Site Management?

[albaman]

What does one do when a complex is not being managed properly?

 I thought that I was coming to a well run site in Calis but not so.

There is a severe ground flooding problem that we were unaware of when we bought the property & I have discovered that the complex manager has not managed to address this problem in over a year.

Despite requests he refuses to have a meeting or to show the paperwork for the site finances. I have taken steps to improve my own villa access by raising the paving slabs & have diverted some of the rainwater from the roof to discharge onto the road. Having done this his family then had the cheek to start using my access to save them trudging through the floods! I have now had a lock put on my access gate & he has complained about that!

The rules say that you can't put up walls in the complex but others have been allowed to do so plus lock their gates.

He agreed to have an informal meeting today but it has not happened, no surprize there!

I am going to have a meeting with my builder and a Turkish lawyer to see what rights I have & what can be done.

I am being told that "these things commonly happen on complexes" pity I had not known about that before commiting to buying a villa on a complex!

We were told that it was perfectly ok to bring our dogs & spent nearly £3,000 bringing them from Scotland. Three months after moving in to the villa the manager has now produced a bit of paper saying that it is against site policy to have ANY animals & legal action will be taken against anyone doing so. There is, however, already two families on the site with dogs so I don't know what will happen.

The communal water pump was not working & I was told by the manager's wife that it was irrepairable. Being the cynical person that i am I got a builder to check it out & paid the sum of 60 TL to have it repaired.

I absolutely love Turkey but there are aspects that have shocked me regarding unfair dealing by some people when dealing with Yabangis!

I am told that our "Manager" is friends with the local mayor & I should be careful. I suspect, however, that the mayor will be keen to be seen to be squeeky clean following the jailing of the Olu Deniz mayor recently

my advice to anyone thinking to buy property in Turkey on a complex is: Dont commit to anything until you have WRITTEN evidence of site rules & things like policy regarding pets. Insist on a meeting with the site manager before parting with cash!

Watch this space for continuing saga & any practical advice welcomed.

[scouser2swife]

My first question is this....Do you live here full time?

[tinkerman]

no he brought his dogs for two weeks holiday

[scouser2swife]

Ok ...I get it.
1)Is there any reason why your neighbour is the site manager?
2)Are you on friendly terms with the other owners on the complex?
3)Is there any reason why you cannot get the money off the other owners of the complex to pay the bills?
We had the same problem with a management company when we first moved here....Everyone was paying different amounts of money towards the water, electric pool etc.When the Autumn came we were told there was not enough money to pay the communal electricity bill.(We had to pay it ourselves) We asked to see the accounts and were told 'no problem'...after 3 months and countless excuses about not being able to find all the bills we decided to contact the other owners and agreed to find another company. Someone then suggested that as we live here, could we pay the bills for them (if they gave us the money) as we go to pay our bills anyway.
We have done this and sorted out our pool with no problems (apart from the Turkish guy who lives in our complex not paying) and it is the same amount of money that we were paying 3 years ago (even with the Turk not paying).
However....beware this 'maintenance man' may decide he isn't going to pay his share. I wouldn't worry too much about his friend being the Mayor, that's probably a bluff!

[janmack]

It's been a learning process for us, not always easy, however we think we understand "complex life" after over 5 years of living here.
 
We also took our pets out here from the UK.
 
Basic condo law does state no pets on a complex however it also states no-one can rent their property without 100% agreement from owners, changes cannot be made to your property without other owners agreement etc etc...do some research and you can actually pick the "condo law" to pieces!!  Set up a committee.

When you get a committee together you can enter "rules" in your decision book, these then become "law" on your complex.
 
We were the 1st complex in Calis to become "independent" when owners became aware of the condo law. God help us we are a Hanel complex and they did not make life easy!!
 
We don't claim to know it all and we have our fair share of disagreements between owners, however our complex/committee is running quite happily at the moment.  We're learning every day!  

It takes a bit of effort and time trying to get things right but it is worth it at the end of the day.
 

[albaman]

Our Manager has failed to have a meeting of owners/ tenants despite numerous requests to do so.

I have informed him that I will not pay anything until he has a meeting & produces financial statements.

My preference would be for an independant company to manage the complex pool & maintenance but, so far, I don't know how to make this happen!

Why do incompetent people take on these positions? Is it for the small payment they receive, the "status", or other reasons that I can't say without proof of anything!

I want a stress free life but this can't happen when there are flooding, access, & financial issues that are not being managed!

The downside of buying property on a complex is that it has to be managed properly & it is not easy to get this info before buying.

My advise is; insist on a meeting with the site management & a scrutinisation of the site rules before commiting to buy. Get written confirmation that there are no outstanding issues regarding site maintenance & flooding! Also ensure that all residents regularly contributr to the maintenance payment!

Personally, I think these things should be checked out by responsible estate agents to prevent the type of issues we now find ourselves in!

I love Turkey & Calis but would appreciate not having to bang my head against a wall when things go wrong on the complex.
A lot of trust is put into buying a property in a foreign country & it is stressful when things you were told turn out not to be true.

[albaman]

Is this problem common?

[janmack]

Are you in touch with others on your complex?  Is there a committee?  Do they feel the same as you?  Get support from other owners and see what happens.

[albaman]

quote:Originally posted by janmack

Are you in touch with others on your complex?  Is there a committee?  Do they feel the same as you?  Get support from other owners and see what happens.

Of 12 houses, only 4 seem bothered about the site management issues. Coincidentaly, these are the only non-Turkish residents, and are Scottish,Russian, & German.

The Manager is now starting to make noises about non-payment of fees but I have told him I will not pay until he has a resident's meeting, produces authenticated accounts, & tells me what I am paying for!

I have paid out a substantial amount of money to protect my property from the flooding on the site caused by the Manager's inability to manage! I have also paid for the COMMUNAL water pump to be repaired as he refused to do so. What we need is indepenant, professional management that is accountable.