Residents of Urbanización Costa Banana, at the top of Avenida Costa del Sol in Almuñécar, are sick and tired of paying community fees and seeing little in return.

They say that the community’s public areas are not cleaned and are deteriorating, so a group of about 80 property owners there are demanding a new block president or chairman; the present one has occupied this position for the last 14 years.

They would also like a look at the books because, they consider, the amount that they are paying out on a monthly basis does not correspond adequately with the services provided; i.e. the cleaning and maintenance of the buildings and the outside, communal areas.

They even went so far as to get a lawyer to back their requests to see the accounts, but the administration replied that there was no obligation for them to provide them.

Costa Banana, which was built about 50 years ago, has around 500 residents, only about half of whom live their full time, and it is the full-time residents that put up with the rusting railings; a tennis court that has not been used in a decade and fountains that have long run dry.

So, the intrepid 80 have a lawyer and are prepared to take the administration to court to force them to disclose the community accounting; i.e, where all the money is going, because they know where it is not going, they consider.

So, how come if the community Chairman is so unpopular, he has been reelected for the last 14 years? Ah, say the 80 owners, that’s because the owners who only come during the summer when everything is working do not see how shabby the place is during the rest of the year.

Urbanización Costa Banana has seen many changes over the decades, yet will it see a new Chairman… or the accounts… in the near future?

(News: Almunecar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)