What I am trying to say. It costs Money to Maintain Swimming Pools , Gyms and so on so if there are not any then Obviously the Maintenance Charge should be much much less. How can it cost 12 euro per m2 if there is very little to maintain. I am not paying 12 euro per m2 when there is nothing to maintain. Do you like giving Lakon your money for nothing. Just Think Think. :roll:

I don’t agree with the increases in principle. I contested this with Archadia ages ago & there point was the increase was to cover buildings insurance which wasn’t in the the Prem Contract. From my own experience buildings insurance CANNOT be covered on a multiple unit development, on an individual one to one basis it has to be implemented by the maintenance company or Lease holder. Regarding facilities or rather the lack of these although these have been promised (Nice Web sites & glossy brochures) because these are not stated in the contract then you can bet they will not materialise. But be careful in saying you won’t pay the difference as they MAY apply penalties as have stated earlier.

I think they key thing on the 12 euros is this insurance we are now supposed to be getting. If people in other complexes are paying, say, 8 euros for maintenance but are then having to pay an extra 5 euros anyway for insurance whereas we have it included, then what they are offering would be fair enough. But from what you are saying Daz, they can't actually insure it?? Can anyone throw any light on this, or what other apartment owners in other complexes do about buildings insurance?

JUST PAY UP!

OK try looking at it this way, then you make your own mind up as to whether you are getting value for money, if you can answer yes to these then you are or will be, if its a no then you need to make a decision on your actions: 1, 24 reception? (that will need 3-4 members of staff on a rolling shift) 2, 24 hour security via cameras or personnel 3, lift maintenance contractor 4, building Insurance. 5, Grounds maintenance contractor 6, cleaning team for common areas and through the rental (min 5) 7, 24 hour Maintenance manager/employee on call 8, Building inspector's yearly visit. 9, Materials for cleaning, repair/remedial works 10, spa or pool maintenance contractor 11, linen supplier/launderer Yes they will have other costs as well such as general administration costs for setting up, sign on with tour operators, mobile phones, common area electricity bills etc etc. Guys i am not defending them in any way, just highlighting what should be expected of a property management company or developer when managing a complex. Good luck !

New Inn
My wife and I are visiting our apartment next week. I say visiting as we have been told we have to stay at the Refectory because the block is having electricity meters fitted that week! We had not been informed of this latest delay until we mentioned we were coming out to stay. I have not heard that any bookings have been taken yet, and as the season is almost upon us I fear that the holiday companies have not decided to use The New Inn again this season.(Hope I am wrong) Is anyone advertising their apartment themselves? Where do you all suggest would be the best place to place an ad.? With Easyjet flying to Sofia then there must be lots of people willing to organise their own skiing holidays online.

Hello, I too am visiting my apartment with my husband this week. Or at least I thought I was til Milena from Lakon contacted us to say we would have to be accommodated elsewhere. The reason we were given was that the electricity metres are not connected and she couldn't say when they actually would be. Makes me think back to a desperate phone call around this time last year from Teodor saying we desperately needed to pay our final installment as they urgently needed no's for the rental co. to sort out contracts with tour operators for finished apartments! What mugs we are. Anyhow, we will be there (or there abouts at least) from Fri 21st til Sun 23rd Nov if anybody else who is there wants to meet up, Jennie

As I've said before, I think there is zero chance of any tour operators looking at new inn until a road has been built, and that could be as elusive as the 2nd gondola station. I think the only chance is private bookings. Mines with alexander services, but they have more or less said the same, that with the road situation, they're not realistically going to place anyone there.

New Inn
We have spent a weekend in Bansko and The New Inn is still in the middle of a construction site! Once inside the apartment is very nice however. I will be trying to advertise it for rent, but at a discounted price allowing for all the mud around it! We too couldn't stay in it because of the meters, and I can say that we did see the electrician working there. We were given our flat key - but when we tried it in the outside door it will not fit. Milena told us that she hasn't given out any keys to the communal entrance yet, and that we will have to ask the security officer if we want to go in! And I thought I was the flat owner!

so with regard to the roads whose responsibilty is it to build them? i assume there must be a plan somewhere to do it, or are our apartments just going to be left in the middle of nowhere? what about the other apartments, the old inn, and franks place nearby surely there are all affected with the same problem. Cheers for any pointers...

Well, the road is the municipalities job. Unfortunately, it is not very high on their priority list. I have organised and paid for the project of the road all the way from above Perun Hotel to Grand Bansko. It is approved by the building control authorities and ready to be made. We were even prepared to pay for it. Sadly the other developers (with the exception of New Inn) were not willing to participate and contribute some funds. At our annual owners meeting in August I put it to my owners us to build the road exclusively. It would have come to about 2,000 EUR per apartment. Our owners decided to forego this opportunity to increase rental attractiveness but rather wait till the municipality does its job next year. Chances are that it won't happen in 2009 either as there is still a lot of construction going on above Pirin Lodge and Grand Bansko and the municipality would like to see that finished first. In addition there are some legal issues as some land owners don't want to give up some land for the road. We ourselves are donating about 250 sq.m. of our precious land for the road. That's the road situation.

so to sum it up. it will happen at some point but not quite sure when??!!??? cheers, J

Does anyone know answers to these questions?
Here is part of an email I have sent to LAKON tonight. It occurs to me that some of you may be wondering about the same issues, and some of you may even know the answers! So here it is...:- We have just returned from Bansko. We were very disappointed not to be able to stay in our apartment, but it was good to see that it looks finished and ready to use. How did everything go with the meters? Is the electricity connected? Are all the appliances and lights working? Also can you now ensure that the wire for the light fitting under the kitchen wall units has a light fitted to it. This needs to be made safe and tidied up. I am very pleased that this is the only fault I found when you showed us around. It would have been good to be able to test all the appliances with the electricity connected. Can you ensure everthing is working and let me know. It would be nice to know there are no faults now, especially as we expect people to want to stay in the flat very soon. Can you let us know the names and addresses of the water and electricity companies supplying the flat. Will the bills be posted or emailed to us? Or will they be sent to you? How do these companies charge their fees? Do I just pay for the amount of electricity used? Or is there a fixed fee on top of this to have a connection to the mains supply? How is the water and sewerage billed. Again is the water metered and charge by the quantity used, or is there a set fee based on the size of the flat? Can you estimate how much the bills will be for when the flat has been used and when it is empty. We have started to advertise the flat and have had several calls already, though no bookings yet. We will keep you informed. Is any work planned at The New Inn that would mean any dates would not be available for us to rent the flat? Can you supply us with a copy of the maintenance contract, and the minutes of the meeting when the annual cost was decided. When is the maintenance contract payable from? What does it include? What is not included? What insurance is there on the building and each apartment and what is covered. Does the insurance come as part of the maintenance contract? How much is the contract now? Do all the owners pay the same? Do they all pay towards the maintenance, or have some refused, and will that affect what we pay? What can be done about that? We would like to have a key to the front door of the block, so that we can get in without the need to wait for someone to meet us. As it is now our apartment, it is only reasonable to expect a key to it. Another detail we need to know is the charge per day or week for the laundry service and the 'meet and greet' service for any holidaymakers we book into our flat. Can you still offer this service? It would be good to offer our clients use of the TV and WiFi broadband connection. Can you let us know how soon this service can be supplied and at what cost. It does not look like BPM will be trying very hard to let out the flats at the New Inn this season, so I will have to get bookings myself, and ask you for your help with all these details. Or do you know anything different about BPM's intentions? I have considered putting a few extras into the apartment. I think a toaster would be a good idea, and perhaps a DVD player. Can English DVD films be rented in Bansko? If we would like these items in our flat can you help? Can they be purchased locally? How much would you charge us to supply them? What do you include in any 'Welcome pack' you can supply, and how much do you charge for them. It would be handy to give this information to anyone who decides to stay in my flat, so I can charge them and order the pack from you well in advance, so you get plenty of notice. These are all the questions I can think of at the moment. I know this is a long list, but these is all essential details I need to make sure I can successfully rent out the apartment, and so that I can decide exactly how much to charge for rent. Hopefully I can start to receive some income from the flat, which despite all the delays and problems I still think is a lovely flat.

New Inn - email reply received from Milena
I have to say that I think Milena has her heart in the right place in that she is offering to try to help out the owners at the New Inn. I posted some of the content of an email I sent her. I got a response to that email within minutes. She has offered to send the meter readings when the elctricity and water are connected, and has given a rough guide to the expected bills. She has told me that she can arrange to meet and greet anyone using my flat, provide a welcome pack, and do the cleaning and laundry for no more than 40 Euros. I didn't think that was too bad. What sort of cost do the rest of you out there think is reasonable for this service? She has also mentioned about the possibility of Wi-Fi in the New Inn, but I will wait and see what happens with that! I just think it will be a long time before I can hope to find many people wanting to stay in my flat, even by advertising myself! With the value of the pound falling holidays to Bansko are only going to get dearer too. Still at least the flat is valued in Euros, so that should help a little!