Dear all,
Please accept my apologies for the delay it has been a long, busy, summer but I’m back with news. And a lot of it: Before you start, please do one important thing.
Please send me an email at miyukipleece@gmail.com and confirm your name as a propietor so that I can co-ordinate your email addresses with you as real people.
I have been Presidenta for just over a year now, and now, as at the beginning I have the same three priorities :
The changing of the statutes
The pursuance of debtors
The unfair distribution of energy costs, particularly in the central building.
There are myriad other problems which crop up all the time and sometimes impede progress of the above.
News: Where to start?
The community board
Gerald Salters and Gerard der Kinderen have both resigned from the board. I thank them both for all the time and effort they have put into the community and I am pleased to say that Ian Matthews has agreed to act as Treasurer. At our last community meeting, 12 September there were several differences of opinion and additionally Gerald Salters was frustrated at the lack of progress in several areas. I share his frustration but continue to do what I can, not only with little man power but also being severely under-resourced financially.
In July, there was a move by Sol Andalusí to cancel all debts. They wanted to write off:
· that which is owed by Fase 1 to Sol Andalusí SA;
· that which is owed by Sol Andalusí SA to Fase 2
· that which is owed by Fase 2 to Fase 1
There is no advantage to Fase 1 to agreeing with this and I asked the lawyer, Pedro Hoz to respond. This was the answer:
As President of the Comunity of Owners of Sol Andalusi Phase I, I would like to let you know the following:
I am not going to sign the agreement that you had presented us and dated July for the following reasons:
1- The community will not pay the €94.394,87 of electricity invoices which have been invoiced to your company until an invoice is issued in the name of the community
2- The community disputes some of the invoices totalling the €56.002,34. Some should be paid by the promoter others have to be shared with Phase 2, and others still have to be justified
3- Regarding the Martinez Guzon irrigation water account the community has not had sight of an invoice produced by the Water Association, and we believe that part of the consumption has been used in the building of Phase 2. Also, the starting up of the gardens of both Phases should be paid by the promoter, plus we believe that some of that water is being used to water the private plot of land belonging to Mr Martinez Guzon. It is for all these reasons that we do not accept the balance of this account.
4- We don’t accept your offer because according to an independent engineer’s report, the commercial premises use 40% of the total energy expense (gas and electricity) and of the water expense of the central building, and that it is instead being charged to the Community.
For all the above, we must reach an agreement before anything can be signed and that would only be done when approved in an EGM.
You may recall that I had been prepared to sign this agreement back in …but at that time there was an incentive to sign in that SA had promised to increase their contribution to main building gas and electricity use by nearly 10%. This would have been worth having but at the last moment, on the day before the AGM, the lawyer representing SA submitted an untenable agreement, not only excluding clauses that we had agreed to, but adding the clause that all would be null and void if the community or any resident ever took legal action against SA.
Gerald Salters also made the following remarks (in italics) in respect of his resignation, and I am sure he will not mind if I share my responses with you all. He makes some good points, and they are in your interest.
“1. Although agreed upon we did not execute:
- The repair of the fire alarm.
- The yellow parking lines.
- The progress reporting in the board on legal actions.
- No regular board meetings.
- Signing of invoices by two people.
- No automatic procedure put into operation to limit the number of debtors.
2. The report of the architect (due end of July) showing and clarifying the responsibilities of both Sol Andalusi and the Community is neither distributed nor discussed in the board. The relation in between this report and the current legal action is rather mysterious and should be explained.
3. Water and electricity bills are delayed with 6 months.
4. No solution yet on the return of the excessive paid medical costs.”
My responses:
1. It is wholly unacceptable that we have not had sufficient funds to repair the smoke alarm system in the central building. It has not only been a matter of funds but finding someone to agree favourable and affordable terms of contract. Fortunately this month I have been able to authorise half the cost, so that the work can be started.
The yellow lines have now been painted along the roadside outside La Alhambra. The Fire Department advise us that a fire engine needs 5m for access, so if your car suffers damage when parked on a yellow line in the community, then the Community accepts no responsibility.
Progress on legal actions has been admittedly sketchy because it is painfully slow and nothing happens for weeks.
It is not straightforward to schedule regular board meetings as the more of us there are the more diaries there are to consider. I have taken Gerald’s point and there will be an informal board meeting between Ian, Alberto and I every Tuesday.
I signed invoices only once I had discussed them with Gerald.
As remarked earlier, one of my priorities is the debtors list. I am pleased with the progress, and it was positively noted in the AGM. When I began as President the debt was around € 345,000. We managed to get it under €200,000 but remember we are operating in harsh economic times and we should congratulate ourselves on the fact that although it is now around €240,000 it could easily be double that. There cannot be an automatic process to limit the number of debtors because a debtor cannot be legally pursued until the community approves such action in a general meeting. I intend to call another General Meeting soon.
2. Here Gerald is referring to a report we commissioned by an architect expert in urbanistic matters. She has produced a 32 page report which she is editing into four separate reports which we will use in court. She has promised it will be done by the end of this week. I have not distributed it because I don’t have it, and I would not if I did, because it is for the lawyer to use. When appropriate I will make it freely available to anyone who wants to read it.
3. This is regrettable that there was a delay.
4. No there is no resolution on the medical costs because though important , it was not one of my three priorities and I cannot do it all.
Gerard der Kinderen resigned as I would not agree to take on the services of a mediator to “establish whether we can seriously work together on a number of issues related to the well being of the Community”. My response was that I am not prepared to spend another minute of my time in meetings with Sol Andalusí.
I have wasted days in fruitless meetings, the problem lies in SA commitment to see through the agreements.
I refer specifically to:
· May 2010 when Luis Martinez signed a document expressing a desire to increase the contribution of Sol Andalusí SA to utility costs and a commitment to pay their community fees monthly. There was no result except 7 months later LM denied all memory of the document, saying "Chechu gives me a lot of things to sign",
· December 2010 when Sol agreed to pay 40% of the unmetered amount of electricity in the central building and 40% of the gas used in the central building but then claimed that there had been a misunderstanding about the 40% and they failed to show at the meeting
· February 2011 when a new percentage of 9.78% was offered to Fase 1 and accepted. However, the proposal was sent allowing only one working day before the AGM on 5 April. Several agreed items were absent but it did include a wholly unsupportable clause that the Community, nor any individual would ever take any legal action against Sol Andalusí in the future, and that failure to do this would mean the withdrawal of the contribution of Sol Andalusí as offered.
Despite assurances to the contrary, I do not believe there has ever been an intention from Sol Andalusí to deliver on an agreement. The last year can be added on to five previous during which time we have never felt like a partner in this relationship.
Legal progress
I can confirm that we have already started some legal actions but at this stage discretion is our friend. I would like to have a meeting at the end of October or beginning of November where Pedro Hoz will be present to fully explain everything that has been done so far and that which will have been done over the next month or so both on the part of the community and also the Association of Owners. It is essential that the Association continues as an entity as it only “independent” group of owners who can take the community to task for its statutes.
If you think you will not be able to attend this meeting, could you please do your bit to help the community by ensuring you are not in debt so that when we send out the details of the meeting, we can ask for your proxy vote.
There are several things that I would like to ask your help with both in terms of feedback and information.
Do you have any photos of the tennis courts before Sol Andalusí altered the use of one of the tennis courts into a mini-football court?
Do you have any film or photos of weddings, communions or similar that have been held at Sol Andalusí? If you have any chance to photograph or video any forthcoming events it would be hugely appreciated.
Would you write a short letter, eg, 3 sentences, complaining about the events that are held at Sol Andalusí, in particular those in the Plaza outside the bar? Were you inconvenienced on Saturday 10th September 2011 by the wedding which continued outside in the plaza until about 5am?
Do you have any price lists of apartments for sale by Sol Andalusí. I particularly would like from 2007?
Do you have any feedback about the swimming pool this year? Ricardo and I went to a lot of effort to reduce the amount of unwanted, uninvited visitors and I would love to hear your views. I would also like to know what you think about opening hours and the dates we should be open. If the pool is open longer then we need to pay more for the lifeguard and factor it into the budget.
Do you have photos of the football pitch before anything was built there, I am referring specifically to the little “walls/buildings” that have been put up.
Marjorie Minas.
Many of you will be familiar with Marjorie, an English resident of La Giralda at Sol Andalusí with a mobility scooter. Recently Marjorie was taken into a clinic and sadly died last Friday 30th September.
Apartment rental.
Once again I know of a few people looking for a two bedroom apartment in Fase 1 to rent. Please let me know if you are interesting in letting your apartment. Also a possible interest in one of the end apartments that look over the lake of La Alcazaba or La Giralda.
Meter readings
All the electricity meters will be read at the end of November/beginning of December. If you prefer you can provide us with the reading yourself. In order to complete this time consuming task, please advise your tenants that we will need access to your apartment and ensure that Ricardo has the contact details of your tenants. If you need any more information, please contact Ricardo at the Community office. If access to you apartment becomes impossible then you will once again, receive an estimated bill.
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