i will try to answer as best I can

I have just been informed by my solicitor that the electricity and water ''matters'' have now been sorted and that she will be signing the title deeds on my behalf this Friday 2nd November.

I dont think however this means that the individual supply to the apartment will be connected up as the problems were to do with setting up contracts, presumably to allow for accounts to be set up. I understand that I will have to pay a visit to the town hall to get my individual supply turned on. I was hoping that the bloke who is going to do my snagging would be able to check out the services but this might not be possible.

BTW does anyone have any recommendations regarding house and contents insurance. My solicitor is trying to flog me a company she probably gets a cut from and has quoted me 283 euros a year (based on building value of 119000 euros and contents of 12000 euros). It sounds a lot

Also have been quoted 190 euros a year for inheritance tax insurance (something I have never even heard of)

To answer a few of the queries below. I have knowledge of Unicaja - they are my bankers and my house mortgage is with them.  They can be a little bit wooley when it comes to fees for mortgages but I have found them to be one of the better current account banks in terms of low fees (no free banking here in Spain). Save for the opening commission normally payable (often 1%), using the builders mortgage will not save on notary fees, stamp duty fees or anything else. Sorry.

Furniture packages. You could try Imperial but they are expensive and not great quality. Personally I would suggest buying bits individually if you have the time or inclination. I am decking my flat out with goodies from Ikea. I would be happy to help anyone do the same and share the van I will need to hire. Send me a private message if you are interested.

Insurance, I use Unicaja again. I pay about 300 euros a year for combined buildings and contents based on building value of 225,000 euros