Community charges - Page 2

When my husband and I took over running our community (a few years ago in Marbella)the community was in debt! there were many who thought that as part-time owners (not residents) but renting out, they shouldn't have to pay the Community fees. Big mistake, we immediately wrote to them offering a monthly payment plan and if they accepted fine, but those who didn't we took to court. It took 2 years to get to court but we had a field day. We received many backpayments and in one case sold his house out from him - he was offered several solutions and he was a very well of gentleman, but he thought he could sway the judge. It didn't work. Unfortunately as a President there are times when you have to do the dirty work. We sacked the existing gardener/handyman as he couldn't justify his wages and was ripping us off. Luckily for us he had never signed a contract! We gave everyone who paid their community charges on time (every 6 months) a 20% discount, this too worked well. At the end of our time we had even managed a 30% discount and managed to paint the whole complex within budget. You have to be tough but open and we had regular meetings with people who were there and sent out quarterly news letters.  Good luck .