Builders Liability to Pay Fees for Unsold Houses

I am the president of a new community which is coming towards the end of its 1st year. The builder has 8 unsold houses. At the intial AGM we were told that the builder was liable to pay the fees for these houses and quotas were decided upon this basis. The builder has now said that a new law enacted on 1st January 2007 relieves them of this liability. The Administrators agree with the builders.

I am proposing to continue to leave the builders 8 quotas on the debtors list and to propose at the AGM to initiate legal action recover these and all other outstanding fees. Changing Administrator is an option, but does anyone know the legal situation? 

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No way!! Of course the developer is a debtor of the community, come on!
IN order to change administrator you need to achieve just majority in an ordinary or extraordinary General meeting of owners.

If you want, you can check articles related in this website which may help you so. Good luck and go ahead!

http://www.eyeonspain.com/spain-magazine/community-horizontal-7.aspx ( here you can find the whole serie of articles on Community of Owners)

Maria

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 We also have a dispute in our community.   When I was there in March I noticed that there were no security guards .  When I queried this I was told  that there was no money in the budget as the original first phase buyers have a disopute with the company and have withdrawn  their maintenace costs .    I being a second - time buyer knew nothing of this and have paid the full costs expecting to get what I am paying for and am not very hapy about this.   Where do we strand ?   When I bought this property I was expecting full security and not getting it as the budget cannot withstand it ?   Surely these residents are wrong to withhold this amount as I am in essence subsidising them .   Surely their dispute is a separate matter?     What would be my rights if EL Presidente was one of those tennants withholding the cash for all I know???

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Our builders are showing on the list of debtors that was prepared for this years AGM. It seems they pay 50% of the fees when due and the balance when a property is sold. Not sure how that arrangement came about though!

Mark

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Tamsin, Owners cannot with hold community fees cos the have a dispute with anyone!!

Of course, if your El Presedente is one of these people you are stuffed, but if all the things ie secutity guard were agreed at your AGM then you should notify your Presidente and administrator of your displeasure and then look to calling an EGM to oust the lot of them and start again.

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gswain

Welcome to the world of El Presidente and all it entails!  I am sure that you will find some excellent advice and opinions from users of this site.  On a personal note I am entering my fourth year as President and at last all our properties (just over 100) are now sold so our dealings with the Constructor are now few and far apart.

Am I right in thinking that your Administrator was put in place by your builder?  Thought so... so was ours and he was not even an Administrator just the cousin of the builder.  We had to call an E.G.M. (Emergency General Meeting) where over 51% of our owners voted him out as his interests were with the Constructor not the Community.  Strangely the incoming Administrator managed to collect the Community fees outstanding by the builder which we too were informed by the outgoing Administrator were not collectable under the law!  We even put a 20% surcharge on to this amount and he has paid up fully on 22 properties, he then owned.  In my opinion, and I stress it is only an opinion I think your priorty is to change Administrators.  Ask other Presidents in your area (you don´t state where you are) or post a question asking for recommendations on this site.

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Yes...  that is a golden rule. Same as in the buying process is essential to have a  good independent lawyer to  protect your rights and interests, in the after sales, it is to crucial to have a  good independent property manager for the same reason  with sound expertise in Property Law ( or with a good lawyer by his/her side). Developers have been over-controling the whole process for a long time and there are so many abusive situations to be corrected!!

At the end of the day.... all theses situations seem to be just the unbalanced effects of the real estate boom that has reached to an end. Now, all the mess need to reach a new order. As in everything in life... isn´t it?

Best wishes for this rainy day !!

Maria

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