List of topics covered: SEE INDEX PAGE

9th EPISODE

Illegal logging of forests
The Municipality does not inform our association about plans to grant building permits.
* As a result, trees are sometimes suddenly cut down in locations where no house is ever built.

It often turns out to be illegal logging, but we cannot take action against this because we do not know the names of the plot owners.

Failed Projects
Unsellable houses that are located in locations where temperatures rise to unprecedented levels in the summer because there is no wind.
Such as the 5 villas built in 2010 at Becada and Xenna.

2009: announcement that 5 villas will be built for 1.4 million euros each.
The project was never completed.
There are still villas for sale.

And they are connected to a septic tank!

Every now and then construction projects also fail. Sometimes failure is the result of poor architecture.
* But houses are also being built that permanently take away the view from the neighbors.

Architectural mistakes, such as the house at Guatla.
This will still be there in 100 years, unless the Municipality intervenes.
But she doesn’t.
Why are these buildings not demolished at the owner’s expense?
Since 2010 or thereabouts this has been the neighbor of number 28:

Building a housewithout the intention of habitation
Villas are also being built that are not put into use after completion.
They are empty. Presumably built on the basis of criminal funds.

Nobody knows who the owners are. Only the Church could tell us
to whom the building permit has been granted and in whose name the houses are registered.
But we are not provided with such vital information.
There is no mandatory participation as a member of the association.

Vacancy: owner’s address unknown
There are also several villas that have been empty for more than 20 years.

Owners presumed deceased. Haven’t seen anyone there for decades.
We don’t know who they are and the place is in disrepair until trees come out of the roof.

Squatters with their antisocial behavior
Sometimes abandoned villas are squatted.
And then we have problems, because squatters do not pay any attention to urbanization house rules and squatters do not contribute to the costs of maintenance.
The drive to the waste station is too far for them.
They happily scatter household goods that they leave outside the door, and they place rubbish and things that they cannot use along the side of the road.
Squatted house on Guatla. An unimaginable mess was the result.
Entered by making a hole in the roof.

Issuing building permits should be prohibited as long as there is vacancy.
And what does the Municipality do: it grants one permit after another!
You will only own a nearby villa!
The neighbors of this villa have put their house up for sale.

Your beautiful villa is difficult to sell with a permanently vacant building next to you!
There is one advantage: the appearance of the SUMA will have to decrease due to a decrease in value.

Volunteer work
The number of Association members willing to do something is now minimal.
In Altea Hills, the mandatory costs have increased to 3,300 euros per home per year.
On the Galera, a voluntary contribution of € 150 is already too much for 100 of the 207 owners!

What you get for your money…
The paying members then expect that:
– the streets are kept clean,
– the entrance to the Galera is maintained and kept clean,
– flowering plants are planted at the entrance and provided with water,
– holes in the asphalt are repaired,
– verges are pruned,
– coarse dirt is removed from the roadsides and
– the garbage dump is cleaned daily.
And of course they also expect that the board will also negotiate with the Municipality about infrastructural matters that are not correct. Knowing that these negotiations have not led to constructive solutions for the many problems that residents face every day for 20 years.

Membership not required!
Because we are not a recognized Urbanization, we cannot oblige owners to become members or to pay a contribution to the costs that the association must incur for maintenance.
As a result, a limited number of owners bear the costs mentioned.

Speculation ground
In particular, the owners of undeveloped plots have not contributed to the maintenance of the Urbanization for 50 years.

Flooding
Because the roads have subsided here and there due to trucks, puddles are created that do not drain.
It is of course conceivable that we have a drainage connected to the sewer installed at our expense, but the Municipality does not allow board members to solve such problems independently.
The situation has become seriously untenable as you can see in the photos below:
To be continued in: EPISODE 10