Varbar

Hi All, I am in the process of completing on an apartment in Daya Vieja, and was wondering what you all think of the little place? I like it due to it's quaint and rather Spanish side to it, rather than the hustle and bustle of the larger cities. It currently has no AC, and was wondering if anyone could recommend a company/person, who could provide me with a quote.
Feel free to reply with anything positive/negative. I am in the process of learning Spanish, as i know i will need it in Daya Vieja! But my 2 and a half year old daughter speaks better Spanish than me!!
Looking forward to my little adventure, as well as escaping this rather poor Scottish weather. What's your thoughs on Lumsdens auctions??

I will be completing on the 20th May, so looking forward to some more sun.

Many thanks,

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

agoreira

Has Fatboy Salmond got you all worried, there'll be nobody left north of the border soon!

Varbar

Oh there will be plenty of us left up there, collecting the water that keeps falling out the skies, to sell it to the southerners, when they run out again!!
But yeh he does scare me a little:-(

Varbar

Surely there must be some more advice out there?

amideislas

My advice is not to listen to any advice.

uk1357

My only advice (having just pulled out of an apartment purchase) is make absolutely sure that all the community fees are up to date....apparently due to the crisis many spanish owners have just stopped paying their fees leaving the community massively in debt and at the point of closing pool areas, sacking the cleaners/security etc etc. Don't trust the estate agent to check this for you , do it yourself or ensure that your lawyer does it.

Varbar

Hi Thanks for the info, i have just had my land registry search back, and there is no debt on the property, so that is good news!
Cheers all.

Lynn R

Just for the sake of accuracy, according to this article from yesterday's Sur in English, it is not only Spanish owners who have stopped paying their community fees:-

http://www.surinenglish.com/20130425...304251242.html

uk1357

sorry, i was not meaning to slur spanish owners, just that my lawyer (who is spanish) told me that in the community that i was buying in, it was spanish owners who had the apartments as second homes, who were not paying. since this has happened to me, I am hearing of so many cases of water/electricity being cut off, pools about to be closed, no repairs etc. I am rapidly thinking that I shall forget about buying and stick to rental apartments and hotels ...that way problems like this are someone else's issue, not mine

Varbar

That is a shame, that you have been put off buying at the moment, but well done solicitor, for good advice! This a new build apartment, so thankfully there are no water/electricity rates etc to pay (as yet) Waiting to hear how much the builder is going to charge me to tranfer the water/elctricity over to me. Any ideas of cost? Is there an avaerage community charge, or area dependant?

Thanks again

Domino

when it comes to things like aircon, go for the names you know of from the Uk, such as Daihatsu, LG, Samsung etc.
they will cost you around €500 for a unit + inverter and about another €100-150 to have installed.

there are many items cheaper, probably as good but have little track record, so go for something you know. Buy from a large electrical company who should be around in a year or so when you want it serviced. Alternatively use a large organisation such as MediaMkt and get a local guy to do the install.

hth

uk1357

Good luck with it all, I am sure that you will love your new home...very exciting. I was buying in the Canaries where the community fees on apartments I looked at ranged from euro 80 to 200 a month depending on how many apartments were in the community and things like whether there was a reception(and the hours it was open)/24 hour security/heated pool/size of the gardens etc etc .I may well still go ahead and look again but I shall do far more investigation before making an offer if I do.

Lynn R

I'm sure it's both, and maybe other nationalities as well. I must admit I've been reading so many articles and forum threads recently about the problems caused by debtors for the diminishing number of apartment owners who are paying their fees that it would put me off buying one, too. Banks who have repossessed properties are often not paying the community fees, either.

uk1357

In fairness it is also happening in blocks of flats in the UK as well . A friend of mine who owns a flat in a converted house where there are 6 flats tells me that one person who owns 2 flats has not paid his service charge for well over a year .The managing agent is about to take him to court but of course the hefty legal fees will have to be paid by the other 4 owners......so its not just in Spain that this is a problem .