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lawyer recommendations? - re La Font

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fieldings

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Hi there!

We are new to the forum - hope you can help us with some advice.

We're currently in the process of buying a property in Pollenca (La Font area), The property we've made an offer on hasn't got planning permission for the swimming pool and we wondered if anyone could recommend a good local lawyer? We've been advised not to use the lawyer recommended by the estate agent in order to maintain impartiality.....!
 
Urbanisation

Has anyone got any upto date information on the reception proposals in La Font. I understand that it has been agreed that the costs will equate to 25k/plot plus a charge of 10% on the deemed increase in property value on completion of the works. Thanks

Barry Fielding
 
Hi there, please also get clear clarification on what is happening there in La Font with the plans for the new "urbanisation", I do not think anything has been decided yet by the town hall but there have been suggestions that this could be expensive for the owners when it happens. See if you cn find the relevant posts on this forum about La Font.
 
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Hello Barry. I would suggest that you pm Bluejr77 regarding up to date news on La Font as I believe she may be able to help you.
 
Eleanor, unfortunately Barry can't use the PM facility yet, which is why i directed him to the appropriate thread :).
 
Oh sorry Sparky. I didn't notice that Barry had only posted once. The two above names are similar. Hopefully Bluejr77 will see the post and respond if she has any further up to date info.
 
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Hi Barry, I seem to be the "jinxed" one on this forum with all the problems, so I am your woman! Firstly the area of La Font. We have had a house there for 8 years. Our lawyer attended a meeting last Wednesday evening at the town hall on our behalf - he has attended quite a few for us, and usually reports back to us immediately. Unfortunately (for us!), he went on holiday immediately afterwards and we wont have all the details until tomorrow at the earliest. I dont know if the figures you have been given are from that meeting, but I will happily share any information I receive. Figures of around 40,000 euro have been mentioned previously.

I can highly recommned Oscar Coll at the Port, he is our lawyer - since we have been with him he has helped us tremendously. We went to him through recommendations from this site. Originally we went with the recommendation of our estate agent and it was a disaster; it was a lawyer based in Palma. Anway, on a positive note Oscar sorted us out, speedily and efficiently. I only wish we had known about him at the outset. He has also met with the Architect at the Town Hall who is responsible for the urbanisation so he is completely 100% up to date (as you can be due to lack of information and details) on the situation.

Finally, if you do get a pool we have literally - as I type, just had our pool rebuilt after a major leak which couldnt be found. It was finished today. It could double as a nuclear bunker - nothing should be able to get out! Very good builder and he kept us informed at every stage and regularly sent us photos and updates. The work men were very clean and organised too and very neat (girly thing possibly?). Would be happy to recommend the builder if you are interested. Not cheap, but we got quotes from several companies from different parts of the island and they all came in around the same price.

When you are able to pm, please drop me a line and I will forward any information to you that I have regarding the urbanisation.

Janice
 
Thanks Sparky. I contacted Oscar yesterday and he was really helpful. If all goes well I'm sure I'll be back in touch for more tips!
 
You are very welcome Fieldings and i am sure our members will be able to help with any tips you might need ;).
 
Hi Janice and thanks very much for your advice. We've contacted Oscar, and he certainly seems to know all that is happening in La Font so I'm sure he'll be able to guide us should the purchase go through. If we end up buying hopefully see you for a neighbourly glass of wine!
 
la font reception charges

Hi Everyone

I attach info received from our solicitor - Oscar Coll regarding the reception charges. Barry

The PRE-PROJECT has already been done. This pre-project may slightly vary subject to the owners of La Font deciding about different small points of the same; the basic lines and works of the project will not vary.

.- The Town Hall divides the urbanisation in two areas: Lower and Upper (this last one has more visual impact). La Font 65 is located in the lower La Font.

.- SEWAGE AND DRINKING WATER: they plan to connect every plot to the mains of drinking water and sewage and to the sewage treatment plant. Regarding drinking water they need to install an impelling station to pump the water up to upper La Font (this station will be installed next to the stairs of La Font). Regarding waste water, they will need to install two small impelling stations (of 1,500 liters each) also next to the stairs of La Font, they say that said stations will not cause noise nor smells, since they will be correctly executed and isolated. The Town Hall will take care of leaving the inspection/connection chambers ready in the street, next to each property (should every owner need to locate the same in an specific place more convenient for connection, you need to let them know). It is up to each owner to execute and pay the necessary works to connect the house to said connection/inspection chamber.

.- PUBLIC LIGHTING: they plan to install lampposts of some 4 meters height at lower La Font, and short street lamps at Upper La Font (to avoid the light pollution). The design and cost of said lamps may vary, and the Town Hall is ready to go along with the design that the owners of La Font would choose (as long as it is a reasonable cost).

.- STREETS: they plan to put two layers of new asphalt/tarmac. They do not plan to build sidewalks, but only to mark the pedestrian walk with paint, in order to reduce costs. They also said that the boundary walls of some properties in La Font are invading the public street, they said they will not be too picky with this issue, but some will need to be put back when the streets are re-tarmac.

.- ELECTRICS: the electric lines in lower La Font are underground (as the present regulation requests). The electric lines in a large area of upper La Font are installed above ground with posts, they leave it up to the owners of La Font to decide if they wish to put said lines underground (recommendable although not compulsory). Another area of upper La Font does not even have proper electric lines with posts, the connections have been done in a really messy way, although authorised by the Electric Company, they recommend as well to put those lines underground. The final connection from the net to the house is up to every owner to execute and pay for.

.- TELEPHONE LINES: the same applies to the telephone lines, they recommend to put them underground but they leave this decision up to the owners of La Font.

.- ESTIMATE COST OF THE ABOVE SAID WORKS: in the region of 2,700,000 EUROS without considering the cost of electric and telephone lines being installed underground. They reckon some 20,000 Eur per plot, and in the region of 25,000 Eur per plot if the electric and telephone lines are put underground.

.- TIME-SCALE: once the project is finalised (some 2-3 months they say), the Town Hall will put it out to tender, and the best offer shall be chosen (some 4-5 months more), the execution of the project will take some 10-12 months. Regarding payment of the 20-25,000 Eur by each owner: they do not have a very clear schedule, they say that an initial bill will be charged before the works commence and that further bills will be issued as the works are being finished/certified. They need every owner to present a bank guarantee for the overall bill of 20-25,000 Eur before the project is put out to tender.

The issue of the “average profit bill” to be charged by the Town Hall to each owner after the urbanisation works are finished was raised. The Town Hall will charge this bill as long as the law does authorise them to do it so (it is not clear that they can charge the same, they will study the case and inform), and it could be of 5% min and max 15% of the added value thanks to said urbanisation works.

The Mayor said that the Association of Owners of La Font will be notified for future meetings, and that it would be convenient that one or two persons are appointed to talk to the Town Hall regarding small issues (i.e. design of street lamps, etc …).
 
Hi Everyone

I am new to the site and considering buying in La Font but worried about the urbanisation charges! Has there been any update?

Many thanks
 
Hi Pat

We own a property in La Font and our last update was 4th September this year. It was an email form the Asociación de Propietarios de la Urbanización de La Font which stated:

"We would like to inform you that in town hall they have started to check the property registry data of La Font. When they have gathered together the information of the plots they will speak with the coucil's auditor to start the works. We have been informed that they will convene a meeting in order to explain to the proprietors the steps involved in the process. The meeting will probably take place during this month. We will inform you about the date as soon as we know"

Needless to say we have received no update or notification of said meeting.

Oscar Coll at the Port acts as our Solicitor in this matter and is pretty much up to speed on everything. I would definitely recommend contacting a solicitor for an update.

I have no idea now what costs would be involved anymore as the specification of works has changed, but we were looking in the region of approx £25,000 - £30,000? Add onto this that the works will only go to your property boundary you then have the additional costs of getting utilities into your property.

The fact they state they will start the works and yet we have received no official/legal paperwork on this is a worry as we have no idea of actual works involved, timescales, costs, payment details, contractors or anything - we are just expected to stump up the cash on demand - and at our last update it was one third of the cost in advance of the works starting. Our Solicitor did inform us that the Council only send out paperwork after everything has been finalised - it isnt like in the UK!

Janice
 
Thank you for the update Janice and as always i am so sorry that you have this worry and expense, it beggars belief that property owners are just expected to come up with a huge amount of money to pay for this, especially in these tough times :( :(.
 
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