La Asociación Timeline of activities 2006-2017

November 2006
La Asociación de Gata Residencial holds its first Committee meeting, with the aim of obtaining and disseminating factual information about matters which affect us all, and also to apply pressure to the authorities to prevent us being exploited unfairly or illegally.
At this meeting it was decided that the Committee would begin investigating the legality of the very high water connection charges.

December 2006
Representatives from La Asociación meet with the water company Aquagest for further information. La Asociación also presents a formal complaint to the Ombudsman.

July 2007
The Asociacion organises the first Party in the Park

September 2007
The Committee decide to formalise the La Asociacion and begin the process to make it a legally registered entity.

November 2007
La Asociacion organises the first Clean Up Day covering the whole urbanisation.

March 2008
Gata Council holds the first “Sector 13” public meeting with residents of Gata Residencial

May 2008
La Asociacion is registered as an official, legal Association.
The investigation into the water charges proves that the charges are in fact justifiable and legal.

Nov 2010
Public meeting with mayoress
1. Outline the process of tendering the outstanding works contract.
2. Council confirmed that they were responsible for maintenance of street lights (no mention was made at this time of AVAL being used for this).
3. Report had been submitted to the Town Hall lawyer about reparation work and weeding of the public roads – they were waiting for the go ahead from their lawyers.
4. We questioned whether there was enough money in the AVAL. It was confirmed in principle that there was and that there was a separate AVAL for Vertice (the builders of Gata park).
5. We asked when the urbanisation would be adopted and were told that tacit adoption would happen when the works begin and cedulas (habitation certificates) will be granted when this happens.

18/11/2010
Meeting with town hall techs and politicians outlining the adjudication process and companies competing for the work.

4/11/2011
Meeting with mayoress with regard to the AVAL and reparation works.
Bertolin given the contract, but other companies were contesting the decision.
Mention was made of the town hall replacing the sign at the bottom of the hill and replacing the stolen manhole covers – this was done.

18/8/2011
AVAL mentioned again but the situation was unchanged.
Bertolin confirmed that they were granted the contract and could complete reparations for less than half the AVAL the remainder would be a buffer.
Contract signed 18/7/2011 stating that Bertolin had one year to complete the works.
We asked about habitation certificates, when the entrance to the site would be cleared of weeds, when pools and gardens of unsold properties would be cleared and whether there was still enough money in the AVAL.

March 2012
Guillermo Bolufer first engaged by the association to answer the above points.
His report confirmed that Bertolin suspended their works because there were unexpected infrastructure works which should not be done at their expense.
The council considered this to be a breach of contract and initiated action to enforce Bertolin to carry out the works.

April 2012
Letter from lawyer detailing specifics about Bertolin’s costs and the breach of contract. Bertolin were told that they had to restart works and it was agreed the contract could be modified to sort out any unforeseen circumstances.

21/2/2013
Letter from lawyer re habitation certificates.
Confirmed that full habitation certificates granted to M1A, M1C, M2, M3 ,M4, M7, M9 and M10.
Other properties can request a license, but these will only be provisional until the urbanisation is completed and would be granted with conditions.
At this point it was confirmed that works were being carried on schedule and were due to be completed by June 2013.

30/4/2014
Meeting with town hall and Guardia Civil re burglaries.

Nov 2014
Letter sent to the mayoress about the disadvantages to homeowners with regards to habitation certificates.
Association were demanding to know why the urbanisation was not finished and why some homeowners were waiting for habitation certificates. Also when the town hall will take responsibility for the maintenance of the public areas.

Nov 2014
Council plenary session in which more than 100 people attended to pressure the council into action.

16/12/14
Meeting as a result of the letter to the mayoress and the attendance at the plenary session.
The Mayoress assured us that they were interested in our urbanisation and intended to set up an action group with both residents and town hall representatives.
Confirmed that Bertolin have 3 to 4 months to complete the works after Christmas.
Confirmed that the AVAL is guaranteed by the bank of Spain and that the deal between the town hall and Caja Catalonia was that the town hall would have €700,000 of AVAL funds available in their bank account at any one time. This would be overseen by town hall reps their lawyer and the mayoress along with an independent engineering company.
Council will take over works when site adopted. It was confirmed that street lighting is being paid out of the AVAL.

March 2015
Meeting between association and council which was a continuation of the previous meeting where action group was formed.
Mayoress states that Bertolin have been required to complete works including Wooden steps,
M 8 wall and the planting and tidying of trees and road signage.
Mayoress confirms that site adoption is dependant on works being completed and should take 4 months.

April 2016
Official notice received informing association of court proceedings by Bertolin against the town hall re lack of payment.

Sept 2016
Because there has been no progress association asks our lawyer to send an instancia to the town hall detailing all of the concerns. It was specific as to the deterioration of the urbanisation due to the ongoing problematic situation. We asked to reinstate the action group meetings, but we urgently need a solution to the habitation certificates and the maintenance of the urbanisation especially road signage.

Oct 2016
Meeting with our lawyer and the counsellor for the urbanisation regarding the instancia issues. It is confirmed that Bertolin are suing the council for impeding the completion of the works.
This was when the court case started.
It was confirmed at this time that the AVAL would be sufficient to carry out the outstanding works with €230,000,00 left over for unseen circumstances.

May 2017
Follow up meeting with lawyer and councillor in which all the outstanding issues were raised once again and we were asking why there had been no written response to the instancia. It was stated that this was due to lack of staff.
To date we still have no written response.