Looking for a good Administrator

Hello all you helpful people out there!

We own a property in a small community in the Alicante/Murcia region - our community has been set up for less than a year, but our administrators have lied to us and don't seem to be getting anything done - worse than this, they are charging us a vast amount in community fees (which they say is so that there is enough money in the pot to cover community expenses).  Is 630 euros for 1 year a reasonable amount to have to pay, considering that our community doesn't have lifts, communal areas or large gardens and only one small pool.  We don't think so, and are therefore asking for the help of those of you with efficient and reasonably-priced administrators (there must be some?) to let us know who they are so that we can look into changing ours.

Any help much appreciated, either on this thread or feel free to PM me.

Many thanks folks!

Juan Carlos! (comunidaddevecin

Where are you?

Has anyone seen him?

Hi Roo

How many properties are there in the community?

Hi Goldie

I answer for Roo; we are in the same community and we are 96 plots of quatros and villas and one pool.

Hi

I think I have worked that out at 60.480€, that is if every one on the community pays €630 per year and that is if all the propertys are sold. to me this sounds a lot to pay if you only have say administrator/ community insurance /pool maintenance/running cost for pool ie electric and water.

you dont say if the administrator is connected to the builder? but I think your community should, get three quotes for all, I dont think you should be paying no more than 400€ per year  Bearing in mind that you do have to pay for the upkeep of the cormmunity properties ie painting lets say every 10 years. not the villas if they are detached. I would say that an administrator should charge no more than 400€ per year a property.and bear in mind your pool should be shut 4/5 months of the year.

However some communities charge a lot more due to size of the area.

Hi

I think I have worked that out at 60.480€, that is if every one on the community pays €630 per year and that is if all the propertys are sold. to me this sounds a lot to pay if you only have say administrator/ community insurance /pool maintenance/running cost for pool ie electric and water.

you dont say if the administrator is connected to the builder? but I think your community should, get three quotes for all, I dont think you should be paying no more than 400€ per year  Bearing in mind that you do have to pay for the upkeep of the cormmunity properties ie painting lets say every 10 years. not the villas if they are detached. I would say that an administrator should charge no more than 400€ per year a property.and bear in mind your pool should be shut 4/5 months of the year.

However some communities charge a lot more due to size of the area.

Hi Roo and Arne - I live in Playa Golf which is not far from you.  I think your fees are really excessive.  We pay 300€ per year and are hoping to reduce that when we get our debtors' list reduced.  We are in a much bigger development but I still feel you are paying far too much.

There are many threads here about administrators and people will recommend based on their experiences, although most people post because they have problems!  There is a new company locally who look pretty good and it may be worth checking them out -  ask for Ian Smith at the following:

• business email address is:  ian@isadmin.org  or info@isadmin.org

• website is at www.isadmin.org

We haven't used them yet but are in the process of exploring our options as our current Administrators Grupo Mediterannea (now with a new name which I can't remember) are awful!

Ant new administrator will guide you through the process of changing companies but you do need to have it voted through at an AGM.

Good luck

Contrary to the previous poster, our Community has had Grupomediterranio ( now Pentagono ) as Administrators for several years and have foung them extreemly good.

Sorry  I made a mistake on my previous post, should have said that pay no more than 400€ per year community fee,

Actually the fee is €40/month for every owner regardless of quota and we did one first payment of €150 to get started. This and the fact that no budget was presented or approved have now turned out to be illigal. See thread "Community fee" .But we have to blame ourselves not protesting high enought.

In spite of that only about 2/3 have payed the fee, only 15% of the income has been used, but without budget and statement of accounts it is impossible to know if this is reasonable.

However as we are looking for a new administrator I cincearly hope he/she can help us out.

Karensun and Clair T has diamerial opinion of the same aministrator. Howe com ? Can you explain more?

I think the administrator shall:

- have a good economic control and account.

- not  overrule the owners

- regulary check up the community on site.

- do tests on the poole.

- follow the law and give good advices

WHERE ARE YOU?

Maybe the best and easiest thing is to administrate the community self and use the money saved for legal help, translations and communication.

Does anyone have any experience?

Do you not have a presidente?

Hi, I'm quite new to the site but have just been reading through your posts, I am experienced in setting up Management Companies back in England on developments and I cant see Spain being much different as you say its more about having a budget, collecting the service charge, producing accounts and keeping in contact with the residents so If I can be of any help just let me know.

Arne 56 said........................

I think the administrator shall:

- have a good economic control and account. ( definately..and ours does and so has our Presidente )

- not  overrule the owners ( the Owners are the ruling factor and all decisions made by the owners at a properly conviened AGM )

- regulary check up the community on site. ( not the job of the Administrator..you should have a Presidente and Committee who should do that, as well as ALL owners should take responsibility for thier own site )

- do tests on the poole. ( not the job of the Administrator, you should contract a professional to do this job )

- follow the law and give good advices ( always.....and ours does )

I personally do not think it is a good idea to do your own Administration ( which would include the accounts, banking etc ) you would have to handle an awful lot of other people's money and this could mean BIG problemas !! Minutes have to be registered and a good Administrator has lots of information there for the asking and you will not have this information to hand.

Answer t Karensuns answer:

I have beet offered the service written in red by an administrator we had on hand. (Juan Carlos B.)

- regulary check up the community on site. ( not the job of the Administrator..you should have a Presidente and Committee who should do that, as well as ALL owners should take responsibility for thier own site ) Attend to a committee meeting every month.

- do tests on the poole. ( not the job of the Administrator, you should contract a professional to do this job) Unregulary taking samples .

Maybe he is something extra.What other experienses do communities have?