Community Exit

Good post. If you buy a property on a community then that property stays part of the community. You can't leave it because the front door faces the wrong way.

Who pays for the pool cleaners and gardeners, if you have any, and insurance? Etc etc

When we bought the house, the vendors told us that there was a communal pool, down the road, that they didn't pay into, because they'd got their own. The houses that use the communal pool pay for it themselves. There are no gardens. The money is spent on "community things" like sewage, cleaning and electricity, on a community that we, and a few other villas, aren't really physically part of. (The area close to the pool, where the houses are obviously part of a community, which none of the villa owners, like us, use)

garysl wrote:

Who pays for the pool cleaners and gardeners, if you have any, and insurance? Etc etc

When we bought the house, the vendors told us that there was a communal pool, down the road, that they didn't pay into, because they'd got their own. The houses that use the communal pool pay for it themselves. There are no gardens. The money is spent on "community things" like sewage, cleaning and electricity, on a community that we, and a few other villas, aren't really physically part of. (The area close to the pool, where the houses are obviously part of a community, which none of the villa owners, like us, use)

A case of don't believe the vendor get solicitor to check all

Hi all ,, we are on a community we were told we were not part of when we purchased,, we were very sceptical as common sense has to play a part ,, community lighting, post box’s and pools do have to be paid for and these areas were all taken into account per owner when the community was built,, as previously said no one wants these areas becoming un welcoming and de valuing the area .

I don’t think it fair if people want to leave the community and she pay towards the up keep of garden and pool lighting they should be able to

our community was set up when there was only a few people were there to agree to the community charge and the charges were set by the president who had the smallest ground and so it was decoided the charge would be charge with the amount of square footage our house was on the largest plot so we pay more than the other 19 houses we pay €920 a year

I think the community charge should be set when 100% of people vote

It would be impossible to guarantee that 100% of the community voted therefore you would never get anything passed would you

The president does`nt set the community charge, the administrator does at the first meeting when the community is handed over to the owners , and does so every subsequent year. The president and vice president are also decided at the same meeting.

Most things will get passed as long as there is a quorum and majority vote in favour.

€920 is an awful lot of money. You must have a very big plot of land .

Sillysocks wrote:I don’t think it fair if people want to leave the community and she pay towards the up keep of garden and pool lighting they should be able to

our community was set up when there was only a few people were there to agree to the community charge and the charges were set by the president who had the smallest ground and so it was decoided the charge would be charge with the amount of square footage our house was on the largest plot so we pay more than the other 19 houses we pay €920 a year

I think the community charge should be set when 100% of people vote

Unless the community pay for the maintenance of your garden and the perimeter walls, I cant for the life of me understand why it should be plot size related. Our community fees go towards pool and surrounds maintenance, community lighting, communal street cleaning such as leaf collection etc, communal satellite dish. The usage of these remains the same per household regardless of the size of plot. I wouldnt be happy paying more than the other owners.

Most communities, under Horizontal Law, pay community fees on a quota basis which is decided by the size of the plot you own. If there are 10 houses of equal size then each owner is responsible for 10%. However, most communities are not like that and will have fees levied on the different sizes and determined by square metres. This will include garages and store rooms etc.
The larger your quota, the more voting rights you have at an AGM. In the above 10 houses they will all get one vote. If 5 of the houses are larger then they will get more votes (double the size, double the vote).
This is generally because a larger house will have more people occupying and will, therefore, use the community facilities more than someone in a one bed flat (for example).
The only way this quota can be changed is by a 100% unanimous vote by all owners at an AGM.
Many communities also have communal painting (walls etc) to ensure the paint used is a uniform colour. Those with bigger properties will have larger areas to be painted.

marcliff wrote:Most communities, under Horizontal Law, pay community fees on a quota basis which is decided by the size of the plot you own. If there are 10 houses of equal size then each owner is responsible for 10%. However, most communities are not like that and will have fees levied on the different sizes and determined by square metres. This will include garages and store rooms etc.
The larger your quota, the more voting rights you have at an AGM. In the above 10 houses they will all get one vote. If 5 of the houses are larger then they will get more votes (double the size, double the vote).
This is generally because a larger house will have more people occupying and will, therefore, use the community facilities more than someone in a one bed flat (for example).
The only way this quota can be changed is by a 100% unanimous vote by all owners at an AGM.
Many communities also have communal painting (walls etc) to ensure the paint used is a uniform colour. Those with bigger properties will have larger areas to be painted.

Ah ok, that makes sense now, thanks Marcliff. Our community are all 2 bed apartments with ground floor having a garden and upstairs having a solarium. I suppose they are all much the same size which is why we all pay the same.