Carmen14

We have recently moved to Spain full time into what was previously a holiday home. It is a community of 40 properties comprising of apartments and houses, with a small pool, an elevator, underground garage and small communal area(no gardens). The last AGM was in March and we still do not have any minutes. Our understanding was they had to be circulated within 10 days. We have asked for the minutes from the administrator (who is paid to manage the community)but still they have not been sent out. There are a few grumbles from fellow residents about a number of issues and one has questioned whether we could manage a small community ourselves. We are a mix of spanish, Dutch and English. About half of us live here permanently. Has anyone any experience of managing their own community? What would be the advantages and disadvantages? Does spanish law allow us to do this ourselves as long as we manage the community within the current law? We would be grateful for any advice and experience others may have in setting up a community whether good or bad. Many thanks.

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

MikeJ

I don't see why you shouldn't run your own committee provided it complies with the current community statutes and is properly registered.

However, a slightly less drastic approach - and which would cause you less stress in the long run - would be to get sufficient residents to request an EGM (or wait until the next AGM) and table a motion to replace the current administrator. Of course, you (and hopefully your president) will have done some research and identified a more efficient administrator who is prepared to take you on.
Administrators can become complacent if they think they don't face any competition and you may find that your service miraculously improves as soon as re-tendering the contract is mentioned

Carmen14

Thank you Rosemary for the welcome. Thank you Mike for your advice, checking out alternative administrators would be a good place to start. I can only guess that as no one else has posted a reply that no one manages their own community. We would like to give it a try at some point as we feel the money we pay the administrator could be put to better use and paying our own cleaner rather than via an agency would be cheaper. And we don't know whether the pool and elevator maintenance have been re tendered or what we are paying. So I guess there is work to be done.

IamStu

Our apt in Granada is managed and the President (each tenant takes their turn for this role on an annual basis) is your point of contact.
The president can deal directly with the managing company and should have the agenda/actions from previous meeting.
Our building was brand new when we bought it so various agents applied to manage it. We were free to employ this company and are free to dismiss this company in equal measure.
I don´t believe it´s a legality to have one employed though advisable!

Carmen14

Thank you for the advice. 2013 minutes came from the administrator so I presumed this years would too. But I will speak to the president with my little spanish- but learning fast! to see if she has the minutes. None of our fellow Brits have them. What we really want to find out is how much we are paying out in maintenance and admin fees and also if all residents are paying the community charge. Once we have this information we can check out potential new admin companies to compare costs.

MikeJ

Our administrator posts a list of debtors on the community noticeboard - name and shame.