Dear Owners,
We are pleased to inform you that the financial position is improving with a small surplus at the end of the third quarter. This is despite the fact that we have had to pay for many new water meters and we have also carried out extensive repairs to the street lights. This was not foreseen in the budget. Tighter controls of payment of community fees and water bills have been made and it is gratifying that 90% of owners are up to date with water and community fees. Sadly, one owner repeatedly agreed to pay, reluctantly did not and consequently legal action has been taken to address this, although the process is slow through the Courts in Lanzarote.
Our urbanization is now able to receive the terrestrial digital television (TDT) on the Spanish broadcast; the system also has English speaking channels and when a foreign program is transmitted, you can select the original language. This means that if an English or American film is shown, you can change from the Spanish dubbed audio to the original sound. The changeover to TDT caused an interruption for a little over a week. The project was undertaken now as in June the terrestrial analogue for Spanish is no longer available.
The Council Tax for 2009 is expected to be charged starting in the second half of July. The Treasury at Yaiza have informed us that the tax amount will be the same as for 2008. If you are paying by direct debit, I recommend that you have funds in your account from 1st July.
We have suffered yet again from faulty water pipe infrastructure. A leak was found and repaired on phase 1; this had eluded us for some time. We have given much attention to the consumption of house water and have found many variations on water meter readings. We actioned a program of renewing many of the water meters that were in very poor condition. 44 meters have been replaced so far with costs of approx 2,000 Euros. We are now finding a more acceptable ratio between water purchased and utilized; the outstanding debt to Club Lanzarote for water has been considerably reduced.
The lights on phase 2 have again caused problems. This appears to have at last been addressed and so far they are operating successfully. Due to the corrosive climate we will consider using a different model next time we need to change one of the lamp tops.
The swimming pool was found to have the lining partly coming away from the edges on the skimmers. Club Lanzarote & Piscicanarias have been notified of the defects under the guarantee and repair work has now been completed.
We, as a community, suffered with the build-up of refuse in the rubbish rooms due to the strike by the refuse collectors. We tried to engage our own contractor, but to no avail, as it would have been strike breaking.
The contract for pest control was terminated with Airsol. From March the new contractors attended to the spraying of the drains and the cost of this contractor is much reduced from the previous one.
On too many occasions we are called upon to have the drains unblocked and each time we find the pumps are packed with nappies etc. We have had to replace a pump at a cost of 1,600 Euros due to a Sardine Tin breaking the impellor! Please give some serious thought to these associated problems and the costs borne by the community.
A letter has been sent to Club Lanzarote from the Boards of Phases 1, 2 & 3 requesting the green area between Phases 1 & 3 be cleaned up and Club Lanzarote are presently working on the site.
A number of burglaries have been reported in adjacent urbanizations. So far we have only had minor trouble and it would be appreciated that if anyone sees anything suspicious that this is reported with as much detail as possible.
It is pleasing that owners are following the correct procedure in requesting permissions from the community for alterations and building projects. All applications received have been approved.
The Administrator's office received a number of complaints over the Proxy votes at the last AGM as some owners felt intimidated in being persuaded to give their proxies to certain members of the community. If this is the case this year, please contact the Administrator who will ensure the owner's wishes are carried out in the correct manner. Each owner has the democratic right to exercise his or her choice without fear of intimidation.
Regarding the green area between phase 1 & 2, we hope to tidy up the immediate area alongside the pool walkway sometime in July, subject to funds being available.
There are some villas with surrounding walls that need remedial attention. We would recommend paint is purchased from the show house of Club Lanzarote; the cost for exterior paint is 45 Euros and interior 55 Euros per tub.
On a final note the Administrator would like to inform owners that the most important contributions you can make to the smooth running of the urbanization is firstly to set up payment of your fees and water bills by direct debit. Random transfers of money or monthly standing orders add to the administration and accounting workload and makes liquidity planning difficult. Secondly, we would kindly ask that if you want to visit the office on a community matter, please make an appointment. This would be greatly appreciated.
The following is to remind you of forthcoming dates of interest:
25th May 2009 Direct Debit charge 3rd quarter water bill and 4th quarter fee
30th May Dia de Canarias. Bank Holiday
16th July Nuestra Seņora del Carmen. Bank Holiday in Playa Blanca.
25th August Direct Debit charge 4th quarter water bill and 1st quarter fee
8th September Nuestra Seņora de los Remedios. Bank Holiday in Yaiza.
15th September Nuestra Seņora de los Dolores. Bank Holiday in Lanzarote.
7th October AGM at Hotel Natura Palace at 17:00
25th November Direct Debit charge 1st quarter water bill and 2nd quarter fee
6th December Constitution Day. Bank Holiday
8th December Immaculate Conception. Bank Holiday
31st December Deadline for non resident tax returns
If you would like to make any proposals or nominations for the AGM, please forward these to the Administrator by 31st July 2009.
We wish all owners and residents a pleasant summer!
Yours sincerely,
The Board
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