8- The very depressing meeting with the the communty representatives

(It may be a good idea to read the posts in order, hence starting with the oldest one, that will make the blog easier to follow)

First of all. Let me present the main characters of the drama that will unfold in this and the coming posts. The names are faked (but close enough to reality...):
1- Andres; The President of the Neighbor Community
2- Señor Alamo; The president of the Works Committee
3- Jorge; The Administrator

The apartment, as I have previously said, was in a horrible state. There was not even a real bathroom, only a tiny toilet, and there was no heating installed. Hence the renovation was going to profound and everything needed to go.

So the renovation of my apartment begins with taking away the false ceiling, some walls and the horribly ugly orange tiles the former owners had put on the floor.

It is when we take away the false ceiling that we discover the state of the roof above my apartment. There is no way the community can wait with the part of the renovation, and it must begin immediately. You actually see the sky through the roof, since a lot of roof tiles are missing and damaged.

Due to this I ask for a meeting with the Administrator (Pepe), the president of the community (Andres) and also the president of the "work committee" (Señor Alamo). They tell me that there is no way the community will do the necessary renovation for the roof above my apartment, because the community doesn't have the money.

I am nothing if not resourceful and inventive, so I bring a few solutions to the table:

1. First I propose to the troika, that the community let me buy a small attic that is just above a minor part of my apartment. That way the community would get the necessary funds for the renovation and I would get a bigger apartment. This offer is turned down.
2. I then tell them that I can pay for the renovation, but that the community in that case will have to pay me back during a few years. That offer is also turned down.

I my frustration over the situation I ask them what they think I should do. They simply neglect my question and states that there is actually no problem with the roof and that i should stop worrying and continue with the renovation.This is of course not possible.

When I then tell them that they leave me no choice but to inform the community of Madrid about the state of the roof, they all explode in anger and tell me that I should not, as a new member of the neighbor community, make any demands and that I show a complete lack of solidarity if I even think of informing the community of Madrid.

I say, that OK. I will wait until December when the enforced renovation for the building is supposed to start, hopping that they will see reason and begin with the roof above my flat. However, I also ask to see the document of the "Orden de ejecucón" so that I can see what is included in the enforced renovation. The Administrator refuse to let me see it.

A reason for this attitude may be that the Señor Alamo, the President of the Work Committee, holds the community in a very tight grip. He actually acts as if he would be the owner of the community and the building. People seem to be afraid of him and he is also the one who has done all the renovations of the apartments in the building.
Since I brought my own architect and never thought abut using his services, I made myself most unpopular with him, and he has since done everything to sabotage my efforts.
It is due to this that I start regarding the community as a sect. I will describe this more in detail in a special post later on.

So all in all, this is the situation in September 2014:
- I have an apartment I cannot renovate with loans to pay and a monthly costs for the apartment I cannot use.
- The community of neighbors cannot say when the roofs will be subject to renovation, but hints that maybe in December
- The Administrator does not let me see the documentation from the community of Madrid

My next move is contact my lawyer to see what I can possibly do in order to speed things up. This will be the theme in the next blog bost. keep yourself posted.

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