# Community Living



## johnbear1 (Apr 6, 2015)

Has anyone purchased a property in a gated community and after a while found out that the neighbors dog is left alone all day barking or that they play LOUD music at night and the community charges are always rising !!!!
This bothers me..... I would like to hear from genuine people, sarcastic comments are not welcome.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

johnbear1 said:


> Has anyone purchased a property in a gated community and after a while found out that the neighbors dog is left alone all day barking or that they play LOUD music at night and the community charges are always rising !!!!
> This bothers me..... I would like to hear from genuine people, sarcastic comments are not welcome.


Haven't bought on one - but I've rented on several over the years - & yes these things can be a problem

The first one we moved out of was because it was cliquey - big urb, not actually that well-kept, & most properties were owned by Spanish who only came for holidays

The cliquey-ness was the half a dozen English couples who lived there all year round & looked down on 'renters' & hated kids. It was great when the Spanish families came - the clique was outnumbered.... & my kids had a great time with the Spanish kids


The last one we lived on was almost entirely Spanish families who lived there all year round & was great - really well kept too - probably because it was more 'residential'

The only problem we had was if the next door neighbour went out at night - their dog howled!! Almost right under my bedroom window.... It lived outside & it was fine when they were out all day - I think it was afraid of the dark


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

johnbear1 said:


> Has anyone purchased a property in a gated community and after a while found out that the neighbors dog is left alone all day barking or that they play LOUD music at night and the community charges are always rising !!!!
> This bothers me..... I would like to hear from genuine people, sarcastic comments are not welcome.


Even sarcastic people are genuine people!

I don't live on a gated community, but I did have a year where the neighbour's dog howlled all winter long. Sometimes I can hear young people on the land at the back of our house drinking, laughing and generally "having a good time".
What I mean is the fact it's a gated community (I hate that expression!) doesn't make it quiet or noisy. I've stayed on rural farms in the middle of nowhere and been woken up by cockerels, tractors, local fiestas...


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Even sarcastic people are genuine people!
> 
> I don't live on a gated community, but I did have a year where the neighbour's dog howlled all winter long. Sometimes I can hear young people on the land at the back of our house drinking, laughing and generally "having a good time".
> What I mean is the fact it's a gated community (I hate that expression!) doesn't make it quiet or noisy. I've stayed on rural farms in the middle of nowhere and been woken up by cockerels, tractors, local fiestas...


actually that's a very good point - the same can happen in any street, in any community, though rising community charges & poor upkeep might not apply 

there are a lot of urbs here which aren't gated - lots of individual houses on what I can only call a housing estate - even if the houses are often large & have pools - it's still an 'estate'

these urbs have community fees for the upkeep of planted verges & so on


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

We spent five months in a piso in a gated community before moving out. There was a barking dog in the apartment above ours.
We moved to a house on the edge of the village on a double plot, not in a community.. Our neighbours on one side had a cockerel that crowed in the early hours, I think it's either died and been eaten perhaps and the neighbours a couple of doors down have dogs that bark constantly.
Our next-door neighbour's son goes to work at around 7.45 each morning on a very noisy motorbike.
We love living where we are. You get used to things.
Oh, and the truck comes to pick up the basura between midnight and one in the morning, with much grinding of machinery and clanking of bins.


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## johnbear1 (Apr 6, 2015)

Knew it... after much research I am looking not to buy this way. Thank you for the insight


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

johnbear1 said:


> Knew it... after much research I am looking not to buy this way. Thank you for the insight


you can avoid community charges - but I doubt you have much chance of avoiding the possibility of noise/barking dogs/annoying neighbours etc.

just like in any town or village anywhere in the world - you never know who might move in next door - even if next door is 100m or more away - if they have a loud party you'll hear it

heck, some people in my town heard the disco móvil for the fiesta in the next town last night (several km away) - & that went on til 5:30am....


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

mrypg9 said:


> We spent five months in a piso in a gated community before moving out. There was a barking dog in the apartment above ours.
> We moved to a house on the edge of the village on a double plot, not in a community.. Our neighbours on one side had a cockerel that crowed in the early hours, I think it's either died and been eaten perhaps and the neighbours a couple of doors down have dogs that bark constantly.
> Our next-door neighbour's son goes to work at around 7.45 each morning on a very noisy motorbike.
> We love living where we are. You get used to things.
> Oh, and the truck comes to pick up the basura between midnight and one in the morning, with much grinding of machinery and clanking of bins.


Why in gods name are they emptying the friggin bins at 1 in the morning??


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Rabbitcat said:


> Why in gods name are they emptying the friggin bins at 1 in the morning??


Because there's little traffic at that time.
Well, actually, i have to edit that and say depending where you are. I remember being stuck on Gran Via in Madrid at three in the morning on several occasions and finding it impossible to get a taxi, not because there weren't any, but because they were all taken. It was sometimes busier in the wee hours than it was at midday...


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Never even thought of that for a second- senile moment.


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## johnbear1 (Apr 6, 2015)

I lived in Benalmadena in an apartment it was super but for the dustcarts rumbling, leaf blowers morning and afternoon dogs barking and the rooster but I rented.... I am now looking for a Town house same problems but no community nonsense regarding rules and fees etc 
Gonna look in Torre Del Mar


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

johnbear1 said:


> I lived in Benalmadena in an apartment it was super but for the dustcarts rumbling, leaf blowers morning and afternoon dogs barking and the rooster but I rented.... I am now looking for a Town house same problems but no community nonsense regarding rules and fees etc
> Gonna look in Torre Del Mar


There aren't many town houses in Torre del Mar which aren't part of urbanisations, so there would still be community fees and rules to pay. The exception would be the small amount of old townhouses right in the centre and I'm sure it would be pretty noisy to live there, especially in summer, with all the traffic, the people out until the early hours of the morning, the weekly large outdoor market which is right in the centre, the Feria, the Weekend Beach Music Festival in July which had 60,000 visitors this year and someone living near Torrox complained the noise from kept them awake at night (although here in Velez we couldn't hear a thing).


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## johnbear1 (Apr 6, 2015)

all I want to hear is the ocean oh bliss oh joy oh dear never gonna happen......
I like noise I like noise I like noise ( now where's that yellow brick road )


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Rabbitcat said:


> Never even thought of that for a second- senile moment.


But we live in a street where we rarely see more than two or three cárs all day..we don't notice the noise now.


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

There are fees with communities but there are benefits. I have an apartment in the UK which has very little garden space (10 feet of grass outside, no walls) and no dedicated parking. I have an apartment twice the size in Spain with a shared garden around a pool, walls, gates, garages with dedicated parking, and there is a dedicated maintenance man there almost every day. The fees on the UK apartment are higher than the one in Spain.

As for rules, they are there to benefit everybody. Ours are a little more restrictive than I could live with, e.g. I don't care if kids use lilos in the pool, but none of the rules causes me any concern.

And cliques. The worst in our place are a small number of Brits who whine about a whole range of things none of which is worth wasting breath on. The Spanish are fine.


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## johnbear1 (Apr 6, 2015)

I am not one for rules and regs so I have enough info to know that I want a town house with a sea view, and this will be my project, I will find it eventually. Thank you .


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

johnbear1 said:


> I am not one for rules and regs so I have enough info to know that I want a town house with a sea view, and this will be my project, I will find it eventually. Thank you .


You could have a look at Maro, just a couple of km down the coast from Nerja. Great sea views, and there are town houses in the centre of the village rather than on urbanisations. If you want quiet it is certainly that, sometimes when I've been there I've expected to see tumbleweed blowing down the streets and there is absolutely nobody about, and property is very expensive.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

We had a look there Lynn and you sure ain't joking about the prices!!

Would need 2 lottery wins


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## johnbear1 (Apr 6, 2015)

Rightmove Maro Nerja 110000 Euros 2bed town house just the one hmm...now you got me goin time to research. Thank you


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

1. Remember you probably will be in accommodation that will be surrounded by holidaymakers from time to time. Holidaymakers enjoy music, noise etc. It comes with the territory. But, usually a knock on the door and a friendly conversation asking for more quietness will solve the situation.

2. Collecting of Rubbish Bins:- I have no problem with the rubbish being collected at 1.00am. The Refuse trucks do not delay traffic at this early hour and they are just doing their job.

3. Dogs:- (Don't mention the War!). The Brits love their dogs more than they do their partners. So, you can guess what they think of you, even if you are from the UK. The Spaniards see their dog as a necessity against break-ins etc so if the mutt is barking, it is doing its job. Complain to the Spaniards and the barking might be the least of your inconvenience. Advice:- Grin and Bear it.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

johnbear1 said:


> I am not one for rules and regs so I have enough info to know that I want a town house with a sea view, and this will be my project, I will find it eventually. Thank you .


We have a sea view and are ten minutes from the beach as the crow flies. Sometimes we are woken up by the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.
We rather like it.


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