jdr

Where you go round and point out cracks, missing paintwork, water leaks (hope its raining) chipped tiles etc, and hopefully they will be rectified

Oooops nearly forgot, the now required disabled access to the communial pools.

Jon-Bxl

Hi PA Duplex owners (So far I think its Carol+John, Karen (Billy Bassett), Dean and me + a friend that bought also. Are there any others that Ive missed ?(sorry if I have - I havent scanned through the previous posts to collect names).

These problems came up before... Im afraid the huge Electrical box is going to stay there blocking the view and looking ugly - I saw the one on my 3rd terrace a year ago when I last went there. Its a very good point about security - I didnt think of that - and so I guess its also a security threat. Im sure we wont be able to cover it/hide it as access will be needed!

It might be that there isnt one on every terrace however - I dont know - but will go out soon to have a look in person.

I also bought up the point earlier on the previous thread about A/C external units... Im afraid there will be only 1 place to put all the external units in the vertical block where the duplexes are located.... again on/next to our 3rd terrace. Which means there could easily be a noise problem from all the units being on at the same time, which they often will be. Its not the worst case but the bad case scenario in the post above, I think - Im not sure. Will let you know

I'm afraid I cant see anything to do about this - but if theres some ideas -or a need to gang up on Fadesa - count me in!

We start a 3 week holiday driving through France, Northern Spain to Ayamonte -arriving 18th staying 4/5 days.

Here is a good site for character hotels in France tht often do really good deals - were staying in a chateau for 2 nights at an amazing price!

http://www.chateauxhotels.com/public...482720a92f43f0

or http://www.chateauxhotels.com/public/accueil/index.php

Easter will be in Burgos and Cordoba - looking forward to that! Having visited Lourdes en route - it will be quite a 'Catholic trip' (interesting as Im not one!). I only found out last night that the day before Good Friday is also a special day in Spain, so we may try and catch that too - before we planned to be in France the Thursday. If we find any great places etc - I'll share on my return. We stay at Vincci golf (Atlantico was booked out and expensive and the dates I want made renting an appartment more expensive). Please PM/email me if you would like to meet up. The only thing is that i wont take my PC with me, and lug it around every time we go out - so I may only be checking mail in internet cafes etc. I say this in case anyone thinks I am rude by not answering... I may not have gotten out of the bar and into an internet cafe!!!

Its been over a year, since I was last there, and I think I am going to get a shock, I have a worry that I will be stepping into a huge built up area.. .. even though I love the design of the appartments/duplexes/townhouses, I really hope that I wont be overwhelmed and put off by the scope!

Based on some earlier posts it seems that CE will only ever be a huge touristic place with no real year-round tenants.... so a dead town/area out of season..

We'll see! Let's hope that low expectations = nice surprise when I get there! I am pleased about some recent posts that say that even though the scale is massive, the layout makes it work with lots of green etc... I recall someone saying that they felt really pleased with the investment they'd made based on this point.

We'll see!

Now what the hell do I pack for 3 weeks - hot and cold, windy and warm!!
Jon

Carol&John

Buenos dias a todos,
Thank you for your replies. Having slept on this bit of disappointing news re: A/C slave units and electrical boxes, I'm guessing ('cause I'm not there to see/ask for myself) that each "nucleo" in the RMA plans will have a maximum of 6 slave units nesting in the space at the top of the communal tower stairwell, accessed via a hatch. Does anyone have photos of RMA facing the road (where the stairwells are visible)? The electical box is another issue, especially if it has encroached into terrace space of each duplex.

jdr, hola, I've not forgotten your previous post re: communal pool disabled access. I'm now wondering if Fadesa thinks they can leave this issue (of disabled access to comply with the law) to each comunidad de vecinos to sort out at a later date (ie. passing the buck)? Sceptical? Yo? Si.

jon-bxl,Hola tambien. Thanks for your info. Hope you are not dissatisfied with your purchase. Have a safe journey! I'll be interested to hear how the journey from Burgos to Cordoba goes (think I'll start a new thread... hopefully, people will enjoy reading about car journeys?)

P.S. Glad the SSS is working! Hmmm, what's that lovely smell?
Hasta luego,
Carol

billybassett

Hi to all worried duplex owners out there,

there must be something we can do about this situation. I don't think I would be so upset about it if I had been pre-advised before making the purchase that my 3rd terrace would effectively be used for the benefit of the whole building. I could then have made an informed decision, and if unhappy, could have chosen another property on the development.

The problems will only get worse as the AC units age, become less effective and more noisy. If I have my own AC units outside my bedroom, and it is keeping me awake, then I can choose to turn it off. If someone else from the building has their AC on and it is keeping me awake, what can I do? How many problems will potentiallly be created between neighbours and for the residents associations. I'm sorry, but this isn't something I particularly want from my relaxing haven in the sun!

If the others affected want to try and do something about this, then I think we all need to put pressure on Fadesa, not only as individuals but as a group.

I don't want to hijack the CE thread with this issue, and apologies for those who are probably already bored with this. Does this need to be put on a new thread?

Any thoughts?

Regards,

Karen

Carol&John

Good morning, Karen
Perhaps duplex owners could continue to PM each other with news, and, as you say, leave this thread open for general CE news?
Thanks,
Carol

TheArmChairDetective

No it's not a stupid question at all.

Snagging, to me, is a practice where (after a builder has built a house and hands it over to the buyer) the buyer goes around finding the little mistakes and compiles a list for the builder to come round and fix.

EsuriJohn

Hi Jon-Bxl,

Lets start with the bad news. Its simple science that aircon needs an external unit to exchange heat or cold. They can be noisy (the villa we rent in Cyprus has simple thro the wall units for each bedroom one is relatively quiet even working hard the other is very noisy. They are different makes the quiet one is Toshiba the other I can't remember).

From one of the other posts it could be that the group of three units are in a separated slot ie. not really part of someones terrace and that on some dwellings the dividing wall has been missed. Access is a problem I can't come to grips with without seeing the reality but you will absolutely NOT be able to "box" them in since this will defeat the object of having them.

Mitigation is the only way and that may only be possible with sound deadening material underneath and around but not fixed to or enclosing the units. The best stuff can be quite thin is very dense and expensive. Getting Fadesa to provide and fix before any aircon units are in place would be the best route, the "gang" might be helpful here.

It seems to me to be a cultural thing N Europeans do not need aircon so don't think about it and its attendant problems. S Europeans didn't used to be able to afford it so managed without. Now they can and with the hotter temps they are just so grateful to get it making their buildings ugly with boxes and pipework everywhere. The Spanish in particular are night people so aircon noise is just one extra sound to add to the cacophony that extends well into the night.

I am amazed that Fadesa would even contemplate a buyback since in their culture these things just happen and they seem to have designed a space both inside and out to accommodate what is now a necessity of life in the heat of summer.

Onto the good, you are going to be very pleasantly surprised by the change that has been wrought at site, The overall density is very low so there are literally acres of open green (by now due to the wet spring and planting and watering) space everywhere. Small parts are very dense but thats the nature of the design to replicate the white hill towns or the urban apartment blocks. What will be really out of place will be the rows of villas non of which are yet built since that is not how the Spanish usually live. Only time will tell what the mix will be between owner occupiers and holiday lets but it will change over time and in the early days is almost bound to be tilted to the latter. N European "snowbirds" will only be there out of "season" and may like us intend to rent in high summer so you can't tell the mix at the outset.

Gamble on the sunshine pack the light things with a waterproof in case and work in the "Onion" principle if its cold add layers!

Have a good trip, regards,

John.

Woodzie

I think a separate thread may be a good idea then every interested party will get the same information. We also have photos that could be posted.
Regards Kim

Carol&John

Hi Kim,
I'm happy whichever way you'd like to discuss this topic.
Thanks John & Kath for your explanation, too!
Carol

Roy_

Hi

My family and I were up on the site on Thursday to view our 2 bed Townhouse on Manzana 6. Although we weren't able to actually go into the house we were able to "peek" through the windows and then were able to go inside an equivalent house to measure up to give my wife a idea what furniture would fit.

While we were "peeking" my son decided to take a series of photos of the square and then stitch them together as a Quicktime VR. I've attached the file to this message as a "zip" for those that are interested in downloading it.
The file isn't perfect by any means there's even a few buildings in the sky which I don't remember seeing when i was there !

If all this is a bit complicated then we've also posted it on a site which you can get to by clicking the link below.

http://www.beam.tv/view.php/COOL4.MOV?DNpdNRYDgQ

Your computer should automatically load the Quicktime plugin and then if you click around on the picture you should be able to "wizz" around just like you were there. I think that you can even hit the shift and ctl keys to zoom in and out.

Please don't blame me if it doesn't work it's only a bit of fun. I promise to post some ordinary photos in a few days.

Best Regards

Roy

Cptnemo

http://www.beam.tv/view.php/COOL4.MOV?DNpdNRYDgQ

Best Regards

Roy[/QUOTE]

Thats very clever - thanks 4 posting it

terrymcg

We have a townhouse on Manzana 1 but have heard nothing. I have some time off work next week so it would be very convenient for me to do my snagging then. Problem is I dont have Paula number. Can you post it for me.

Thanks

Terry McGuire

EsuriJohn

Hi terrymcg,

Paula Maria Ferreria Pereira is at the Shed on 0035 959 641 146

fax 0035 959 324 000

Regards,

John.

tednsharon

Roy

The clip is great! What a fantastic idea ... gives you a really good idea of how things are! Can just picture me on my terrace waving over to you ... cold drink in my hand ... latest bestseller by my side ... sss at the ready ... ! Any idea what the trees are that have been planted?

Sharon

Roy_

Sharon

The there seem to be several Olive bushes planted, which you can just about make out from the picture below. As for the tall sticky tree thing in the foreground I have no idea.

Roy