dazzle

I have to agree with you NicCol, I still love my place in the sun despite all the electricity problems.

Of course I don't live full-time in Spain so it's easier for me than many people and I am sure that if we'd have known what was going to happen we'd have run a mile but in a way I'm glad we didn't.

I am forever the optimist and so believe it will be sorted out eventually but I've stopped expecting it to happen anytime soon!!

I love the area, and I realise that this is the cost of getting the property of my dreams for a price I could afford. I see it as a long term investment, and as the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. I have no regrets so far!

NicCol

Thanks for that! I must be an optimist too.

Chiclanagir

The thing is you can't move anywhere else or back to England as without an electric meter you won't sell your house!!! I do love it here and think it is a lovely place to live but do know how down I got last Spring when they cut us off five times and we had no electricity or no cooking facilities. To be honest at that time I would have chucked it all in. However that feeling has now passed.

jjh

Good on you Glynis. This situation can't last forever.

sutton

Has anyone heard if the Town Hall and Endessa have met. I did hear there was to be a meeting the end of September.

dazzle

Such meetings are usually reported in the online edition of the Diario de Cadiz and I haven't seen anything so far.

Barrosa Brit

Has anyone heard about electric being cut off at Las Galindas area near Camping La Barrosa area

NicCol

For now at least we aren't moving out, which is perhaps why I am more relaxed about it. We have just fallen for the place, and if this one doesn't succeed we would probably have to give up. Spain seem to have a lot of catching up to do, with building regulations etc, and as others have said, surely it can't last forever?

flamingo

Hi

I have just been to the Urbanisimo office in Chiclana town to confirm the legality of our property in Pago del Humo. Altho you have to await your turn you will be able to see the official town plans and even view an up to date satellite map of the whole area ( I beleive from Google Earth).

As the Town plan stands, it has not yet been agreed by the Andalucian government, our house is not in it, but it is in the rustic area and therefore we will not have a legal electrcity supply for the forseeable future.

I strongly recommend that before any one commits to buying a house in the Chiclana area they spend the very valuable time going to the Urbanisimo office to find out the status of their property. It is not good enough to accept the word of most agents or develppoers that you are legal or in the plan (whose plan).

Under the Andalucian Law of 2003 it is illegal for Endesa to supply electricity to an illegal property, even those that are connected to a neighbour are illegal and can be disconnected by Endesa. No matter what a builder says I would not now buy a property without a meter, properly registered with Endesa, and if I was tempted I would ensure that I had checked with the Town Hall and Endesa that the property was legal and therefore likely to get a meter in the future.

NicCol

Thanks for that flamingo, could anybody advise further - We are close to completion and we are only coming out before signing for the weekend - what do you think the chance you be, if we asked our solicitor of doing this, of us getting a response?

dazzle

Hi Flamingo, that doesn't sound good and I'm really sorry for that. Can I ask how you coped with the language at the Town Hall?

flamingo

Hi dazzle

we hired a translator, he is Spanish but was excellent

Drop me an e mail if you would like his details.

NicCol

I scanned this quickly at work, and posted my question without realising you said that you won't have legal electricity for the foreseeable future - I am sorry about that, is there anything you can do?

flamingo

It would seem our only options are to put in place a generator, which as we want to rent the house out, is not really ideal, or to put in place a full solar power system but at a cost.

We are currently looking for reputable solar power installation companies.

flamingo

In response to your question in relation to getting your solicitor to get the information from the town hall do it yourself,,

NicCol, you could ask your solicitor to get the information from the town hall but this wil defeat the reasoning behind getting it yourself in the first place.

I know of a couple who did just that and the answer from the solicitor was not the same they got direcly from the town hall. Do you get my drift.

I went to the Town hall on a Thursday morning with a translator, we got ticket number 11 at 9.35 am and saw the plans at 10.45 am having a coffee in between timeat the local cafe.

There is no doubt in my mind that if I were to buy again knowing what I know now I would do my own research independent of the solicitor, estate agent and developer. It could save you a lot of worry by making the trip to the Town Hall and Urbanisimo office opposite Chilcana town indoor market. The details from the Urb office are free.

Whilst talking of problems, have you tasted the water from your well. We did not as we were not going to drink it, but, the original well provided very salty water which would be useless to water any garden with and would probably damage the water heater, washing machine, dish washer etc. We had to have another one dug elsewhere on our plot at a cost of 2,500 euros.