OPEN CABRERA
Frequently Asked Questions
4 July 2021
What is Open Cabrera?
We formed Open Cabrera in early 2020 because we were being actively prevented from communicating with the Homeowners. Communications were being blocked and filtered by the Junta Board at the time that they were trying to spend circa €250k of Homeowner funds on transformer infrastructure for the Developers. This was a massive sign that all was not well in Cabrera and the Junta Board was fobbing us off and not acting in the interests of the Homeowners.
Open Cabrera was created in order to inform all Homeowners of developments in Cabrera in an open and transparent manner.
We have politely sought answers from the Junta Board and, after a year and a half of silence, there is absolutely no doubt that they do not want to give them. We have done a great deal of research and there is no doubt that there are very many things wrong with the Junta.
We have highlighted multiple issues and the chronological details can be found in the Document Library on this website.
Our communications speak for themselves and we are grateful for the large numbers of residents that have written in to thank us. Some have said that, without Open Cabrera, they would be none the wiser as to what is going on.
What is the Status of the Court Case?
On 13 December 2019 the Court in Almeria declared the 1993 Agreement to be null and void and instructed the Town hall to ensure that the Junta Board follows the Cabrera Statutes. The Petitioner was the Cabrera Residents Association.
The Junta Board appealed this judgement on the basis of a technicality and then stood as co-defendants with the Town Hall where the case was re-opened. The Town Hall did not appeal.
On 23 November 2020, the Court in Almeria re-confirmed its decision.
The Junta Board appealed this decision. The Town Hall did not appeal. The CRA, as is their right, then asked for the decision to be enacted in spite of a future Appeal hearing.
On 17 June 2021, the Court in Almeria confirmed that the Court Judgement would be provisionally enacted upon payment of a €3000 bond.
Open Cabrera launched a funding appeal for the €3000 court bond. The good news is that the money was raised by the Homeowners in a matter of days and was lodged with the Court. Our understanding is that the Town Hall is now obliged to ensure that the Junta Board acts in accordance with the law and the Statutes.
This is described in the following translation:
The provisional execution of the sentence dated November 23, 2020 relapsed in PO 99/2017 of this Court is agreed, for which purpose the CITY COUNCIL OF TURRE is released from office to proceed with the fulfilment of the operative part of said resolution in accordance as set forth in this order, after providing a bond of 3,000 euros.
Who is going to take over if the Junta ‘collapses’?
We are not sure what is meant by ‘collapse’. However, it is likely that any change to the current regime will pose a few challenges but let’s put this in a little perspective:
The current Junta budget is circa €200k per year. Of this, circa €70k is used to fund two Junta workers and it is these two workers that carry out the majority of the maintenance activity in Cabrera. They are able to work largely independently.
This leaves a balance of around €130k to manage. Most of this goes into outsourced services in various forms (some more transparent than others). Examples of this are €61k for asphalt in 2019, €12k per year for office administration, €x for legal and financial services etc.
€130k is not a huge amount to manage in terms of outsourced services and there are a number of ways to do this if our current Junta Board were to ‘collapse’:
This is not an insurmountable problem.
What about getting my electricity connection?
We have expressed our sympathy to those that are without Endesa electricity supplies and we have written at length about the electricity situation. In summary, the affected Homeowners have the following options:
It is unacceptable to take advantage of the current dysfunctional Junta Board arrangements to 'socialise' the transformer infrastructure costs to all the other Homeowners and thereby enrich the delinquent Developers.
What about the water?
Neither the developers nor the Junta Board own the water. The infrastructure is there to deliver water to the houses so it should just continue with the required maintenance.
Believe it or not, we understand that our Junta Board has actually cut off the water supply to some Homes in Cabrera for a number of years because of non-payment of fees. With the recent Court Order against the Town Hall and the Junta Board, it may turn out that these Homeowners are actually due a refund from the Junta Board. So, we hope that the Town Hall and the Junta Board will do the right thing and ensure that these homes are re-connected to a water supply without any delay.
It is illegal for the Junta Board to sell services in exchange for money. It is therefore illegal to sell water. The Junta Board is entitled to charge all the owners (developers and homeowners) for their fair contribution towards the maintenance of the water infrastructure.
In terms of controlling the excessive use of water, it would make sense to control the water usage using the meters that are installed. It may be worth agreeing a fair usage policy between homeowners with some form of control mechanism – however the Junta Board is not permitted to charge for water.
Currently, the Developers seem to believe that, by charging for water, they may somehow be able to avoid making their fair contribution to the maintenance costs of the urbanisation.
When the Court Judgement is enacted, they say we are all going to become developers and have to fund the urbanisation. What then?
We maintain that this is nonsense. Please see the letter to Delegado Noeline Ramsay and CASE STUDY 14 on the Open Cabrera website describing how the Junta was captured. (Look in the document library on this website )
The Town Hall has been unsuccessful in getting a handful of Urbanising Firms (Developers) to carry out the urbanisation for 30 years. It would be quite a challenge to get 200 Homeowners to fund the urbanisation especially when they have already made their ‘concrete’ contributions towards the urbanisation costs to the Urbanising Firms in the purchase price of their homes.
“They say you have a Team ready to take over…..”
Please understand that Open Cabrera is not building a team to replace the Junta Board. At the end of the day, people will need to be elected by the Junta Members themselves according to the Statutes. We cannot simply put forward a team.
We know from our interactions with members of the community that there are some very capable people out there that would be willing to help in any way they could. It is up to these people to make their names public if they wish but the general feeling is that they could not possibly work under the current arrangements - you have to recognise that these are professional people with reputations to consider.
“There are also concerns that Open Cabrera is the CRA ‘via the back door’.”
Open Cabrera can confirm that it is not the CRA ‘via the back door’. The organisers of Open Cabrera are relative newcomers to Cabrera and we have formed our own opinions about the running of the Junta. As it happens, we are not members of the CRA but, since the inception of Open Cabrera, the Junta Board and its followers have been intent on linking Open Cabrera to the CRA.
The animosity towards the CRA seems to stem from the fact that, more than 5 years ago, they attempted to withhold fee payments from the Junta Board in an effort to get the Junta Board to change its ways. As with many dictatorial regimes, the Junta Board and its supporters labelled the CRA as dissidents and non-payers, successfully using this to suppress any opposition.
The CRA then followed the laborious Spanish legal route over a period of 5 years to get to the point where the Junta Board and the Town Hall have now both been advised to ensure that the Junta is administered in accordance with the law and the Junta de Cabrera Statutes.
In our opinion, the Junta Board has exploited the Homeowners over a period of 30 years and this has resulted in an incomplete urbanisation, an urbanisation which could have been built by the Developers for the equivalent of around £1,000,000 in 1997 money.
Given the current situation, we believe that it would be churlish for anyone to continue to discredit the CRA – it is a tactic used by those who wish to maintain the grip of the Developers on Cabrera. The CRA has funded the painstaking legal action over the past five years to place us in the position where we stand the chance of being freed from captivity and exploitation.
This is the time to let bygones be bygones and to move forward in a more positive way. There is no value at all in perpetuating historical differences. It is time for the Homeowners to concentrate on the Villains and not the Victims.
Why are you not holding meetings with the Residents?
The reason for this is that we do not believe that this is our role. We are achieving our objectives by sourcing and supplying as much information to the Homeowners as accurately as possible. We are asking the pertinent questions and the Junta Board has remained absolutely silent for 1 and a half years.
We spend a significant amount of time in an effort to promote positive change in Cabrera and a key element of this is ensuring that everyone is fully aware of what is taking place. You will hear absolutely nothing from our Junta Board.
We are not a political party, we are not running a campaign and standing for election, we are not seeking members and we are not a club.
While we understand that some Homeowners may have differing expectations, when we visit Cabrera we are there to relax and enjoy a holiday. Nevertheless, we are more than willing to have a chat with our neighbours but will not be ‘holding court’.
<END>
Frequently Asked Questions
4 July 2021
What is Open Cabrera?
We formed Open Cabrera in early 2020 because we were being actively prevented from communicating with the Homeowners. Communications were being blocked and filtered by the Junta Board at the time that they were trying to spend circa €250k of Homeowner funds on transformer infrastructure for the Developers. This was a massive sign that all was not well in Cabrera and the Junta Board was fobbing us off and not acting in the interests of the Homeowners.
Open Cabrera was created in order to inform all Homeowners of developments in Cabrera in an open and transparent manner.
We have politely sought answers from the Junta Board and, after a year and a half of silence, there is absolutely no doubt that they do not want to give them. We have done a great deal of research and there is no doubt that there are very many things wrong with the Junta.
We have highlighted multiple issues and the chronological details can be found in the Document Library on this website.
Our communications speak for themselves and we are grateful for the large numbers of residents that have written in to thank us. Some have said that, without Open Cabrera, they would be none the wiser as to what is going on.
What is the Status of the Court Case?
On 13 December 2019 the Court in Almeria declared the 1993 Agreement to be null and void and instructed the Town hall to ensure that the Junta Board follows the Cabrera Statutes. The Petitioner was the Cabrera Residents Association.
The Junta Board appealed this judgement on the basis of a technicality and then stood as co-defendants with the Town Hall where the case was re-opened. The Town Hall did not appeal.
On 23 November 2020, the Court in Almeria re-confirmed its decision.
The Junta Board appealed this decision. The Town Hall did not appeal. The CRA, as is their right, then asked for the decision to be enacted in spite of a future Appeal hearing.
On 17 June 2021, the Court in Almeria confirmed that the Court Judgement would be provisionally enacted upon payment of a €3000 bond.
Open Cabrera launched a funding appeal for the €3000 court bond. The good news is that the money was raised by the Homeowners in a matter of days and was lodged with the Court. Our understanding is that the Town Hall is now obliged to ensure that the Junta Board acts in accordance with the law and the Statutes.
This is described in the following translation:
The provisional execution of the sentence dated November 23, 2020 relapsed in PO 99/2017 of this Court is agreed, for which purpose the CITY COUNCIL OF TURRE is released from office to proceed with the fulfilment of the operative part of said resolution in accordance as set forth in this order, after providing a bond of 3,000 euros.
Who is going to take over if the Junta ‘collapses’?
We are not sure what is meant by ‘collapse’. However, it is likely that any change to the current regime will pose a few challenges but let’s put this in a little perspective:
The current Junta budget is circa €200k per year. Of this, circa €70k is used to fund two Junta workers and it is these two workers that carry out the majority of the maintenance activity in Cabrera. They are able to work largely independently.
This leaves a balance of around €130k to manage. Most of this goes into outsourced services in various forms (some more transparent than others). Examples of this are €61k for asphalt in 2019, €12k per year for office administration, €x for legal and financial services etc.
€130k is not a huge amount to manage in terms of outsourced services and there are a number of ways to do this if our current Junta Board were to ‘collapse’:
- Elect another Junta Board that is willing to abide by the law.
- Appoint an external Management Company
This is not an insurmountable problem.
What about getting my electricity connection?
We have expressed our sympathy to those that are without Endesa electricity supplies and we have written at length about the electricity situation. In summary, the affected Homeowners have the following options:
- Collectively take the delinquent Developers to court. We understand that there was an initiative in 2016 to do this but it was not pursued.
- Promote a suitable change in the regime and then look to working together with the other Homeowners to find a solution. There may be a more palatable way forward once the blurred lines between the Homeowners and the Development Companies' interests are removed.
It is unacceptable to take advantage of the current dysfunctional Junta Board arrangements to 'socialise' the transformer infrastructure costs to all the other Homeowners and thereby enrich the delinquent Developers.
What about the water?
Neither the developers nor the Junta Board own the water. The infrastructure is there to deliver water to the houses so it should just continue with the required maintenance.
Believe it or not, we understand that our Junta Board has actually cut off the water supply to some Homes in Cabrera for a number of years because of non-payment of fees. With the recent Court Order against the Town Hall and the Junta Board, it may turn out that these Homeowners are actually due a refund from the Junta Board. So, we hope that the Town Hall and the Junta Board will do the right thing and ensure that these homes are re-connected to a water supply without any delay.
It is illegal for the Junta Board to sell services in exchange for money. It is therefore illegal to sell water. The Junta Board is entitled to charge all the owners (developers and homeowners) for their fair contribution towards the maintenance of the water infrastructure.
In terms of controlling the excessive use of water, it would make sense to control the water usage using the meters that are installed. It may be worth agreeing a fair usage policy between homeowners with some form of control mechanism – however the Junta Board is not permitted to charge for water.
Currently, the Developers seem to believe that, by charging for water, they may somehow be able to avoid making their fair contribution to the maintenance costs of the urbanisation.
When the Court Judgement is enacted, they say we are all going to become developers and have to fund the urbanisation. What then?
We maintain that this is nonsense. Please see the letter to Delegado Noeline Ramsay and CASE STUDY 14 on the Open Cabrera website describing how the Junta was captured. (Look in the document library on this website )
The Town Hall has been unsuccessful in getting a handful of Urbanising Firms (Developers) to carry out the urbanisation for 30 years. It would be quite a challenge to get 200 Homeowners to fund the urbanisation especially when they have already made their ‘concrete’ contributions towards the urbanisation costs to the Urbanising Firms in the purchase price of their homes.
“They say you have a Team ready to take over…..”
Please understand that Open Cabrera is not building a team to replace the Junta Board. At the end of the day, people will need to be elected by the Junta Members themselves according to the Statutes. We cannot simply put forward a team.
We know from our interactions with members of the community that there are some very capable people out there that would be willing to help in any way they could. It is up to these people to make their names public if they wish but the general feeling is that they could not possibly work under the current arrangements - you have to recognise that these are professional people with reputations to consider.
“There are also concerns that Open Cabrera is the CRA ‘via the back door’.”
Open Cabrera can confirm that it is not the CRA ‘via the back door’. The organisers of Open Cabrera are relative newcomers to Cabrera and we have formed our own opinions about the running of the Junta. As it happens, we are not members of the CRA but, since the inception of Open Cabrera, the Junta Board and its followers have been intent on linking Open Cabrera to the CRA.
The animosity towards the CRA seems to stem from the fact that, more than 5 years ago, they attempted to withhold fee payments from the Junta Board in an effort to get the Junta Board to change its ways. As with many dictatorial regimes, the Junta Board and its supporters labelled the CRA as dissidents and non-payers, successfully using this to suppress any opposition.
The CRA then followed the laborious Spanish legal route over a period of 5 years to get to the point where the Junta Board and the Town Hall have now both been advised to ensure that the Junta is administered in accordance with the law and the Junta de Cabrera Statutes.
In our opinion, the Junta Board has exploited the Homeowners over a period of 30 years and this has resulted in an incomplete urbanisation, an urbanisation which could have been built by the Developers for the equivalent of around £1,000,000 in 1997 money.
Given the current situation, we believe that it would be churlish for anyone to continue to discredit the CRA – it is a tactic used by those who wish to maintain the grip of the Developers on Cabrera. The CRA has funded the painstaking legal action over the past five years to place us in the position where we stand the chance of being freed from captivity and exploitation.
This is the time to let bygones be bygones and to move forward in a more positive way. There is no value at all in perpetuating historical differences. It is time for the Homeowners to concentrate on the Villains and not the Victims.
Why are you not holding meetings with the Residents?
The reason for this is that we do not believe that this is our role. We are achieving our objectives by sourcing and supplying as much information to the Homeowners as accurately as possible. We are asking the pertinent questions and the Junta Board has remained absolutely silent for 1 and a half years.
We spend a significant amount of time in an effort to promote positive change in Cabrera and a key element of this is ensuring that everyone is fully aware of what is taking place. You will hear absolutely nothing from our Junta Board.
We are not a political party, we are not running a campaign and standing for election, we are not seeking members and we are not a club.
While we understand that some Homeowners may have differing expectations, when we visit Cabrera we are there to relax and enjoy a holiday. Nevertheless, we are more than willing to have a chat with our neighbours but will not be ‘holding court’.
<END>