flamingo

I have been told that there is a meeting on 1st October at the Town Hall to confirm the Town Plans which should help with the electricity situation.

Can any one confirmt this.

Nige

Tres Picos restaurant. have you been recently Glynis? had heard poor reports in recent months. This is the problem with restaurants. The chef comes in with great ideas and gets plenty of fresh fish (which in Arcos means that it's more difficult to get than somewhere on the coast) and other good foodstuffs and then finds that his prices means that local people can only dine out once once every so often, and then finds that the place is not attracting casual visitors because it's not 'visible'. I think this is what has happened at Tres Picos but am going to check it out next month !

cindyp

Interealty told me that they only deal with properties that are legal builds - although how you'd check this out I don't know - but we bought our house through them and they are very helpful. Both Kelly and Silke speak english. (Well, Kelly is english....). Also Immoteam El Delphin (I think it's called that) have a good reputation and when we went in there asking about properties at Roche Viejo, Claudia said they don't deal with those properties because they are mostly illegal builds and there are problems with water and electricity etc.

If you are thinking about properties with a communal pool, bear in mind that the communal pools in many urbanisations in Barossa and that area are only open for a few months during the summer only. Mostly something like mid JUly to Mid September....even though it's still hot enough for much of the rest of the year. I wonder if this is because of some sort of EU ruling - I think they have to have lifeguards now in communal pools and of course it isn;t practical or cost effective to do this all year around in an area that is primarily a holiday resort. We were a bit caught out by that one, I just assumed the pools would be open from about April to October and it was a bit of a disappointment to find they are not. However, the beaches in the area do make up for it.

EsuriJohn

Hi cindyp,

I think you are right it is on the H & S side it even affects private villas let out to friends and relatives. You have to fence the pool off and put up notices that there is no lifeguard on duty and the risk lies with the responsible adult.

Still the there is the sea and from Sept to end of Nov the water temperature is at the warmest for the whole year. After that it is just bracing.

Regards,

John.

Chiclanagir

First - Tres Picos Restaurant
We went on 2nd September and it was excellent. I had sole which was lovely and the mixed salad is the best I have ever had. Service was friendly and the ambience is the best. Also the prices are reasonable. In fact there is a party of eight of us going tomorrow. If it has gone downhill, John, I will let you know.

NicCol

Hi
I am new to this site, but I have been watching it a lot recently, especially with everything that has been happening with the electric metres. We are buying a place in Pago del Humo. The area has been designated as yellow belt, which I have been told is really good. Can anyone comment on this?

I heard this week that interealty has shut down. We once tried buying through them and the plot was certainly not legal, and we ended up loosing a lot of money. This is our 3rd attempt!

jjh

Be very careful and check that your electricity supply is legal, as well as the build. We have friends over in Pago who have had problems with the electricity supply plus others who have salt water in their well.

dazzle

[QUOTE=NicCol]Hi
I am new to this site, but I have been watching it a lot recently, especially with everything that has been happening with the electric metres. We are buying a place in Pago del Humo. The area has been designated as yellow belt, which I have been told is really good. Can anyone comment on this?[QUOTE]


Being in a yellow zone is good in so far as it has been designitated urbanisable land by the Town Hall.

However, that does not mean that your house is a legal build with all the appropriate permits. There are lots of houses in this area that are in yellow zones but do not have planning permission and therefore cannot connect to the electricity supply legally.

NicCol

Thanks for the tip (and dazzle too!). We are just hoping that it is 3rd time lucky.

Chiclanagir

Niccol
Whereabouts in Pago are you buying? Do you have an electric meter? Also who are you buying from? Be wary of using the same lawyer as the estate agent.

NicCol

The house is down a lane which you turn off from the main road inbetween Florentina (is that how you spell it?) and the pharmacy. The lawyer we are using is the one who picked up that we were buying with a untrustworthy builder in the first place, we lost a lot of money, and he refused to charge us for the work as he thought we had lost enough! We are not using an established estate agent, but someone who we have met whilst trying to find somewhere else.

The builder has sad he can't promise a meter straight away as the companies will not issue new ones at the moment (is this true?) But said he will fit one as soon as he was allowed. We thought we would hold some money back to encourage him not to forget.

Comments on all this would be much appreciated!

jjh

I hope this person you have met 'whilst you have been trying to find somewhere else' is reputable. You seem to have a good laywer though. We've been here just over a year and, thankfully, we bought a resale that is legal. Maybe withholding money will help but you can look at other threads on other forums. If you p.m. me I will send you details of these. My advice to you is, and, I don't want to be a scaremonger but check, check and recheck.

dazzle

What about having a clause included in the contract stating that the Builder is responsible for maintaining electricity to the property until such time that you have a legal connection in your name.

Having the money won't help if you find yourself without power, although you could use it to buy a generator!

By the way - he won't be fitting the meter, only the electricity company can do this and they won't do it if you don't have a Licencia de primer ocupacion which is what most houses in this area don't have!!!

Chiclanagir

NicCol

I personally wouldn't touch it. We have been promised a meter by our builder every month since we have been here which is July 2004! We have been cut off so many times and are now attached to a legal meter owned by our neighbour and the bill is being paid. I would not buy a house now unless I could see the meter for the property and also the bills from Endesa in the owners name. I have learnt from experience. Another person on this forum has no electricity now and is in the process of having to find a generator, do you want this to happen to you.......

On another note, Nige, Tres Picos is just as good as previously - had a lovely lunch there yesterday.

NicCol

As dazzle has already suggested that we do have a clause in a contract that the builder can't leave us without electricity, if we don't have a meter he has to provide a generator, our solicitor has also put in the contract that if we can't get a mortgage for any reason (including lack of meter) he get our deposit back. I think we are too far down the road to pull out, and besides if we did, we couldn't afford the same house - we have been at this nearly 2 years now, and with prices going up etc etc...

What is really good though is, that every one I have talked to, they have all said that despite all the electric problems they wouldn't do back to England or move anywhere else.

How does everyone else feel?