Update - Spa / Garage Access / Pool / Bad Debtors - a discussion with the President!

I had a meeting with the President today and I have a bit more information for you all!

Spa Update

Currently the Spa is closed pending further building works in order to make it fully operational. However the good news is that the plans are moving forward for the Spa to open - although there isn't a set date but it's likely to be in the first half of 2018 and possibly somewhere between February or April (but may be later!).

The President previously received a general quote to open the Spa - and he's now expecting a full and final fixed price from the builders tomorrow (in time for the AGM). He tells me that the spa needs refurbishing fully as it was never built to specification - the builders did very minimum work to the spa. Consequently the toilets don't work as there's no pump and there are a number of other fixes which need to be undertaken. The President thinks the cost will be around 20.000 euros but he's still waiting for final confirmation of the price. He has already had feedback about a security camera in the spa and no-one wants this - so this particular idea will be dropped!

Cost of Spa

Once the spa is fully operational, it will rely on people paying their spa membership to keep it open and maintained. The number of people wanting to pay for the spa will depend upon the cost - i.e. if only 100 people want it from the 288 families on our urbanisation, then the cost per month will be higher than say if all 288 families want it. The added cost of the spa might be 20 euros per month or 10 euros...the Presidents won't know the real cost per household until they assess how many people want to use it.

Access to the Spa can be made by speaking to the pool guy or the gardener - however you can only arrange for him to open it 'on the hour' e.g. 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 and so on - as he has to drop everything and open it for you (you let yourself out). If you ask him at 10:20 then he will open it at 11am if you wish but he won't open it earlier. Only the staff and the President will have access to the key because they are worried that as soon as they start issuing keys all of the equipment will be stolen. They plan to open the Spa during the following hours:

Spa Opening Hours - Summer Time

08:00 - 13:00

17:00 - 19:00

Spa Opening Hours - Winter Time

09:00 - 14:00

17:00 - 19:00

Swimming Pool Update

The President has made a request that everyone who rents out their homes, issues guests with appropriate information about pool rules and opening hours including explaining about the "quiet time" during Siesta hours so that guests aren't embarrassed if they are told to be quiet (or worse ...told to get out of the pool area which would be upsetting for them!). Both myself and Jan have had to remind several noisy renters about the Siesta quiet time - and the renters have been surprised and embarrassed as they've not been told this information by the owners previously.

Also the swimming pool closes at 10pm but many people are still using the pool and making noise into the early hours (e.g. midnight/1pm). I suggested we switch off the pool lights (they normally go off at midnight) but the President has explored this idea previously and found people complain and get upset if the pool isn't lit up at night "because it looks beautiful". So if everyone can try to stick to the times that would be great!

Gym Update

As many of you know the gym is currently open - all you have to do is speak to a member of staff i.e. the caretaker/gardener and ask him to open the gym for you.

Currently the gym has several pieces of equipment (9?) - but the President also mentioned he will put up a voting board inside the gym so that people can vote for any further types of gym equipment they wish to have. If many people want one particular piece of equipment, then he'll buy more of that particular type - if people are happy with what's there already, then he won't buy anything else which saves money...! So...be sure to give your feedback.

Garage Access Update

Many of you are aware that the garage access involves:

1. sending an email to Pilar the administrator (email gestmjerez@yahoo.es) and request that she add you to the list of approved people who need garage access via their mobile phone.

2. Pilar will then ask for your mobile number and add your number to the list of approved phones ...provided you are up to date with all of your payments.

3. A few days later you dial a number from your phone - 694447858 and the garage doors open.

However everyone without a Spanish phone previously found that this system "didn't work" on their British mobile (or mobile from another country).

The President has now found out what the problem is and has now corrected it - so for those of you who registered previously you will now find that your mobile works.

Basically when you give your telephone number to Pilar you have to give it to her in the correct format for it to work e.g. if your mobile number in the UK is 07788 97345 you would need to tell Pilar that your number is 0044 7788 97345 - in other words you have to include your country code and remove the 0 at the start of your number.

Bad Debtors

We currently have 288 families on the urbanisation, but unfortunately 100 families are not paying their fees for the upkeep of the urbanisation (i.e. garage, block and community zones payments). The issue isn't with the 'foreigners' who mainly almost always pay, but more so with the Spanish who choose not to - and it isn't always a case of financial hardship. However the whole of K Block currently pay nothing towards their fees.

The President hopes that the opening of the spa will encourage those families who current don't pay to begin paying once they have all the facilities they want opened.

For those that don't pay then action will be taken. However, the problem in Spain it that it's a "very costly and long winded process" to get payment from families who choose not to pay. The Presidents first have to issue a denuncia - but at a cost of 300 euros per denuncia it would cost them 30,000 euros to issue denuncias to all of the families who haven't paid yet. Also Spanish courts don't move that fast so it may take a year or more for them to get the money back. The good news is that the Urbanisation does get to charge the non-payers for all the solicitors fees and associated court costs if they win - so it will prove very costly to those owners once the President begins to issue denuncias. If anyone isn't paying a regular payment of around 50 euros a month and you're not sure about what to do/how to set this up then please get in touch with me privately on nicola123@gmail.com for some assistance.

and finally...

Next Presidential Elections...

These will be held in December (they used to be held in August but this timing has now changed).