13- The enforced renovation commences

Shortly after my visit to the "Departamento de Inspección Técnica de Edificios", I get word from the Administrator. Not an answer to my petitions, of course, but at least the date for the general meeting of neighbors has now been set. This meeting is to finally get the enforced renovation started!

Hallelujah! This is my chance to get some answers and also push for my rights to install air conditioning.

Since the Administrator does not answer any emails of phone calls, and like magic manages to be out any time I pass by the office, I decide to send a new burofax with the following content:

1. Referring to the law I ask that the roof above my apartment are among the first parts of the building to be repaired, now when the enforced renovation finally is about tot start.
2. Referring to the fact that all neighbors facing the street have air conditioning machines on their balconies, they cannot seriously believe I will accept a ban (that in fact did not even exist) for air conditioning units in the patios. Especially since placing the machines on the balconies definitely is against city regulations.

Two weeks before the announced reunion, the agenda is sent to the neighbors. There is no sign of the agenda points I asked for! I get fed up and ask my lawyer to call the useless, scheming, son of a b*tch of Administrator, and the lawyer actually manages to get the message through.

Hallelujah moments in the "Junta"

Was I nervous, or was I nervous to go to the meeting? Well NERVOUS describes it better as a matter of fact. You can, without exaggeration, say that the relations were on the frosty side of the Celsius scale, but I still needed to finally get some action going. Hence I decided to be very docile during the meting and appeal to my neighbors' human side. Make them feel sorry for me...

Wonder of wonders, the meting goes very well! It may have something to do with the fact that one of the shop owners on the ground floor started complaining about a lot of different things and thereby put me in a position where people saw me as the calm, nice and decent guy. It may also have been a well planned scheme of the reigning troika fo the community; the administrator, the head of the works committee (who believes he is the owner of the community) and the president of the community. In retrospect I believe it is the latter, because of what followed the coming weeks. More about that in the next blog post.

Anyway, in the meeting the head of the works committee/self-presumed owner of the community/major pain in the ass, immediately says that it would be silly not to let me have an air-conditioning installed. Well, that really takes the biscuit! This is the same man that, without hesitation, told me the installation was banned by the community, and damn well knew that was a lie!

So far so good. Now the next, and most important, point on the agenda; The Enforced Renovation demanded by the City of Madrid.

I finally get the word, and I explain my predicament;

• That the roof above my apartment are in a horrible state and must be replaced
• That I have not been able to start the renovations of my apartment during the 8 months since I bought it
• That this means I have costs both for the apartment and the rented flat where I am living until I can move in

I finally beg the assembled people to prioritize the roof above my apartment, this according to the law and for such simple reasons as normal decency.

- I am the only one in the building with an uninhabitable home due to the sad state of the building, so please, please please...

I actually get quite a few nods of approval, and one of the neighbors even speaks up and sais it is a disgrace that this has not already been fixed.

It is decided in the meeting that the works committee should talk to the selected building company to see if it would be possible to get started with the roofs immediately!

Finally! My problems solved! Wow, now I will live happily ever after!

Or not...
When I ask the Administrator to put this decision into the minutes of the meeting, he waves that aside, saying that is not important and that things will be alright.

A few weeks pass and I am full of hope for the future. I even get an email saying that I need to give access to my apartment to the building company so that they could start the renovation of the roofs.. here is a copy:

Yeah... sure...

Next chapter about the deceit of the Troika and the and the catastrophic start of my renovation.

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