Sweetwater Bay - Service Charges and Other Questions

jakki



Joined: 23/10/2007
Posts: 865

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 20:03

Apart from requests for photos, does anyone wish us to ask SWB and RMS any questions in relation to service charges or anything else?? I shall be asking what will happen to those people who have stated publicly that they are not going to pay.

davidoff


Joined: 21/04/2007
Posts: 438

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 21:13

Hi all,



Especially as these charges are stipulated in contracts.



Also to consider is that you own your property youve paid for but the communal roads and paths are owned by swb.



So if you dont pay these can you be denied access to your property over someone elses land without paying for the right of access- Or are they technically trespassing??



Food for thought??



take care d x

PIPIE


Joined: 05/01/2008
Posts: 5499

Message Posted:
19/02/2009 21:28

i think i would question messege 2 does it not depend on what is in your contract if you are the owner of a % of a site then the roads that are on the complex belong to each and every owner .



Sometimes it is better to try and talk between youreselves why someone is refusing to pay maintenance, sometimes a person does have genuine reason not to pay full maitenanace .



But yes if all has been completed and all is up and running yes owners have an obligation to pay .

blonde


Joined: 06/06/2009
Posts: 10

Message Posted:
06/06/2009 20:21

No one minds paying, but full transparency is required!

sunrise


Joined: 14/02/2009
Posts: 274

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 11:55

Mess 3. I would have thought that you only buy the property you live in, if you have a share of the roads then it would be up to you to maintain them. I would also like to say that I pay £60 a month just for pool maintenance, if this is what you pay for the upkeep of the whole site including pools, gardens, roads, gym etc I think this is a really good price. If anyone has a problem with paying this perhaps they should have bought a single villa on thier own, not in a complex.

Pipie


Joined: 05/01/2008
Posts: 5499

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 12:11

On our contracts all apartment owners were given a percentage of the complex , so i own my apartment plus a percentage that is divided equally between 162 apartments , that means all owners have the responsibility of maintaining,, replacing,repairing all what is on the complex . Of course it is all down to your contract and as i havce stated that is what we all had in our contracts on our complex , we also had written in our contracts that for the first year we would pay a certain amount for maintenance , this is to cover all aspects of maintaining the site . Hope this helps

Milou


Joined: 15/10/2007
Posts: 425

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 15:05

Re Message 4 - Blonde



I complete agree with you - there's absolutely no way I am signing any agreement with any company unless I get full transparancy - I want to know where my money is being spent and whose salaries I am paying - certainly I am not paying for people to sit around in an office selling services to indidual unit owners.

sweep


Joined: 11/10/2007
Posts: 241

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 15:33

milou



upto now rms have been fantastic with the settling in period helping residents with diffucult tasks and general helpfullness in times of need.



from what ive experienced i think these guys are great and wish them every success in looking after our complex.



so before everone gets on the war path with them give them a chance as i am sure swb have genuine and professional reasons for appointing them i dont think they would of taken a decission lightly without good reason and a lot of thourght.



as for how they spend our money i am sure they will be more than happy to disscuss all quierys as they did a while back when i wrote to mike with few concerns he was more than happy to reply with constructive answers and good feedback which left a good first impression for someone who i havent even meet yet.



so everone be gentle to the guys / girls who will be working for us as at the end of the day it will benefit no one if you bash there heads every constantly.

Pipie


Joined: 05/01/2008
Posts: 5499

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 16:03

Prroviding all is on the complex that was promised then owners have an obligation to pay full maintenance , however a maintenance company also must play there part in providing transparancy , failure to put this down in black and white will in due course cause discord amongst owners and management .

the butler


Joined: 22/06/2007
Posts: 1958

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 16:18

Hi all,



You need to form a committee and draw up a list of owners obligations. On our site we have recently appointed a new management company and we have a fund management system in place. This means any spending has to be approved by the committee and all receipts for work carried out kept and accounted for. Owners can ask to see the accounts at any time. There will always be non payers on any site and you have to find ways to ensure that they pay.



The butlers wife

millzer


Joined: 12/04/2007
Posts: 978

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 17:00

agree with butlers wife only way forward works well on our site too far far far better now than it was before - I cannot understand anyone getting railroad any other way



millzers' wife

Pipie


Joined: 05/01/2008
Posts: 5499

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 19:27

millzers'wife you have to remember that all owners need to think this way , the owners like you said i cannot understand them either !!!!

millzer


Joined: 12/04/2007
Posts: 978

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 21:18

Pipie they are taking a long time for the penny to drop thats all I can say - some don't want to see - if they want to be treated like tenants in their own homes then they are fools.



Mrs Millzer

Pipie


Joined: 05/01/2008
Posts: 5499

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 21:24

I fully agree Mrs Millzer .

millzer


Joined: 12/04/2007
Posts: 978

Message Posted:
07/06/2009 21:32

it will eventually when it hits them personally and when the site never moves forward - unlike our site we are doing so well now, even though we have had a lot of initial expense.



We no longer have got the normal management draining our resources on all their hidden expenses. We say what it is spent on any cost savings go back in the fund and we continue to move onwards happy days



Mrs Millzer

mint1955



Joined: 30/05/2007
Posts: 988

Message Posted:
08/06/2009 02:50

Hi Millzer which site are you on please thats had problems.

Sheila

kennyb1


Joined: 06/06/2009
Posts: 88

Message Posted:
08/06/2009 05:39

My experience over the past 2 years of management companys as taught me and fellow owners quite a lot in particular issues around site/complex insurance and the impact non payers can have and the implications for the site and other owners.If I was purchasing again I would want to know the make up of the owners committee to ensure that one they were all owners and two they and they alone authorised all expenditure based on the majority of the owners needs.

Kenny b1

negativenick


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 6023

Message Posted:
08/06/2009 07:02

Jakki, the service charges in the TRNC are a joke, considering that Turkish labour that does most of the work gets little more than 60 TL a day......





Don't take it lying down....

millzer


Joined: 12/04/2007
Posts: 978

Message Posted:
08/06/2009 09:48

We are on Sea Terra Esentepe we changed our management company in December and everything so far this year has run smoothly

sunrise


Joined: 14/02/2009
Posts: 274

Message Posted:
08/06/2009 22:00

To negativenick, the fact that you think local workers earn just 60tl a day is both offensive to the local workers and, yet again, shows how completely out of touch you are with respect to business in the TRNC.



Until you have something real, valid and substantiated to post please stick with reading the Cyprus Today and keep out of serious and important debates such as this.

sienna


Joined: 09/01/2009
Posts: 1627

Message Posted:
08/06/2009 22:21

sunrise I dont think you just pay maintenance for the upkeep of a pool, if you talking about your apartment on Sea Terra esentepe then you are also paying for exactly what you quoted in message 5



quote > if this is what you pay for the upkeep of the whole site including pools, gardens, roads, gym etc I think this is a really good price. If anyone has a problem with paying this perhaps they should have bought a single villa on thier own, not in a complex. un quote



Regards

millzer


Joined: 12/04/2007
Posts: 978

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 10:22

Hmmmmm.... interesting.

sunrise


Joined: 14/02/2009
Posts: 274

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 19:23

I am talking about the pool at my villa, not on a complex. It used to cost us £60 per month just for the pool, but now I do it myself anyway.



Millzer, I still think £60 per month is cheap for a whole site maintenance, whether it can be afforded or not. Circumstances change after a property may have been purchased 3 years ago. No-one knows what the future holds!

primadonna


Joined: 09/06/2009
Posts: 18

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 19:59

I am thinking of buying on the Sweetwater Bay site, but some people seem to have a problem with the maintenance or the management company, What is the problem? can anyone tell me? Thanks

norths4me


Joined: 19/04/2007
Posts: 269

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 20:12

We have had no problems as yet with the management company in fact have found the to be very helpful.



There are some of their proposals I personally do not agree with but it is early days yet and I'm sure things will work out, as long as they listen to us as the owners things should be ok, because if they don't work with and for the owners they will be replaced. Again to date I have no complaints.



As for buying into Sweetwater we have never regretted it.

sweep


Joined: 11/10/2007
Posts: 241

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 21:42

prima donna (great name)



there is no problem they have been fantastic , the site is not far from being finished and you will not be disapointed if you buy there.



the management company are new and everyone needs to give them a chance to run the site my experience with them upto now has been great and cannot fault them at all.



last year i visited the site trying to get things up and running elec, snagging , general stuff you do when purchasing and the visit was made worth while by them and the sweet water bay gang doing everything in there powers to help with everything they could



give the place a visit you will not regret it.



kind regards sweep

primadonna


Joined: 09/06/2009
Posts: 18

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 21:50

Sounds like a great place, maybe I will be swayed to buy there. Thanks for the info

Pipie


Joined: 05/01/2008
Posts: 5499

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 22:21

At the end of the day , get it all written down in a contract that way you are all know what is expected of both owners and Management .

the butler


Joined: 22/06/2007
Posts: 1958

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 22:53

sweep & north4me,



Can I ask who appointed your management company, was it the developers choice or the owners? In my experience they will underestimate how much it costs to maintain a site. This happened to us and our second year the cost rose by more than 100%. All the owners were up in arms about the increase and threatened to stop paying. We have now got a new company in and a fund managed system and we can see that it does cost a lot more money to run than we were originally charged. We have three large pools on our site and extensive communal gardens to water. The communal electricity bills are high. The water and electricity charges have nothing to do with the price of labour. I just wish they were as cheap as the price of a gardener.



The butlers wife

sweep


Joined: 11/10/2007
Posts: 241

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 23:30

the developer sweetwater bay.



i believe they have done there research on all costings and have faith in them, time will tell.



looking at the pics there is not much grass to water , wise choice by the developer still looks good and less maintance than grass no cutting no waste to dispose of less cost and hastle all round carnt grumble.



bobs ur uncle !!!

sienna


Joined: 09/01/2009
Posts: 1627

Message Posted:
09/06/2009 23:45

sweep -



low maintenance of the grounds is good as this does take up natural resources - water - and also costs are kept down ie on gardeners etc therefore this should reflect in your monthly maintenance as not much upkeep there now good forward thinking on the developers part



obvioulsy there are electricity costs, for pool pumps street lightsetc and pool maintenance costs - budgets and forecasts are good if that is what they have done. Have they informed you as owners of the budget and forecast of expenses etc., are they going to keep receipts and have transparency of accounts, if so you are on the right track.

Have you got a Service level agreement and a contract to protect you that if you are not happy with their performance if so well l done you are half way there

sweep


Joined: 11/10/2007
Posts: 241

Message Posted:
10/06/2009 00:05

i believe people are trying to set this up at the moment just trying to get people interested at the moment, think it is going in the right direction hope they have a good response from everone and are able to set this up.



the management team are english so think we are half way there allready with communication etc etc



they are employed for i think the first two years and if the majority are happy they can continue visa / versa.



forwards and onwards for swb !!!!

sienna


Joined: 09/01/2009
Posts: 1627

Message Posted:
10/06/2009 00:12

sounds good sweep good luck enjoy ! )

mint1955



Joined: 30/05/2007
Posts: 988

Message Posted:
10/06/2009 01:11

See new photos on SWB site. Planting and grass is really coming on now.

Sheila