Thanks Mel, don't no why I thought it would be difficult so here are a couple more while I still remember the procedure.

Would like to visit when in the area. Where exactly is it?

Hi, its in Portugal so just pop over the bridge and take the 1st exit (Castro Marim). At the end of the slip road go left ( Beja, Mertola and Alcoutim) and just keep going whilst enjoying the stunning scenery (only if you are a passenger of course). Its about a 45-50min drive as already mentioned and very easy to find. Regards Bryony

Hi Gary, yes it is just under 50 euro's per month, but they are looking for 3 month up front!!

Regards
John

My god havent you lot been any where or seen any thing in your life time.

No we lead very very sheltered lives

I had a better veiw from my cell window
was it country side.
No it was the girls football teams shower room.

Hi, does anyone know if Golf II is open to the public yet, and is it still just 3 days a week? We are out on Saturday, and would like to have a wack or two...?

ADA always charge up front, even though I understand that technically/legally they shouldnt do it. However it is not a problem for me.

With all the problems with ADA/Fadesa and talk of links between them, I decided to cancel my direct debit with them, and they sent me the bank account details that we should pay 1Jan + every 3 months after that. To be fair though I have received excellent service from their accounts person, Alex. I just thought I should stop the ability of them to withdraw automatically, especially as Fadesa havent/cant pay all their maintenance bills for unsold properties... meaning that at some stage we will no doubt be asked to fork out more.

Note that they DONT send a bill, and we are required to read the minutes and then our find charge and pay quarterly, if there is no direct debit.

Regards
Jon

You say 1 Jan, are you Rago 1 or townhouses. I am going to let them take the first payments by DD and then look to doing the same as you. Best to be in control just in case?

I have to say I have had no problems with ADA and they seem to be doing a good job in our Manzana. If there were any mutual back scratching when they were promoted by Fadesa - well that's the way business works (even in the UK).
What's the problem with DD? It makes sure you don't forget and appear on the debtors list, it ensures that ADA have a more or less predictable income which means that they can let contracts for all the ground services, security, pool maintenance etc etc, which helps make life in CE more attractive and pleasant and helps the property to maintain it's value (especially for rental if not capital). You are still in control as you can stop your DD at any time - particularly if you have on-line banking.
We did have a list of debtors posted on a wall in the Manzana - and apart from Fadesa (who were pursued in the courts) I'm sure most of the debtors were because of oversight and the difficulty in paying from overseas rather than trying to defraud the community. And remember you are legally responsible for paying the community charge, it's not optional not to if you don't like the contractor or the service - there is only the democratic or legal remedy for that.

Hi John,
No, it's not open to the public but if you want to play it they have a good deal "Bronze Membership" which, if I recall correctly, costs €100 to join and entitles the "member" to 1 free round plus 5 discounted to €25. I reckoned this was a pretty good deal bearing in mind the cost of a round is €45 off season and close to €85 high season. The member cannot take guests however. The course is a real challenge and it's good to take a supply of balls!
It's open Mon, Weds, Fri and Sat, I think.

They have other deals on offer as well, so worth popping into the office on the same level as the bar.

Hi Mike, the situation on Rago 1 is a bit diferent from others, as the small amount of owners are having to pay for unkeep to all areas without Fedesa paying anything on behalf of thier unsold apartments (3 quarters of them!!). ADA have quoted us for minimum services, but we are not sure how these will work out and may have to look at other options to keep thing up to scratch whilst the administrators sort out the Fedesa side of things. You may be lucky enough to have near full ownership in your Mazana, and hopefully we will be in the same situation in the furture, but not for some time yet?? Until then we are operating on a month by month basis.

My understanding is that the Rago 1 owners who have completed are paying for the current maintenance purely to generate a cash flow, and that ADA have every intention of pursuing Martinsa Fadesa or their successors (see below) in due course for their share of the maintenance costs, including the costs that we are going to have to fork out over the next couple of months.

There is nobody who ADA can legally chase at present for MF's share of the charges (ie for the uncompleted apartments), but I wouldn't have thought that MF's liability has simply vanished into thin air.

MF's administrators accepted their appointment on 5 Aug. My understanding is that they have 2 months from that date to issue a report stating whether MF are able to continue with their normal activity or not. If so, MF will be fully liable to pay its creditors. Otherwise, MF's assets will apparently be handed over to its creditors (mainly the banks, presumably), who would then become the new owners of the unsold apartments. ADA have stated quite firmly that once they know who they are chasing (MF or the new owners, ie MF's creditors) they will pursue them through the Courts if necessary for their share of the maintenance costs.

I'm not entirely sure about this, by my interpretation is that they would chase them for backdated maintenance costs as well, ie backdated to the moment that ADA took over, and that we would be entitled in due course to a rebate - but maybe we should clarify this with ADA

I cancelled my Direct debit as I wanted control over payments and suspect that there will be issues... lots of unpaid bills can only lead to extra requests for payments.. also its easy for me once a quarter to pay them by internet. As mentioned I have had good service from ADA and am not knocking them over this.

However I can also see the MF administration process taking lots of time and hopefully it should be OK in the end, but how long can that take.. I dont know. Legal matters in Spain seem to take ages and in this case there are LOTS of people on the list demanding their money

Ive posted before also that we need to get on the list for any unpaid monies and also have a provision for future debt, as unsold appartments still need to pay their share for the benefit of the whole community.

With talk of ADA-links to Fadesa, problems with payments, old and new, and also all the administration stuff going on - it has gotten complicated and so I decided to have control over my dosh whilst all this pans out and cancel the DD.

Ive attached the file they sent me with their bank details. You will know in advance your payment from the minutes of the annual meeting. Im not suggesting that everybody cancels their DD, and it is unlikely that there will be spurious payments made, but just informing people what I did....

Regards
Jon