Community Fee Payments

Hi all,

It's Neil here (Joanne's other half!). I have just written an open letter to all of the owners on Sitio and taped it to the glass cupboard containing all the debtors. It reads as follows:


Open Letter to the Community

From Neil & Joanne Paterson

Date: 06.06.2011

We would like to point out to all owners that from December 2008 to May 2011 we have paid the sum of 2,300€ in community fees.

We know that this is not the full amount, but nevertheless, we have been consistent payers over all these months and we are doing what we can to pay the fees due in this time of recession.

However, because of the excessive interest charges, we feel that we may never be in a position to catch up on the outstanding debt.

We are, through our solicitor, offering to pay off the outstanding debt on a reasonable amount per month, providing an agreement can be reached on the interest charges to date.

We want it known that we are not the kind of people who would deliberately not pay our community fees and that we are doing all we can to rectify the matter.

Yours truly,

Neil & Joanne Paterson

What can one say to people that are doing there very very best in hard times, these people live here, they do not rent out, it is there home,and yes times are getting very hard here, lots of people that have tried very hard to earn a living here have failed and gone back to the u.k , me personally,i say well done Neil for pointing out what the problems it has on some people by just being blooded minded and voted to add interest on dept that some ,and i do say some,that ARE doing all that they can,i honestly do not believe that the idea to add interest is going to get people to pay up, in my opinion it,s not the way to sort it out,come on if some one like Neil can be upstanding and honestly admit his problem, how can you hand on heart just continue to twist the blade,there must be another solution??

Whilst sympathising with the Patersons' financial predicament, we must take into account the impact overdue payments has on our Community. I have just extracted the debtors information at 31 May 2011. This reveals that 48 (out of 159) owners are in arrears totalling some Euros 70,000 out of an annual budget for 2011 of Euros 256,000. I don't think anyone can argue that this is an unsustainable position and this is only partly helped by those owners who pay in advance and this amounts to some Euros 16,000. However, we can expect little income from these pre-payers when the July and October quotas are put through as the Community already has had and has probably spent the monies.
Charges for overdue payments are common in all walks of life e.g. credit cards, bank accounts, mortgages, some suppliers etc. In our case, if there is no incentive to pay (or no disincentive i. e. penalty interest) if we don't, then we could take the view that the payment dates are at our discretion. Where would we be then?
The Patersons and others as permanent residents are able to enjoy the facilities provided all year round whereas some (like me) live in the UK and do not rent out our property but pay an equal share of the annual running costs. This is my choice and am not complaining but purely make the point that some of us who pay in advance also help to further subsidise others in this way.
I don't know the solution to the Patersons problems but hopefully they put their case at the recent meeting which seems to be the proper forum for this.
Somehow we have to convince the 'can't payers/won't payers' that carrying on as we are is not viable. Current oustandings are more than 25% of the annual budget and on present trends will go even higher once the July and October quotas are charged excluding penalty interests. How will the Community pay its bills for if we can't, the suppliers of services to us will withdraw them.
Hope this adds to the debate.
Eddie

Fair comments from Ken and Eddie.

It is very important for the community to try and achieve the maximum amount of community fees due. If I were the president and had 48 apartments in arrears, then I would definitely make it my no 1 priority to recoup as much as I could of the outstanding debt. The question is, how best to go about it? At the moment, the committee has simply authorised the administrator to go down the legal route in the hope that the money will be recovered, but we all know that this could take years, cost a lot of money and has no guarantee of success. In the meantime, I predict that the overall debt will increase year on year.

The president should task each committee member with a portion of the debtors and ask them to pursue these with a view to finding out the following:

1. Who wants to pay, but cannot afford it? They should find out what they can afford and how much they could pay monthly. Also, is there a possibility that they will be able to pay the whole outstanding amount at some point? Get a deal together that is suitable to both parties over a specified period.

2. Who doesn't want to pay but has the money to do so? Why are these people not paying? Find out the reasons for their refusal and argue the case for immediate payment along the lines of Eddie's argument above. If they continue to refuse to pay, then go down the legal route.

3. Who doesn't want to pay and also cannot afford it? If there is no change of heart after offering some kind of compromise deal, then the committee should then take the legal route.

The point I am making here is that, with a little effort from the committee, there would soon be a substantial increase in income to the community. Simply by instructing the administrator to take legal proceedings will not, in itself, increase revenue. On the contrary, this will more likely exacerbate the situation, providing no financial benefit to the community as a whole.

Whilst we must sympathise with anyone who is GENUINLY having financial difficulties, we have to remember that if things carry on Sitio will spiral into rapid decline as will the value of the properties here. Some people think that not paying fees is an easy option, if they did the same with Mortgage payments then their properties would be Re-possesd.
I dont want to dramatise things but this is going to get a lot worse and it seems we have no powers to avoid the inevitable. Now the Community needs more money to restore the pools, if 25% of owners dont pay this then what.
Sorry if this post causes offence to anyone, it is not intentional.

I agree Gary, that all residents should pay their community fees in full and those that cannot pay in full at present, should do so at the earliest opportunity. However, we both know that the recently agreed levies for the pools will not be paid by all owners - in fact I would be surprised if more than half pay up. The old saying, 'Let sleeping dogs lie' comes to mind because if no-one at the Town Hall had been notified, nothing would have had to be done! I know that this is perhaps not the correct thing to say, but I'm sure that, in this present financial climate, it would have been best to let well alone.

Unfortunately Neil, its not so easy. Not forgetting the legalities regarding the pools, there are problems, I.E. leaks and faulty pumps etc which have to be repaired. We both know that this wont happen as like you say, at least half the owners wont pay. I fear the worst for this community !!!

Jo and Neil are great people and we know they are doing their best to repay the debt. There is a big difference between them and the people who just will not pay because they know the Spanish law allows them to get away with murder. We also live in the UK and do not rent out our apartment .We are so angry to learn that there are owners who make an income out of their apartments yet are in debt to us. Why should we pay for these people to earn money, it is in fact, a form of stealing from us. I think it is time we shamed these guy's and pinned notices on their doors ready for when their clients turned up for a holiday that we are helping to finance .