Arboleas Basuras bills

[Roger]

After much pressure and quite a wait I have now received a copy of the Register of Basuras for Arboleas.
I will now be able to tell people whether or not they are on the register.
If you are on the register but not receiving bills it will probably because the address on the register is meaningless.
Having only received it today I can asure everyone that MOST of the addresses are rubbish!!!!!!

The info I now have will allow you to correct this by identifying your entry by entry number and page number.

BUT BUT BUT
The register has 414 pages and nothing is in alphabetical order.
So it is going to take me some time to re order it to be useful.

[cascavah]

Thanks for the advice,  We have filled in all of the forms for this a while back, we had an email back to say they had received them, then nothing.  We are still waiting to hear if we are one of the seven in Huevanilas to have their bills returned.   When we are out next we will get ourselves a post box so this doesn't happen again, we do not have a car so no need for car tax.

It was never our intention to evade paying bills of any kind - in Spain or the UK - Why would we be asking for advice, if this was the case. 

When we are out next we will go the the office at Huercal Overa, and hopefully manage to get this sorted, get our Basura paid plus any fines we have incurred, thanks DaveL for pointing us in the right direction.

[digifidd]

DaveL, you are so right.  We tried to get the IBI on our house changed into our name.  By trying to do it through Albox, we could only attempt it once during any month as the person had to come from Huercal Overa and they only did it once a month.- that's if they turned up at all apparently (there were no guarantees)

So we went to the office you mentioned in H.O and sorted it all out within half an hour. No fee, just a photocopy of our escritura and one form to fill out - bingo!

Worth the trek from Albox.

[DaveL]

I  live in Limaria. A few months ago I received a bill from Diputacion covering the last 3 years. I went to the office in Heurcal Overa, which is on the right as you go over the brow into the town from the bridge this end. I used my limited Spanish and asked the girl if she spoke English. She said no, do I speak Spanish. Un poco, a laugh and all sorted within 5 minutes, including the latest due payment, DD, and paying just 4€ more than the bill.

If you have problems at Albox it could be worth considering.

DaveL

[Lynne]

Many thanks - I had put in BOP Spain and got a load of different stuff - didn't think of BOP Almeria.

[digifidd]

Boletin Oficial de la Provincia, in this case Almeria.

If you google search: bop almeria, the site will pop up for you.  or try - http://www.dipalme.org/

[Lynne]

Sorry to sound ignorant, but what is BOP please?

[knowall]

As the BOP is published on the Internet as PDF documents, a careful Google search should find if you are listed.
Try a search with your surname and dni and see what comes up.
Remember that your name might not be on there correctly, sometimes first last and middle names get a bit mixed up - but we're only human.

[Danny]

First class advice MC'Hatter. The thing to realise is that in Spain outstanding bills do not just go away, they have to be dealt with. Not knowing about them is not an excuse, if you think you should have had a bill, then chase it up. There could be a business opportunity here for someone to search the BOP.

Dan

[Mercurian]

We ended up having problems because we always give our post box number for things like this which may involve you receiving something through the post.  However, we pay by direct debit and have done so with no problems until last year when we started to find bills under the post box which were for our house number (quite different from the post box).  It took us several visits to the office in Albox to try to sort this out and we are no longer finding these bills, but maybe it's because they are being sent back to the post office.  If this is so, I trust that we will not be charged for them.

[MCHatter]

Some holiday home owners and  residents for that matter do not realise it is their own responsibility to ensure their correct details are registered at the Basura office in Albox.   In some case the builders may have informed the Basura office of your details, without telling you,  and in other cases miss spelled the name wrong of the owner.  By not having a postal address, or sharing with a neighbour, that is not the Basura office's fault, they cannot deliver your bills, its yours, a. for no post address, and, b,  for not checking out details of your Basura personally at the office.

A friend of mine had 5 bills to pay (15 months worth) and the small fines that went with them.  The Basura company is a private company, I have heard statements like, I pay my basura so I must be legal -tosh, I live in a holiday home and only come over 2 weeks a year so why should I pay basura? or need a post box -tosh, they own a property, and could be renting it out, for all the authorities know.

The town halls have just about inspected all properties in the Almanzora Valley, and no doubt those details will eventually be shared with the Basura offic.

By not having a post box or "care of" post box, basura bills may not be the only bills you are missing out on, Road tax (if your car is on Spanish plates), and if you have registered on the Padron? (which you should be)  and wish to vote, your voting slips etc.  Post boxes are available from oficina de correos (Post offices, or can Connect in Albox (look them up on your search engine.  to answer your question though, NO, not having a post box will not exempt you from the fines.
MC

[cascavah]

A major issue at our weekly Advice Office in the Town hall is the problem with Basuras bills, which we are trying to resolve.
This is not a matter for the Town Hall, but of the Diputacion, but we are trying to sort it out because it is of concern to many residents.

A visit to the Office in Albox has uncovered some bills returned by the Post Office, some for no good reason.
For example..
Aptdo    5
Los Higuerales   50
Limaria   13
Huevanillas   7
El Chopo   3
Los Llanos   3
Los Garcias   7
Los Torres   5
plus a mixture from other areas./
If you think you should have had a bill please come in to the Advice Office to se if we have yours.
Also we are obtaining a copy of the Register from the Basuras Office so we can check to see if you are on it.
We are obviously concerned about how many bills have gone astray and a debt building up.
Also we can assist in converting to DD to ensure this problem does not repeat itself.

We have a holiday home in Los Huevanillas.  We have only recently learnt about the Basuras Bill from a friend there.  We do not have a post box and so have not received any mail regarding the Basura.  Our surname is ALBROW.  Can you tell us if one of the undelivered bills is ours please?

If it is, then, reading all the other mail on this forum, we should go to the town Hall on a Wednesday to make sure we pay what is due.  Is the fact that we do not have a post box a good enough reason to not pay any fines that may be due?

If it is not, should we worry?

Thanks.

[Sandancer]

Hi Titch
I sent you a pm the other day for the tel no etc of the Spanish lady, but I havent received a reply we are leaving for Spain tomorrow, if you get a chance could you let me have that number before we leave as we wanted to try again with the Basura s office while we are over this time.
thanks for you help. 

[Lynne]

Yes, done that Dan.  The town hall had the correct address, which has now been updated since The Word closed and we lost our mail box.  We tried to update the address at the Huercal tax office this morning but they said they couldn't do anything as the town hall in Partaloa was responsible.  All we want to do is pay our dues in various places but we feel that we're fighting a losing battle.

[Danny]

At the risk of stating the obvious, please make sure that you have a correct postal address (usually an Apartado de Correos number), as otherwise you will not receive any postal communication.

I only found out that I owed Basura from someone who checked the BOP regularly and found my name. The builder, bless him, had passed my name on to the office in Albox. Other people have also had tremendous problems with that office.

Dan

[Lynne]

It doesn't seem to matter whether you speak/understand Spanish at all in that office - they're still more than useless.  Our neighbour (who speaks good Spanish) has given up speaking to them so had their daughter, who speaks fluent Spanish, contact them numerous times to tell them they should only be paying €9 - nothing.  They've had letters from their solicitor's sent to them over the last year or so - nothing.  We've got fed up of going to the office so had our solicitor send a letter - nothing.  Another neighbour has just received the correct bill after 3 years and yet another one is still waiting after 6 years and they live next door to them!  Nothing at all makes sense.  We paid yet another visit to our solicitor last week who phoned them whilst we were there.  They said that there is a letter in the post - nothing.  I'm trying desperately not to give up.

[Titch]

It may be worthwhile seeing Jo Tissington to see if she can help you.  I believe she has an office in the new town hall building. The alternative is to take a spanish person to translate for you.  This may be be better than an english person to translate.  How far is your house from the nearest bin?  If it is a long way, you will only have to pay 9euros instead of 30+ euros every quarter. (someone come up with the distance for the bin to be away from the house in order to pay only 9 euros please)

If you do any amendments in the office, ask them to give you a copy and stamp it for you so that you have a record of it. I know of 2 couples who went to the office with a translator, at the same time, to change from paying 30+ euros to 9 euros as the bin is no-where near their villas. One couple got the reduction and the other one didn't.  On going back to the office to ask why he had not received the reduction, the office had no record of him filling in the form.  He had to do it again. They said he should of asked for a stamped copy and then the reduction could have been backdated. 

If you want the name of a spanish lady who is very good in dealing with officials, send me a PM.

Titch

[Sandancer]

We are not resident in Spain, but have tried twice to register for Basuras, when we have been over in Spain, but as we dont speak Spanish we have found it impossible, the staff in the office in Albox may not speak English and whilst I appreciate we should be able to speak their language and not expect them to speak ours, they are not helpful at all when we have gone in.
We are coming over next week and will give it another go, can anyone tell me what documents I will need to take with me as last time we took the escuitura, water bill, bank details etc to show the villa's address and to try and say we wanted to register but they didnt want to know.
I did feel they knew exactly what we were asking but just didnt want to help!!
Any advice would be appreciated as I dont want a bill with fines to keep mounting!!

[digifidd]

I agree about the Albox office.  My husband last October (2008) time, went to Spain to pay our IBI and was told that we weren't paying basura.  That's a load of rubbish (excuse the pun), as I had registered with Michaela and Jo Tissington the September (07) before, but the first payment wasn't taken by dd until April 08.  How incompetant is that?! (of the basura office, not Jo or Michaela - they were doing a sterling job under difficult circumstances)

They didn't seem to have this on record, however, if I had the time and inclination I would go to their office and produce all of my bank statements.  It would seem that one half doesn't know what the other half are doing and their computer system must be a shambles.

When we are next over, I may put it on my list of to do's however my husband waited around for someone to turn up to go through it and of course, they didn't show up.

Their admin systems and public organisations need a good boot into the 21st century.

[Titch]

The problem with not getting bills and paying them on time,is that there are fines to be added and the bills keep increasing.  You may have problems in paying car tax if the basura is outstanding.  Mind you they may not have you on the data base. I have sympathy with anyone having to deal with the Albox office. They are just not helpful or efficient.

Make sure you keep copies of bills, especially those which are paid in cash, for proof of payment.

Titch

[Lynne]

It's about time the Albox Basura Office got their act together.  They must be THE most disorganised company in Spain and an utter pain to deal with.  We've done everything in our power to get them to bill us correctly, even a long solicitor's letter.  One thing's for sure, they aren't going to get any money out of us until they get it right.  They are just completely incapable of any kind of organisation.   :head :head

[Roger]

No bill for Starkey in Higuerales.
Agree this is a problem that needs sorting.
It is nothing to do with the Town hall, but we are trying to sort it anyway.
We don't want people to have big bills because of undelivered mail.

We are in the Town Hall every Ednesday. Upstairs. 10 till 1.

[barbstarkey]

Just read the info. on Basura Bills.

Where are you situated please.

I live in Huevanillas and managed to sort mine out a couple of months ago and in April the amount was taken out of my bank for the first time, just wondering whether one of the returned letters could be mine from ages ago.

Our name is Starkey

Just checking - if one is there, I am now up to date but would still call in and collect for my files. thank you.  These do need sorting as mine cost something like 350 euros with fines etc.  Have sent an e-mail to one of our neighbours as she didnt even know it existed

[Roger]

A major issue at our weekly Advice Office in the Town hall is the problem with Basuras bills, which we are trying to resolve.
This is not a matter for the Town Hall, but of the Diputacion, but we are trying to sort it out because it is of concern to many residents.

A visit to the Office in Albox has uncovered some bills returned by the Post Office, some for no good reason.
For example..
Aptdo    5
Los Higuerales   50
Limaria   13
Huevanillas   7
El Chopo   3
Los Llanos   3
Los Garcias   7
Los Torres   5
plus a mixture from other areas./
If you think you should have had a bill please come in to the Advice Office to se if we have yours.
Also we are obtaining a copy of the Register from the Basuras Office so we can check to see if you are on it.
We are obviously concerned about how many bills have gone astray and a debt building up.
Also we can assist in converting to DD to ensure this problem does not repeat itself.