twyntub

Within 200 yards of our house there are six houses where town water and electricity cannot be connected as the houses are not legally constructed. The 'builder' has paid a 'fine' to the town hall so all is fine in the authorities' eyes. That won't stop the bulldozers coming in.

Rumour has it he's now off building a load more properties which he's in the process of selling to more Brits less than 25 km away...

GrapeEater

Interesting! And the ISPs around here (only two that I know of) charge about €150 set-up + €40 p.m. for a phone (IP) and internet connection at supposedly 2MB (never !!!) - If you use it regularly you'll notice it breaks all the time. Complaining makes little difference. Possibly because there is little competition / Spanish attitude to service.

Other people have looked into setting up as the 'local' ISP but hit barriers I'm told. I'd be wary of doing it (even if I had the techie skills) as if or when it breaks or customers hit techie problems they'll be knocking on your door (so 1 minute you're their friend and next the enemy maybe?).

Maybe Satellite is more reliable but most people won't pay that surely? Don't know. Out here I've found 'proof is in the pudding' is best. (the said the same about the Digit TV here) but is it better to have 512 reliable or 2mb not so reliable considering the costs ???? Don't know!

Am I right in thinking upload over satellite is very slow ?? People send their digi pictures to relatives and so upload is important. And can 512 speed handle video / web cams as people watch videos of the news and sport a lot now.

...and if you live near a hill - get the signal checked out - people have complained about weak signals for all comms/tv. As I say, learn from the neighbours, they'll tell you.

valenciatim

I have set up a satellite internet service for my immediate locallity. As has already been said, the backhaul
provision is the most important part along with the receiving equipment used by the customer.
The backhaul has to have a decent contention ratio, which is very expensive and the customer equipment has to
be fit for the purpose.
As long as the connection is used only for general surfing and/ or telephony, there are no issues whatsoever. Also, the connection has a minimum upload
speed of 512, so photos, video etc are no problem.
However, if just one customer decides to start downloading films using peer to peer, it completely screws up
the wireless side of things for everyone else. Apart from that, video calls etc cause no problems.
I don't want to "blow my own trumpet" on here, so if anyone has any questions, feel free to pm me.
Regards
Tim

Relampago

Do you prefer the spanish workers because they are cheap? Because many times I prefer somebody expensive but that he works with quality. Of course, knowing this person. My uncle hired some poles (or rumanian, czech, I don't know exactly of where they were, of that area...) so that they made him some works in their country house, to be saved money, and the hours not only passed idling, but rather they also made him a authentic disaster

He had to call to the person to which didn't want to call, because he is a bricklayer that is quoted expensive, with many years of experience, but that he makes you a formidable work in very little time. And at the end this man and its nephew had to finish the house, and the difference is abysmal...In fact, 2 or 3 years ago, when he made a work to my mother, he commented me that he had made a work to a english, I believe that a house

Of course, I suppose that not all the spanish bricklayers will be as good as this, to exception of that of my uncle with those foreigners, we have never had problems with the spanish, be bricklayers, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, etc etc etc...Of course, I speak of our case. after each person, be spanish, british, etc, can have a same situation or different to ours

I suggest that who comes to Spain is informed sufficiently well, because if it is certain that there are speculators and shameless, but also very competent people, because to buy a house and in a foreign country it is something very delicate. Also has happened to some spaniards, I believe. So this is an advice for spaniards, british, etc...because this has not always been seen, this is of now, with so much speculation

Mitzyboy

Not only because they are cheap, although Brit workers here seem to charge the same as they do in the UK.

I only use very well recommended workers, so I dont worry about the quality and I have not been dissapointed yet.

Relampago

And I believe that it is very clear that nobody should sell its housing in its origin country (in this case, UK) without before to thoroughly know the place of the country where wants to live. The topic of the purchase of a floor is something that is to be advised very well, but also the climate, even people if it is necessary. I speak of the climate, because I have seen somewhere to somebody that complained that in Murcia didn't rain, that if very hot summers, etc etc etc...Then we will think as adults and to not sinning of innocent

GILBEY

Hi

Thanks for the welcome. I hope the Contrimar houses arn't illegal! I understand the pool will be opened when the last house is finished - hopefully next Spring.

You all seem to be confirming what the agents told us - am I allowed to say who they are in case we have to watch out for them?

My husband is a keen fisherman and has found details of the local trout pond. Is there anywhere else fairly local?

Regarding the internet/satellite service - all a bit technical for me - think I'll let my husband sort that out when we come out. We were given loads of business cards from the english lady who worked in the show house on a sunday.

Is La Finca still shutting over xmas this year? Oh so many questions!!!

twyntub

Well we're buying from Contrimar. It all looks above board (as above board as it can be in Spain - where even the local council can be arrested in planning scandals).

Some useful things to remember:

• Don't use the agent's recommended solicitor. They're recommended for a reason. Every Brit we've meet that's had problems say it all stems from using the vendor's or agent's or builder's solicitor. That said, finding a good one is tough too, but some others from this thread have 'completed' and may have recommendations.
• Get a mortgage. When the builder realised we were getting one, she told us it would add at least two months onto the build. That's because the paperwork for the house has to be in place before the bank will lend you any money against it... As all of our unlucky neighbours say, it doesn't matter how corrupt the builder and/or agent is - the bank will hold onto its money if things aren't right.
• Even though the houses on Oasis are legit, that's still no reason to complete without everything in place. Despite promises, our builder has been reluctant to deliver our house on time. Seems to me that once they get our money, they'll be even less willing to sort out any snags, get the electric / water connected, etc, etc.

I shall look forward to it! I can't see the last house being finished for Spring, though - ours was supposed to be ready to move in in September - it didn't even have a roof in September! Speaking to a few others that I've met 'inspecting the site' of a weekend, that's not unusual.

We're hoping that construction will complete end of December (agent thinks that's 'unlikely') - add a couple of months for habitation licences, etc, we should be in for the Spring. Maybe.

As GrapeEater says - best to ask the locals once you're all moved in, rather than take notice of the handouts.

Don't know, I'll get the wife to ask at school.

GrapeEater

My best advice is ASK ASK ASK - Be cheeky and ask your neighbours. Shy people will be ripped-off.

Do not initially trust any vendor or agent of any services. Ask the locals for recommendations for plumbers, electricians, swimming pools, air-con, internet, etc... People will tell you if they think they were ripped off or the job was not up to scratch. MANY people wished they'd waited to get things done as it would have saved them €1000's.

E.g. An early adopter I know spend €4,800 of air-con for a 3-bed villa - a few months later when more people had moved in other providers were on the scene and you could get it for less than €2000 !!! Same for swimming pools - I saved about €5000 over some of my neighbours by watching and waiting to see what the quality / recommendations were like.

BTW. We hardly use the air-con... waste of money in this area unless you suffer with the heat / cold badly !!!

twyntub

Oh the extras list! Specifying extras with Contrimar is like visiting the extras list with your friendly local Bentley dealer!

Contrimar wanted just shy of 4.000€ just to PRE-INSTALL our aircon - i.e. put the copper pipework in. No fitting, no equipment! They also wanted 185€ for each additional electrical socket. Oh, yes, and expected 9.000€ for central heating, where all they do is bury copper pipes straight into the cement and in six to eight years time you can look forward to a mini-waterfall effect.

Meanwhile, on planet Earth, the official rate for a 1a electrician is 25€ per hour (although I could do the job myself) and builders we know charge 10€.

It's therefore far cheaper to get Contrimar to finish the house, then gut the interior and start from scratch - doing the job properly!

twyntub

Hi Gilbey,

Apparently so - probably closing from around the 23rd December until around the 5th / 6th January 2008. Small possibility that they may open on December 24th - but nothing confirmed as yet.

You'll have to thank Mrs Twyntub for that inside information!

Lionda

Hi twyntub I am quoting your reply to a post I added to this thread (regarding the certificate of habitation being in place before completion) because I have read through this thread again and see that Medsea are your selling agents. We also bought through Medsea, but in another area. It appears that Medsea are telling you different things to what they have told us

twyntub

From what we hear, all agents tell you different things at different times - probably through a combination of ignorance and commercial pressures!

We were told (and it has been confirmed separately BTW) that Medsea had stopped dealing with one of the builders on our urbanisation because they weren't getting the LFO in place. We're also getting a Spanish mortgage, which we understand means you can't complete anyway.

However - then there is the services issue. We *have* heard mention of a 'builders supply', however we can't complete on that basis either. The problem is that I run an IT business, and have been told explicitly by our insurers that they cannot insure any of our home-based equipment whilst on 'Electricidad de obra' - a builder's supply is for plugging in your cement mixer, not your computer...

So, LFO, electricity, water and everything else please!

jdr

Its illegal for the builder to supply electrickery to purchasers, as said their contract is for themselves while building and as soon as sold it is supposed to be disconnected and the purchaser then opens another contract.
What happens if there is a fault with his tempory wire into the property and it burns the house down ?

GrapeEater

Quite right, but most new builds are supplied by the Builder who (or their agent) have charged a horrendous amount for 'connection and supply' as part of the 'deal'- Some on Contrimar have paid €1500, others €500. Some residents there are already on Iberdrola Electricty bills... some are still waiting to be connencted properly !!!

Yep, surely it is impossible even for the a SUPER AGENT to know every rule, issue and local detail of every new-build area or resale home ??? Especially as the circumstances are so fluid. I suspect a rep may only go once or twice to a development if it is inland and off-plan. And I suspect it is not their responsibility to make sure 'everything' is A1... just a service/ confidence thing. Surely YOU and your legal rep/bank has to do that?

As far as I know GAMA builders are were not sold by Medsea because of paperwork problems but that was 2 years ago, but I have seen their agents in the area.

I am SO GLAD we had a mortgage because the bank made extra checks and WOULD NOT release the final payment until all paperwork was in place. It dragged on for 6 months but at least we knew they had done their job!

and...

This happened to us. A power surge (whilst on Builders Leccy) blew our Leccy Hob, Kettle, a modem Power pack and a surge protector (Spanish one) !!!! The Leccy was on a real dodgy board and the voltage tested as higher than it should be. They swore nothing happened but others in the area had problems too the same time of day !!! I got no joy from Insurance. Had to swallow the cost - luckily the Hob was new and we got a replacement under the guarantee.... we had BBQs for a few days... which was nice!

And I'll tell you about the water if you twist my arm... just off for a bit of lunch.