So a big trip was planned to Valencia, a round trip of nearly 2000k, to get my project a little furthur along the renovation road. I had been in contact with an old yachtie mate Dave Lightowler who over the past few years had been renovating and selling houses in Spain. He wanted me to come over to check out his home in Manuel, south of Valencia city, to see features he had incorporated in his house that might provide ideas for my cortijo. After seeing his place we would drive 300k in tandem southwards to Albox and then see if my ideas gelled with his as regards the cortijo renovation.
On the way to Dave I wanted to spend one night in the cortijo on the Sunday night as Daniel, my Argentinian builder and project manager, wanted to meet up on the monday morning to present final paperwork to the local town hall in Oria for permissions to renovate. Hopefully this last piece of paperwork, my original paperwork for my NIE, along with the full architects plans should satisy the demanding paper pushers in Oria. I spent a cosy although rustic night on an inflatable mattress in the kitchen -to- be before waking up early for a coffee and tostado in Oria and then hooking up with Daniel.
My NIE paperwork seemed to be the final piece in the paper trail.....but no. After scrutinising the architects estimates for the renovation which came in at a respectable 16000 euros the town hall scribe then scribbled some figures on a scrap of paper. Daniel explained this was the tax I now had to pay even though my plans had not been approved. Cheeky I thought as we marched to the bank to pay 600 euros to the town hall in punitive charges. Hopefully though this might speed up the whole planning process with taxes paid in advance...we shall see.
We left the town hall after depositing a receipt for the taxes and assured by the scribe that all my paperwork was now in order and would be presented to another architect in Velez Rubio town for approval. So God knows how long this will take a day, a week, a month but after living in Morocco one thing it had taught me was the art of patience in such matters. Daniel left me a copy of the architects plans and proposals which although not exactly the ideas I provided were basically along the right lines and looked very impressive indeed and so they should for the 3000 euros they had cost me!
So feeling lighter in my bank balance but happy that we seemed to be making progress I jumped into Sadie the trusty Mercedes for a quick pit stop in Albox to the Cornish Pasty shop for my travelling lunch. Then it was motorway all the way E7, A31,A35 Valencia bound to arrive 3 hours later in Daves village, Manuel, by late afternoon. He popped out to meet me and as we strolled to his house couldnt help but notice the massive For Sale signs plastered over his front windows. Yes after 5 years of renovating he was selling, times were hard and the mortgage was biting. So it was crunch time for Dave but luckily for me he was divesting himself of the furniture and fittings, which could be handy for the new house after renovating.
On the way to Dave I wanted to spend one night in the cortijo on the Sunday night as Daniel, my Argentinian builder and project manager, wanted to meet up on the monday morning to present final paperwork to the local town hall in Oria for permissions to renovate. Hopefully this last piece of paperwork, my original paperwork for my NIE, along with the full architects plans should satisy the demanding paper pushers in Oria. I spent a cosy although rustic night on an inflatable mattress in the kitchen -to- be before waking up early for a coffee and tostado in Oria and then hooking up with Daniel.
My NIE paperwork seemed to be the final piece in the paper trail.....but no. After scrutinising the architects estimates for the renovation which came in at a respectable 16000 euros the town hall scribe then scribbled some figures on a scrap of paper. Daniel explained this was the tax I now had to pay even though my plans had not been approved. Cheeky I thought as we marched to the bank to pay 600 euros to the town hall in punitive charges. Hopefully though this might speed up the whole planning process with taxes paid in advance...we shall see.
We left the town hall after depositing a receipt for the taxes and assured by the scribe that all my paperwork was now in order and would be presented to another architect in Velez Rubio town for approval. So God knows how long this will take a day, a week, a month but after living in Morocco one thing it had taught me was the art of patience in such matters. Daniel left me a copy of the architects plans and proposals which although not exactly the ideas I provided were basically along the right lines and looked very impressive indeed and so they should for the 3000 euros they had cost me!
So feeling lighter in my bank balance but happy that we seemed to be making progress I jumped into Sadie the trusty Mercedes for a quick pit stop in Albox to the Cornish Pasty shop for my travelling lunch. Then it was motorway all the way E7, A31,A35 Valencia bound to arrive 3 hours later in Daves village, Manuel, by late afternoon. He popped out to meet me and as we strolled to his house couldnt help but notice the massive For Sale signs plastered over his front windows. Yes after 5 years of renovating he was selling, times were hard and the mortgage was biting. So it was crunch time for Dave but luckily for me he was divesting himself of the furniture and fittings, which could be handy for the new house after renovating.
