Taken by Owner : Rachael Bareham

Please note that the Las Rosas AGM minutes are now available on the Owners Log–In.

Everybody is invited

Dear Owner,

The largest problem facing the community is that of community debtors, and one which receives our constant attention.
At the moment the process in dealing with debtors is to block the villa from their usage, employ professional debt collectors and as a last resource, initiate legal action through the Spanish court.
Wimpey, in its day, sold timeshare using the only secure system at that time namely the Escritura (public registered deed). However, it failed to recognise the problems that owners would face when they reached an age when visiting their timeshare resort was no longer an option and in particular, when one of the partners who signed the Escritura, is deceased.

WimPen regularly receives letters from owners who have no further use for their timeshare and wish to surrender them without cost in order to avoid their maintenance fee commitments but sadly, we are not able to accept them, firstly because we ourselves are not able to take over the responsibility of paying the maintenance fees and secondly, because the owner has to provide NIE numbers and Powers of Attorney from the two partners who originally signed the Escritura and pay the legal transfer costs of approximately £1,000. In many cases, one of the partners is deceased, and the survivor is faced with obtaining an “Inheritance Escritura” costing a further £1,500.

The object of this report is to offer advice on what action owners can take to avoid persecution by debt collectors or the Spanish courts when the time comes that they can no longer visit the resort.
As you know, when an owner becomes a debtor, WimPen block the villa and offer it for rental. If a rental is achieved, the income is credited to the debtors’ account however rentals cannot be guaranteed, particularly in the current economic crisis and also certain weeks in the low season are difficult to rent.
If you have no descendants or your descendents have no interest in taking over your timeshare, you should act now whilst you are both alive to ensure that your spouse is not left with the consequences of becoming a Community debtor.

As agreed at the AGM, a property holding company has been formed by WimPen and any owner can now transfer their weeks into the property company and continue their ownership by means of a private contract which would enable them, under certain conditions, to surrender their weeks without cost and distress to the survivor in the case that one of the partners who signed the Escritura is deceased. It also enables you to sell the weeks in the future with a minimal transfer cost of say £100.
Unfortunately, transferring the weeks to the property company, does not come without cost since under Spanish law, it is effectively a property sale that carries the requirement of obtaining NIE numbers and Powers of Attorney.

There are various ways to obtain Powers of Attorney and NIE numbers one of the easiest ways is to obtain them when you are on holiday at the resort and we are able to offer assistance to anyone who opts for this system. If you are not able to visit the resort, we are also able to offer you advice on how to obtain them in the UK. The legal transfer costs to the property company are approximately £1000, which although significant, is minimal in comparison with the distress that is caused to a surviving spouse who is being pursued for debt.

If you wish to take advantage of the private contract facility, then please contact Ian Crane at WimPen´s Head Office who will offer guidance on how to proceed.

Just take a typical week in Tenerife and there is so much going on, fiestas come in all shapes and sizes and every village has its own special flavour to add to the mix. Last week the small west coast fishing village of Alcala had its annual fiesta week and despite its small size it really packs a punch. The climax of the final night is a midnight firework show from rocks just off the coast. The display is huge and goes on and on, the fireworks lit up the sky as far west as Las Rosas and El Marques in Los Gigantes, and to the south at Sueño Azul in Callao Salvaje.

There’s hardly time to draw breath, this weekend Los Claveles in Los Cristianos will be close to a triple bill of action. Noches de Boleros is a feast of music and dance at the old marina, from 9.30 pm on Friday 20th August and Saturday with a host of musical performers paying tribute to different dance styles, there will be seating for 3,000 people. On the Saturday afternoon the chairs are cleared and all are invited to dance to Cuban music from 3.30pm.

If that wasn’t enough, before the friday night show, there are two earlier events. At the sports hall on the Los Cristianos ring road (next to the outdoor pool) there is a roller skating dance spectacular and in Playa de Las Americas there is a Summer Carnaval parade from Hotel Villa Cortes to Piramides de Arona. Both events start at 7.30 pm and last nearly two hours, so you can see either and go on to the Bolero Nights. All three events are entirely FREE, like so many that happen in Tenerife.

If you want to keep up with the many and varied events coming up the Tenerife government has a website www.whatsontenerife.eu or you can find more choices at www.tenerifemagazine.com You really can enjoy it all.

The Las Rosas Precis Minutes are now available

To read or download your copy – Please go to the Owners Log–In section

 It’s going to be a musical summer, as always, in Tenerife, there are jazz and opera seasons coming up in the capital Santa Cruz but down in the south there is an equally amazing mix.

July brings two major events at different ends of the musical spectrum. On 20 July Simply Red perform outdoors at Golf Costa Adeje as part of their farewell tour. The course has already staged concerts from Rod Stewart and Elton John in previous years and proved to be a superb setting.

Then on 23 July the Moscow Ballet bring Swan Lake to Playa de las Americas. That takes place at the Magma Arts and Congress building next to the main bus station. The modern centre, normally used for conferences and corporate gatherings is adding more cultural events to its programme and will bring some of the top orchestras down south from the capital.

Talking of Santa Cruz, it may be early to think of christmas but bookings are now being taken for the festive seasons big musical offering at the auditorium on the sea front. This year it is the Spanish production of Chicago, one of the biggest modern musicals around.

Here are a couple of useful websites if you want to keep up with forthcoming music and cultural happenings. www.tenerifemagazine.com and the governments English site www.whatsontenerife.eu  Enjoy the shows.

To all at Las Rosas

Just a quick note to say how much Lesley and I enjoyed our time at Las Rosas, it was good to see familiar faces and the welcome we got from you all at reception was wonderful.

Las Rosas looked great and the improvements have made a fantastic difference to the inside of the villas.

PS. Thank Steve for awarding me the massage it certainly eased the shoulder, which has been giving me problems after I broke my elbow in December.

Owners will be aware that for those with an Escritura it is necessary to obtain an NIE Number for their villa(s) in Tenerife & Lanzarote and since it is a simple procedure to apply direct to a Spanish Consular General Office in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, I thought it would be of interest to relate my experience for the benefit of other owners who may be contemplating applying for an NIE Number.

My villa at Las Rosas is owned jointly with my wife and on 16th October last we visited the Consular General´s office at 20m Draycott Place, London SW3 2RZ, just a few minutes walk from Sloane Square Tube Station, where we met a Consular Officer – a lady, who was very courteous and helpful.

YOU MUST APPEAR IN PERSON AND TAKE WITH YOU:-

A) Form EX-14 IN DUPLICATE – two for each owner, this form may be downloaded from the Spanish Consulate´s website www.conspalon.org or alternatively obtained from WimPen´s Admin Office in Tenerife, and since this form is printed in Spanish and MUST be completed in Spanish online, PDF or on a typewriter, NOT HANDWRITTEN, I decided to contact WimPen whose Admin staff were very helpful and in addition to copies of the Spanish Form will also send you an English version as a guide, which will undoubtedly help facilitate your completion of the form.
Complete the Spanish form in front of the Spanish Consular Officer, who will then stamp the form and hand one copy of the form back to each owner. The retained copy will be forwarded to Madrid and in 1 – 3 months time the NIE Number will be forwarded to WimPen in Tenerife for personal collection in due course.

B) YOUR VALID PASSPORT and a photocopy of the page in your passport containing your personal details, but make sure you also copy the blank page opposite your personal details which will also be stamped and retained by the Consular Officer.

I am pleased to say that this service was provided completely free of charge. No passport size photographs were required, I did take my Escritura with me.

We arrived at the office at 10.50am and left at 11.00am – an excellent and efficient service, and we will collect the NIE certificates from WimPen when we next visit Las Rosas in August.

As indicated, the procedure is very simple and if any Las Rosas owner(s) would like to discuss the matter my email address is nallen772@btinternet.com

Nevilla Allen – Villa 50 – Weeks 35 & 36.

Now the dust has settled a little , we have been pleased to hear from many of you and thought we´d share some of the emails received:

“After travelling for 3 days – arrived home exhausted! Met some terrific helpful people on the journey, Saw a lot of Spanish & French countryside.
Thanks to everyone in the office, particularly those that helped with the “bodywork repair” to our hire car with a sink plunger!!
See you next year.”
Mr & Mrs Cox – Owner Las Rosas

“Josi at WimPen Sueno Azul was marvelous, she tried and succeeded in helping everyone. I thought the price charged for the additional week was fair, no attempt was made on your part to profit from the situation – took all the stress away for me and my grandchildren. Thankyou”
Mr & Mrs Barrett – Owner El Marques

“Thank you for all you help at a difficult time. This experience has not put us off our visits to Las Rosas we will be back” – Many thanks to all the staff
Mr & Mrs Howe – Owner Las Rosas

“We cannot express our gratitude enough as to how helpful & kind everyone was in such difficult circumstances. I would recommend Las Brisas to everyone as at no point was anyone trying to make a “fast buck”, like many others around the world.”
Sara Denton – Las Brisas