Save Our ReSort

SOS (Save Our reSort)

If you had economical problems at your home, which action would you take?

·         To reduce the expenses related to the maintenance of your house as much as possible, and to wait for better times? or

·         To keep the expenses level and to start a debatable reform of dubious profitability and only in the long term?

We believe that the sensible solution is the first one.  Our Committee has chosen the second one in the case of the renovation of the Hacienda Riquelme gardening contract. 

The Committee intended to directly approve the bid submitted by STV, which includes removing the so called “Polaris strips”. Given the strong opposition to this measure by some owners, an EGM has been called for January 8th, 2014 to put to a vote this proposal.

Our opposition to sign the contract with STV in the conditions reported to us (very poorly, by the way) is based the following reasons:

·         The removal of Polaris strips is an irreversible modification that substantially alters the property we bought.

·         It is a change that, as our legal advisors report, to be approved, it is mandatory the agreement of every owner. And there is no unanimity (The article 17 of the Condominium Law and the article 5bis of our statutes set that unanimity is required before introducing relevant reforms in the property of all of us). 

·         It is a reform that replaces lawns (in good or bad condition) by stones. We believe that the aesthetics of the resort becomes worse.  In addition, an earth floor could be regenerated. A stone floor cannot.

·         It is a reform than can put into risk the trees of the resort that have grown properly (precisely the ones planted in these strips).

·         We know neither the small letter of this contract, nor rigorous, solvent and comprehensive data to support the decision that the Committee promotes.

·         The savings are only hypothetical and in the long-term. A much more actual saving would be to deduct the cost of removing the Polaris strips included in the bid of STV (no company works for free). That is a lot of money to pay for irrigation water!

·         Up to date, Resortalia has not delivered any data, as requested by at least a sub-community president, in order to objectively evaluate the true advantages of the STV bid.

         The current President of the resort is elected only for the community of owners and not the public EUCC land hence he has no authority to call an EGM. Furthermore, the notice of the EGM has not been delivered legally.

·         If the financial and economical survival of the resort recommends changes, we think they should be done within a strategic plan, and not as isolated initiatives.

·         Making these changes to the resort is very dangerous. It sets a precedent and opens the way for other controversial decisions. 

         Why not to cut down our trees to save the cost of pruning, spraying and irrigating them? Why not to convert lawns into fields to grow lettuces (we could use cheaper irrigation water)? Why not to paint the buildings in a different color, if we find cheaper paint? Why not to remove the perimeter fence to radically finish with the problem of its rusty?

We appreciate the job carried out by the Committee members. No doubt it must be frustrating to work hard as a volunteer and to receive opposite opinions.

But as owners that have invested our savings in Hacienda Riquelme, we do not have to consider positively any Committee proposal. We are not going to say always yes, in particular if we firmly believe that they are putting into risk the future market value of our investment, already very devaluated.

The Committee represents the owners’ community and their task is to ensure the maintenance of the resort, not dismantling it.

The resort has developed and survived six years of world crisis. Now that it seems that the situation improves, we believe it is not time for experiments. We prefer other measures, like trying to renegotiate some contracts still having too high rates, and improve the effective monitoring and control of our gardening suppliers.