Legal Action Commences................

Bad Debts still increasing............

Bad Debts



The old bad debts are just not being collected as we are told by the previous President that Resortalia no longer has the contact details for the majority of individual owners. 

This is just not good enough and is why we insist on knowing how many cases are contactable and have been progressed through the courts. As usual, this information is not forthcoming!

2014 March News Feed.........

Overview 

EUCC
We are fast approaching the AGM's following the screw-ups of the EUCC EGM when the Sub Community Presidents were asked to vote on matters that they were never appointed for. Nevermind, we now have an AGM of the EUCC in March so that they can be formally appointed!

Madness or what?

And where are the official EGM minutes of the meeting and will they ever be published?


Debtors
All the president and Committee had to do over the last 12 months was to focus on collecting the debts instead they have managed to triple the debtors to 1 MILLION EUROs over the last 2 years!
Madness or what? 

EUCC EGM v AGM
EGM January 2014:




AGM proposals March 2014:

Debtors

So what has happened over the last 12 months? We stated the following issues some year ago and it is clear little or no progress has been made:

• The ever increasing level of debtors with insufficient reporting of summary case details and tracking. What was 350,000 euros of debtors 2 years ago is now 1 MILLION EUROS, a complete nightmare and still increasing.

• Over expenditure in the general community participation which is not shown in the sub community financial statements. Resortalia continue to send out meaningless financial information which is of no use to anyone.

• Potential changes to the statutes of the community without prior sub community approval. Continued drag and change of direction by the Committee without full explanations or information sharing. The proposed EUCC Statutes change is a clear example whereby the approved statutes have never been translated to all owners.

• Participation of all owners in the EUCC public areas and compliance with the EUCC Statutes. At least we have an AGM even though an EGM was held beforehand with SCPs that were never elected! Dont suppose the golf course will now start paying their community fees??????????

• Security of information and compliance with data protection regulations. None existent as usual

• Competitive tendering of all key contracts with service level agreements in place for performance monitoring. We now, so we are informed, have SLAs in the gardening contract although all owners have yet to see the SLA or even the contract!!!!!

• Appropriate realistic compensation and resolution to the building structure issues. We have an imposed settlement although PW have again not paid the first instalment. What a complete waste of time and clearly shows how out of their depth the Committee are. Still no repainting of the buildings 7 years after they were built!

• The water runoff issues to the sports area car park need to be resolved together with the removal of the floodlights. No progress yet again for another year!

• The workers compound needs to relocated as per the submitted Resort plans and replanted or screened off.
  No progress yet again for another year!

• The chemical risks identified within the resort require immediate actioning. More material concerns highlighted with yet no further progress!

• The eroding hills in front of the Sub Communities need to addressed ASAP especially in light of the recent earthquake.
  No progress yet again for another year!

• The sinking and cracking swimming pools. The cracks are still there and there is no money to fix the problems!

• 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. No progress yet again for another year!

So overall a complete disaster having spent yet another 3m euros within the resort and seen debtors rising to 1m.

It is as if we have given the Committee the keys to the "sweet shop" and they have fully enjoyed their time together. 

Now is the time to hold the Committee to account and to push the one key issue throughout the whole resort: 

 DEBTORS

 

DEBTORS

 

DEBTORS

 

 

 

What is the purpose of a Sub Community President?

It is now a number of years that we, as owners, have been  Sub Community Presidents and in all of that time we have never been asked to vote on any aspect of the community apart from the election of a phase president.  Another Sub Community President has also told us in five years he has never received any communications from his owners until recently. Other presidents have also clearly stated that they were appointed to the committee as no else volunteered and someone had to do it to make up the numbers although they would prefer not to be involved.

Some of the 9 out of 78 sub community presidents who make up the Committee believe that they are the only wise people who know best and accordingly the remaining 69 sub community presidents are never directly communicated too, never asked for their advice and opinions and never included in the voting process for the community.

This is probably fair enough on mundane matters however on new debtor’s policies, Resortalia retendering, lift contract and gardening contract renewals etc which are the direct responsibility of each sub community president, then this is uncalled for and should be challenged in the spirit of open and honest transparency.

However, any criticism of the "wise" 9 is just not acceptable and even when a sub community president raises an owner’s issue affecting the community, which they are fully entitled too either under the statutes or HPA, then they are banned from communicating this any further amongst fellow owners.

In conclusion, not really a democratic open and transparent process.

2012 Resort President manifesto

This is a good opportunity to remind all owners of the 2012 Resort President manifesto:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To all Phase Presidents, Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort:                                                               Jan 2012

Resort Presidency

It is, by now, common knowledge that I have put my name forward for consideration as the next Resort President. I am conscious that it may be seen that I have been in the background during the last year so I want to take some time to advise you of what I can and cannot bring to the presidency and my thinking for the forthcoming year. If this sits well with your thinking then I will welcome your support but if you believe that it is not right for the resort then I will perfectly well understand and make way for somebody else and give them my unreserved support.

To start with the positives:

Rachel and I are totally committed to HR having placed the order for our apartment before the first sod had been turned. We plan to become permanent HR residents in November 2012 although the fact that my employer is still trying to retain my full time services and the health of aged parents may affect the timing.

We welcome the concept of adopting Spanish culture and would wish to integrate the various nationalities represented within HR into a semblance of “Spanishness”. We are not interested in being in a little bit of England in Spain and will do all we can to avoid anglicising our resort. I have already been in contact with some of the Spanish community in an effort to establish relationships for the future.

We bought in to the concept of a 5* complex and although, like so many, are deeply disappointed that PW did not deliver on their promises, intend to do our best to ensure that we improve the quality and standards of our resort so that the value of all our properties will increase and that those who need rental income will have first class facilities to sell.  

Professionally, I am a Chartered Management Accountant who works for a food logistics company as its Finance Director and Company Secretary. My remit includes Accountancy, Computer Services and Human Resources. In the past I spent three years as deputy chair of the governors of our local college of further education. I believe these skills and experiences will be very relevant to HR’s needs.      

There has been a lot of recent activity on the owners forum relating to costs and standards so I will lay out my position in relation to these:

Debtors

Professionally, when it comes to debtor management, I could be described as a hard-liner. I expect to have fully annotated debt lists on my desk by the 2^nd of each month and my credit controller knows what to expect if she cannot answer any questions. I expect our resort administration to adopt the same standard and will be pressurising Resortalia to improve on their performance if they are to have any chance of being retained in to the future.

The policy on debtors has been clearly stated and was cascaded through the Phase and Block President on the 20^th May 2011. It is tough but fair and I do not see any reason to change it.  

I understand that some owners may have temporary (or even not so temporary) difficulties in meeting their responsibilities to the community but the responsibility remains with the owner and any delay is simply not fair on the rest of the owners.

Despite examples of bank and Resortalia errors, most payments are made properly and most direct debit failures have one simple cause. Our procedures allow time for the correction of errors but, fundamentally, late payments will be liable to penalty charges.

Obtaining payment by direct debit is by far the most efficient and cost effective method of collecting community fees and I will not advocate any change.

Contracts

I will not be a party to any breach of contracts. Michael and his negotiating team have performed minor miracles in managing to reduce contract costs on all our contracted services so I would intend that these should all be allowed to run through to their completion. It goes without saying that all the contractors will be performance monitored and any failings brought to the attention of the committee for discussion and, if necessary, action.      

In house services

There has been a lot of discussion regarding self administration and direct employment of services such as gardening and resort administration. My intention would be to use the time afforded by having the existing contracts in place to thoroughly research the cost effectiveness of taking specific services in house. I have no pre-conceived ideas as to the viability of these but intend to bring to the discussions whatever skills and experience we have within the resort. I would expect to prepare a paper on each service and present options and recommendations to the owners at the appropriate time.  

Resort Administration

I am not a great fan of Resortalia as there are aspects of their performance which are frustrating and, despite Michael’s constant efforts, still needs to be improved. That said, their quote for the next 12 months is competitive so, on the basis of better the devil you know, I would recommend retaining their services for the next 12 months. As stated in the previous paragraph, I would expect to be considering options well before the next renewal.  

Gardens

One of our biggest quandaries is that PW has left us with a legacy of manicured lawns. To British eyes, these lawns look marvellous but, in Spain, they are an alien species. They are high maintenance and cost a fortune to irrigate.  If memory serves, the lawns were designed as a feature of the resort at the time when PW were intending to build a desalination plant which would have provided relatively cheap and plentiful irrigation water. Unfortunately, like so many PW promises, the desalination plant has failed to materialise so we have a legacy of thirsty lawns demanding increasingly expensive and scarce resource.         

The current committee has already prepared some groundwork with STV (the gardening contractor) with a view to replacing some of the lawned areas with less high maintenance plants and have quotes for some proposals. There appears to be scope for investment in other types of ground cover which would have varying pay-back periods. It would be my intent to have a gardens committee to study these proposals and make recommendations for any further action.

General facilities

I am not in favour of stripping amenities simply on the basis of cost cutting. That said I expect to review the cost effectiveness of each facility with the aim of ensuring we get proper value for money for them. During the last twelve months, we have identified examples of suspect costings which means that I intend to continue to verify numbers before making any hasty decisions.

Constitution

The original constitution, which currently remains in place was prepared by PW and, understandably, was written to best suit them. What was best fit for PW is very likely not to be the best fit for our community and our constitution has been the subject of much adverse comment in the forums. Accordingly, Michael has been instrumental in setting up a review panel with the aim of presenting a revised constitution upon which we, the owners, can make an informed decision sometime in the near future. It would be my intention for this invaluable work to be completed.

Planning

Despite the part of the community’s rules that forbid any modification which affects the outside of an individual property, there are signs that some owners are modifying the exterior of their properties without obtaining the prior approval of the Planning Committee. It should be noted that the community’s management has the legal authority to demand that any unauthorised development be removed at the owner’s expense. The danger is that continuing unregulated modifications will ruin the look of the resort so the Planning Committee is vitally important to ensure that we retain the coherent look of our buildings. For the last two years, the Planning Committee, which is a volunteer but un-elected body, has done sterling work but has operated completely independently of the elected general committee which is a situation with which I am not entirely comfortable. Accordingly it would be my intent to give teeth to the Planning Committee by nominating one of the general committee to join it.      

Anti social behaviour

Anti social behaviour has reared its ugly head during the last twelve months and when it happens, it makes life thoroughly unpleasant for those caught up in it. Despite the risk of recriminations, I would have no hesitation in seeking to attempt to gain moderation on the part of offending parties as a community such as ours depends upon sound social inter-reaction between neighbours.

How will it all work?

So, that is my view of HR. So how am I going to achieve this when I am resident in the UK?

Well, it is going to be difficult but not insurmountable.

Michael has done a huge amount of work during his tenure and has laid the foundations for a much more streamlined management and without this groundwork, proper remote Presidency would not be workable.

As it is, I have been fortunate in that colleagues on the committee, friends and neighbours have expressed support and a willingness to be my eyes and ears. With those talents in support, I have every confidence that we came overcome the disadvantage of my temporary UK residency. Amongst the offers of support, I am grateful to Michael Corke, Ron Locke, Antonio Escalera, Ann Dyos, Viv Church, Allan Pattemore, David Bamford, Manuel Gonzalez, Carole Eteson and Ena Glover.

Language

It had been my intention to use the first months of my retirement to get to grips with learning Spanish and lowering my handicap. I still intend to succeed with the former but will have to put the latter on the back burner. In the meanwhile, I have been promised offers of help to overcome my linguistic shortcomings.

Communications

I am not of the social networking generation so do not use facebook or post on forums and neither do I tweet.

Because I am not resident, I would need the active support of the Phase and Block Presidents and part of this is including them in the communication process.

I intend to cascade information through the Resort’s hierarchy which means that Block Presidents will be a fundamental part of the information flow. The HPA makes the first level of responsibility that of the Block President so it is my belief that there is a need to get them to buy in to the concept of being a part of that communication process.

This message is effectively a test of how that might work.

I am sending this to the Phase Presidents with the request that they cascade it to their Block Presidents for onward transmission to their owners.

If this procedure does not work, then I fear that neither will my Presidency which, in turn, may require a rethink on how we move forward.

Many thanks for your patience in reading thus far.

Kindest regards,

Nigel

Where did all the water go.................

Further details at http://haciendariquelmeblog.blogspot.com.es/p/blog-page_9.html

Futher Cock Ups................!

EGM

At the EGM of the EUCC, held on the 8th January 2014, the proposal to suppress over 8 kilometers of irrigation infrastructure was voted by 66 out of the 78 sub-communities.

We wonder how many of those 66 Presidents were really aware of what they voted and the implications of their vote. In a time of crisis, with substantial increases in community fees included, does it make sense to approve such reform  of the resort? Do you really believe that it will be for free? Is it right that the Committee now exclude a substantial number of owners and sub communities in these decisions?

We have always advocated transparency and open/honest communications however the committee continue to rail road through material changes that affect all of our material investments. Information should be circulated so that decisions are made based on data, not on the basis of trusting in others. By contrast, our attorneys and several owners, that attended the EGM, have transmitted several criticisms on the development of the meeting:

 1) No one has been elected to the EUCC since 2007 and no AGM's have ever been held so how can a vote be made on material changes?

       

2)  Difficulties to explain in detail the legal reasons why we reject the measures proposed bySTV.

3) The final vote was done before our lawyers could complete their explanations.

4)   Resortalia admitted the existence of much more information provided by STV but not communicated to the owners.

5) It is interesting that Ron circulates 10 responses in favour of the new improvements bur forgets to include any of the ever increasing comments from owners not in favour. Is this really open and honest transparency or a committee that is running frightened and out of touch?

We cannot sit idly in front of a project we consider will cause an irreparable damage to our investment (and yours) in Hacienda Riquelme. In several threads on the owners’ forum, alternatives have been offered, most of times ignored.

Note that,as next step, a group of owners will lodge an appeal with the city of Murcia against the start of these works.

Debtors



As usual no debtors information is forthcoming even though this has now reached the
1 MILLION EURO LEVEL,
 a complete disgrace and miss management of the Resort.


Lets guess why at the next quiz night????


Golf Course




This is the month that IRM has to confirm its intentions or file for bankruptcy. We await their response.........................

Chemicals spraying continues unabated.........

There are continued major health and safety risks from the chemical spraying within the resort and we for one would not want to be living on HRGR as a full time resident. 

Just looking at one chemical used at our resort, MCPA we are informed that MCPA is a possible carcinogen. Inhalation of MCPA can cause headache and nausea. Contact with the eyes and skin can cause redness. Symptoms of ingestion include abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, weakness, and unconsciousness. 

MCPA is also slightly toxic to freshwater fish which could explain certain issues that have arisen lately.

Water
Where did all of the water go............ January 2014 picture:


No water, no birds, no wildlife, no renters, no golfers................................. and this even before the weather starts to get hot which will make matters even worse!!!!!!!!!!

All this with 20% increases in community fees for 2014 and yet the committee stand by with their hands in their pockets and say its not our problem!

We all brought into a five star golf resort which included a golf course and lakes, mmmmmmmm...........................


Workers Compound
The front area of the compound has finally been cleaned up at last!



Coreva Airport will not open until at least November 2014
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) confirmed that Corvera Airport did not have an allocation of air space until November 2014 at the earliest.


http://www.tumbit.com/news/articles/8510-corvera-airport-to-open-before-summer-2014-valcarcel.html

Time for a change of Resort President and Committee........