That's at odds with information elsewhere on the 'net:

The cost of electricity connection (acometida) and the installation of a meter is usually between EUR 100 and EUR 300, although it varies considerably depending on the region, power supply and the type of meter installed. When you buy a community property, the cost of connection to utility services is included in the price of the property and it’s illegal for developers to charge buyers extra for this.

Well, by definition the buck stops with the buyer - although I do think agents seem to turn a blind eye. They make between 13% and 18% commission on new builds, and often issues with particular developments are long standing, major (e.g. no planning) and very well known.

To put this into context: friends of ours have told us of a new development being planned near them further down the coast, not CB. Hundreds of new houses, all without planning permission. Agents are fully aware there is no permission - everyone in the area knows there is no permission - the builder openly admits there is no planning permission, but is hopeful of getting it at some point. Agents are still forming a very long queue to sell these properties to unsuspecting Europeans on the basis that it'll 'probably' be legal at some point in the future. I don't think that's missing out on 'local detail'...

Well, they refused to show us a GAMA property earlier this year, so I guess that's the reason why.

Consider your arm twisted!

Thanks for that info Mrs Twintub! Although it looks like we won't be completing by Xmas. Our Bank have been trying to obtain the Nota Simple (registration doc for the house?) before they can arrange the survey. Well thats fine by us as the longer the better before we have to start paying for it as we prob won't come out until March. Our agents are Iberian and to be fair they have been v good and responded to all our queries immediately.

We have bought the show house so everything is ready except some drainage blockage outside the kitchen door so it's their loss if completion is delayed by them.

That's a nice house... obviously well put together with lots of extras because it's a showhouse!

The rate our house is going, you might be moved in before us.

We just dropped lucky. It had just been put on the market when we visited. The furniture is all included (at a price of course!) but we liked the majority of it and though it would save a lot of hassle.

We thought we would be buying off plan so didn't bank on having to complete before next spring and here is you wanting to complete as soon as possible. Isn't that always the case - Sods law! Are you renting on Oasis then or nearby?

Nearby - kids are in the school in Hondón de las Nieves and loving it - made lots of friends. Threw a party in the square for my daughter's 6th birthday at the beginning of this month - only been at school four weeks, worried no-one would turn up - 22 came!! Barely enough cake to go around.

Our daughter had a mountain of presents to open the next day.

Looking forward to moving into a place of our own, though...

I bet! We have 4 boys, 17,16,8 and 6. Our agent tried to flog us properties near the coast (where we have some friends) because of having 4 children but I insisted they take us inland as, a Yorkshire girl, I need hills and mountains. They eventually suggested Hondon as a good alternative as although inland, it is easy to access places like Aspe and Elche for the older ones.

We just loved it on sight! The school sounds wonderful.

You aren't too far from us Gilbey, we are in Castalla about 40 mins away I think. We haven't visited the area yet but it is on our list of places to visit

Hello Again

Nothing much is happening on the Villa front in Hondon. Contrimar have still not come up with the required documents to complete - our mortgage broker pesters them every week but to no avail. The only registration docs the builder is providing is the registration document for the land, not the actual building so we are no nearer to completing. So even if your villa is built - don't hold your breath that you can complete!

Our agents are of no help whatsoever, I think because we have not gone with 'their bank' - they prob would not insist on the same documentation perhaps?

Anyway, has there been much progress on Oasis recently?

As far as I know all Contrimar Houses have a mortgage on already. And this seems to slow things down. It happened to us with our builder (not Contrimar). I know some of the recent arrivals on Oasis they too have had the same problem if they were wanting a mortgage to finance their purchase. Apparently it's all paid up and done on the day of signing. The good thing is your bank is doing it's job and will not let you buy a 'dud' house.

Why Contrimar can't tell you this is beyond me - makes you suspicious and worried!! Maybe someone else can en-lighten us as to why. Ours took 6 months to sort out !!! - We had to rent for a while.

And Contrimar seem very busy of late, loads of houses gone up over summer - messy b****rs though !!! No sign of the Communal Pool being opened/finished !! And as I say quite a few new people in the 'Fred Flintstone' houses.

Getting very cold on an evening now - fires have been lit - some have just put Central Heating in (with Gas from Repsol)

Seems to have been loads of progress on Oasis, only not on our particular house We're certainly not the only ones waiting for a delivery date which is slipping as each month passes.

Each weekend we see something new - tiled kitchen, or tiled bathroom, or tiled solarium - whereas we look around us and we see whole houses being errected in a similar timeframe!

You've made the right choice. There can be a serious risk if you choose to go with the builder's bank.

Under normal circumstances, a bank will not lend you money on a house without a habitation licence - so people with a mortgage are generally 'safe' from taking out a loan on a non-strictly-legal-or-otherwise property. Basically, until the builder gets the house fully legal, you can't buy it - because no bank in their right mind would allow you to proceed without the right paperwork... or would they?

If the builder already HAS a mortgage on the land / building works - then some bank somewhere will already have loaned money against that land / property which clearly won't have a habitation licence / LFO as it's not been built yet.

In these cases, subsequently lending money to individuals to buy said property (which they already own) actually REDUCES the bank's risk exposure - after all, it's YOU now paying the mortgage not the builder.

Cutting a long story short - people have in the past bought through the builder's own bank, saved perhaps a couple of hundred euros on mortgage arrangement fees, then found they pay through the nose in interest rates, or couldn't sell / re-mortgage / do anything because the house isn't even legal and/or has no habitation licence. A worrying situation.

So - in effect your bank's looking after your own interests as a side effect of looking after theirs...

Thanks both of you. Sorry your house isn't anywhere ready yet but I suppose by this time next year all this will be a distant memory.

We were hoping the wood burning stove would be sufficient to heat the house but will reassess once we have experienced a winter. As it is a hol home we may be ok. It is 1 degree in Huddersfield today although we have had some sunny days.

Do you have to wear fleeces and jumpers now then?

It's gloves and scarves over here but the autumnal colours are fantastic. I presume it's the same over there. Does anyone know what the trees are next to the communal pool, out of interest. We have been told olives by one and oranges by another and I would like to prove my husband wrong!

Thanks from a very jealous person stuck in England who needs a holiday!

Fred Flintstone houses? Fred Flintstone lived in a cave, are you calling everyone that lives in a cave house Fred Flintstone?

Is the gas from the big submarine at the bottom of the development?

Yes I wandered about that comment too! Although my husband thought it was a very funny and apt description. I presume you live in one of the white villas GrapeEater.

Brrrrrrrrr. Was just 3 degrees at 7 o'clock this morning, but forecasting 16 for today. That's cold enough to need a coat and the heating on.

Air-con is a really cheap and green way to heat a house (cheaper because you're simply pumping all the heat from the outside to the inside, not trying to actually make new heat). Cheaper models, and poorly fitted / wrongly sized ones (like the 199 euro models in our rented finca) are completely rubbish, though.

If you're into 'green technologies', then well-installed air-con plus a wood burning stove is about as green as you can get.

16 degrees and you need a coat? This spanish living is making you soft! Our heating doesn't go on unless it's at least under 10 degrees cos we can't stand the dryness.