Dog eat Dog attitude continues.....?

Details from our affiliated site:


Webpage Hits continue to grow!!!!!

                               
We start the month with a massive thank you for the "webpage hits" which have exceeded all of our expectations and shows that the HRGR Grapevine continues to grow from strength to strength.

All Resorts have issues at different levels and are no surprise to many. Progress is being made at Hacienda Riquelme sometimes however time and time again, one step forward leads to two steps back.

The continuing issues requiring addressing are:

• The ever increasing level of debtors with insufficient reporting of summary case details and tracking
• Over expenditure in the general community participation which is not shown in the sub community financial statements.
• Potential changes to the statutes of the community without prior sub community approval.
• Participation of all owners in the EUCC public areas and compliance with the EUCC Statutes including IRM starting to pay its monthly fees.
• Security of information and compliance with data protection regulations
• Competitive tendering of all key contracts with service level agreements in place for performance monitoring.
• Appropriate realistic compensation and resolution to the building structure issues.
• The water runoff issues to the sports area car park need to be resolved together with the removal of the floodlights.
• The workers compound needs to relocated as per the submitted Resort plans and replanted or screened off.
• The chemical risks identified within the resort require immediate actioning
• The eroding hills in front of the Sub Communities need to addressed ASAP especially in light of the recent earthquake. 
• The sinking and cracking swimming pools.
• The desert conditions in which the Resort is built needs to drive a sustainability plan on how we use less brought-in resources and assess alternatives such as LED lighting, solar energy and rain run-off capture.

One area of concern that has now been there for the last six months is the Presidents December newsletter which is still freely available for anyone to access over the internet

http://www.hrgr.es/index2.php


Will the Committee ever fix this lack of security?

Dog eat Dog attitude continues.....?

As reported by the Hacienda Riquelme Blog the Council has now decided that the grass verges can disappear within the resort.

What is very concerning however is the position of the Committee to seek damages against other owners for this valid issue to be raised in the first place.

So we have a committee that does not like to communicate with fellow owners and when collectively fellow owners raise issues to the Murcian Council, then the Committee will then sue them for damages.


The "dog eat dog attitude" continues!



We await what will happen with the second owners appeal that is underway to Murcia Council!


Holiday makers be aware!
From last June's Presidents Newsletter:"

June, July and August are the months when those owners who rent their apartments seek to optimize their revenue so that HR resembles a holiday resort.

Unfortunately, too many holidaymakers are attracted by some of the extremely low rentals that can be had here but who do not understand that apart from the golf course, there is little else to do. If the holidaymaker does not have access to a hire car, their options are decidedly limited.

If you rent, please make sure that your tenants understand the limitations of our facilities. HR was designed as a 5* golf resort and is just not suitable as a general holiday resort."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have been told!


Debtors
We have now been told by the Resort President the bleeding obvious that it is not easy to collect debts.

Of course debt management is never easy however unless the right level of experienced resource is dedicated to the task then it is even harder.

Resortalia should be congratulated on now employing more debt "management" local personnel however questions should really be raised as to why now, why so late in the day when the debt is three times the debt inherited by the previous Resort President?

At the same time, better late then never, is the confirmation, that unless Resortalia has the debtors correct updated address then no debt will ever be collected. Didn't the last Resort President state this informally 3 years ago!

As the majority of the owner debt is for owners that cannot be traced then it does really question the strategy being utilised.

The truth "outs" eventually!

Boom time for Spain's costumed debt collectors

If you owed a few thousand euros and found your footsteps dogged by a man wearing a top hat, tails and silken cummerbund, wouldn't you pay up rather than face the humiliation of being shadowed by someone dressed like Count Dracula?
As Spain's economy falters, the debt-collecting business is booming and has devised colourful new variants to play on people's embarrassment at having their indebtedness paraded in public. El Cobrador del Frac – "The Debt Collector in Top Hat and Tails" – is a nationwide operation which sends employees dressed like Hollywood villains to collect debts. To underline the message, the theatrically-clad collector carries a black briefcase with his calling spelled out in capital letters.

Chasing bad debts has grown 30 per cent this year, says Juan Carlos Granda, a director of El Cobrador del Frac, adding: "We expect demand for our services to soar in the autumn and winter as the crisis deepens."

Following the collapse of Spain's building boom, the clients who use the company to get their debts repaid are mostly small and medium-sized construction firms. "We advise the debtor initially by fax," says Mr Granda. "Some pay immediately and others don't. So we send a collector round in uniform, in a conspicuously labelled car. They feel ashamed because we have made their indebtedness public."

El Cobrador claims a 70 per cent success rate. "We are dealing with professional debtors who know all the tricks and who can pay but don't."

Spaniards are often slow to pay debts, a tendency that goes back centuries, says Pere Brachfield, a self-styled "debtologist" at Barcelona's School of Business Administration. Spanish law allows a leisurely 94 days to settle bills, compared with a European average of 30 days. It can take three years to pursue a debtor through the courts, during which time the company may have gone bust or changed its name. No wonder an estimated 60 per cent of creditors write off their debts.

El Cobrador de Frac, set up 20 years ago, has 550 staff and many imitators. Other collectors dress up as clowns, monks, bull-fighters or masked swordsmen. One always works with his dog and attributes his high success rate to the barking that accompanies his visits. Another plays the bagpipes until payment is received.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/boom-time-for-spains-costumed-debt-collectors-922500.html

Maybe its time to send in the Clowns............!



Golf Course Lakes

It appears that some of the smaller lakes have been filled slightly by lowering the water levels of the main lake. Not really a long term fix, but time will tell especially with the hot summer conditions underway. Watch this space!