22 March 2019 – Club AGM 2019 Calling Papers

Chairman’s Communication to all Club Owners
(and to Escritura owners for information and invitation to attend as observers)
98, Bleak Hill Road,
Erdington
Birmingham
B23 7BT
Telephone Enquiries: +44 (0) 1495 243407
email: communications@losclavelesowners.eu
Citrus Hotel: 
+44 (0) 2476 301585
(please ask for Club Los Claveles AGM rate)
 
Dear Los Claveles Club Member,
 
Annual General Meeting – 11.00 a.m. Saturday 27 April 2019 
Citrus  Hotel, A45 London Road, Ryton on Dunsmore, Coventry, CV8 3DY.
 
I have great pleasure in inviting you to this year’s Annual General Meeting of the Club.  As per usual, all the information that you require is published on the members’ website https://www.losclavelesowners.eu  The links to enable you to download all the information from the website and bring it with you to the meeting are at the end of this letter.  If you have any problems please contact a Committee Member and they will help you. Their contact details are available on the owners’ website, or email communications@losclavelesowners.eu

The last few general meetings have concentrated on ensuring that the ownership of the Club apartments on the Resort of Los Claveles remains in the ownership of you, the members.  My ambition, on your behalf is to get back to the situation where the general meetings can concentrate on matters that are important to you, such as the refurbishment and rental programmes that will ensure the long term viability of the resort.  We are getting closer to realising this ambition but there is still some way to go.

It is important to remember how and why we, the Club members, arrived at a situation where we are fighting to retain the ownership of the resort.  The history can be seen from all the documentation that has been placed on the members’ website but a short resume may be helpful.  Not all members of the Club visit the website on a regular basis even though I regularly urge you to do so.  In brief:

Onagrup purchased WimPen which also meant they took over the Management Agreement.  Members voted at a General Meeting to end the Management Agreement.  There was an arbitration in Scotland (the Club Constitution is governed by Scots law) which ordered the Members Register, books, money and property be handed back to the Committee as the representatives of the Club.  WimPen/Onagrup did not comply with the order.  WimPen/ Onagrup appealed to the Court of Session in Scotland and lost.  The Arbitration Order was confirmed.  WimPen/Onagrup continued not to comply with the order.  At the end of last year the Spanish Supreme Court of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria ordered that the Arbitration Order must be enforced.  A separate Spanish Court, the Arona Court of First Instance  No. 5 in Los Cristianos, ruled that members must pay their fees to the Club Committee and that WimPen/Onagrup were wrong to invoice members for money or to stop members from having access to the apartments.  WimPen/Onagrup have appealed this ruling as well as starting a second arbitration in Scotland.  We have opposed this on several grounds, the main one being that WimPen/Onagrup have a history of non-compliance so there is no useful purpose.

There are some members who ask, quite legitimately, ‘Why would Ona/WimPen spend so much time, effort and hundreds of thousands of pounds in trying to remain as a Management Company?’  The answer is clear to me and many owners.  They do not wish to remain the Management Company collecting just €183,000 per year.

Mr Castro, Chief Officer of Onagrup, in his evidence under oath in the first Arbitration stated, and I quote, “When he purchased Los Claveles”.  Clearly everything that has transpired since that time has proven Mr Castro’s belief.  My colleagues on your Committee have written a report to the AGM that gives more detail which I urge you to read.  There will also be an opportunity to learn more at this meeting.  However, there is one more very important aspect that I need to put into print so that there can be no doubt or misunderstanding.

There was a meeting called by WimPen/Onagrup last May (2018) inviting the Escritura owners of the resort and the Development Owners Association (DOA) responsible for the upkeep of the Common Parts.  The Club, owners of around 85% of the resort, were not invited.  I, as your Chairman attended the meeting as a proxy holder for an Escritura owner.  I was prevented from speaking many times by Mr Roger Barrow as the chairman of the meeting but I did manage to explain that the Club had instructed me to use the Club’s votes at the meeting.  Mr Barrow refused to allow the Club to vote.  Why Mr Barrow?  Mr Barrow was elected at the meeting by the Escritura votes only to be President, replacing Mr Pengelly.  It is also worth noting that WimPen/Onagrup canvased a majority of votes in their own right.  This of course meant that they controlled the voting, allowing them to vote themselves in for a six year term as the Administrator for the DOA.  Suffice to say that we have challenged this.

The Spanish Statutes, to which the DOA has to run the common areas of the resort, are clear that the President is the responsible person for the DOA.  Mr Barrow is therefore responsible for ensuring that the Administrator acts appropriately, within the rules and the law.  At the court hearing in Tenerife on 10 December 2018 (this is the one I mentioned earlier instructing WimPen/Onagrup not to collect members fees) the WimPen/Onagrup  lawyer repeatedly argued to the Judge that WimPen/Onagrup could not be held responsible for collecting the fees as they were only acting on the instructions of Mr Roger Barrow as President of the DOA.  Since then, not unexpectedly, Wimpen/Onagrup have appealed against the court decision for them to stop invoicing members.  WimPen/Onagrup continue to argue that it is not them to blame as they are still taking instructions from Mr Roger Barrow.  I now have a copy of the papers submitted to the Appeal Court by WimPen/Onagrup.  I quote word for word:

It is true that some rights of use have been suspended because of late payment, when the viability of Los Claveles is compromised.

Although it must be specified that it is the responsibility of the Los Claveles Owners Community, as it is them who take on the unitary management of the complex, and this is allowed by statute (Article 4.1, document 2 of the response to claim).

But, in no case, does it correspond to WimPen Leisure Management, SA, as such authority is not included among its powers and functions of management, according to article 8 of the Statutes of the Association of Owners Los Claveles and article 11 and 12 of the statutes of the Los Claveles Proprietors Community (documents numbers 1 and 2 respectively of the answer to the claim.)”

Further, I quote word for word:

“There has been some temporary suspension of the personal right of the member of the Club for late payments, as in the case of any other delinquent user of the complex, but by the LOS CLAVELES OWNERS COMMUNITY.  WIMPEN LEISURE MANAGEMENT, S.A. is not competent to do so, as has been stated in the seventh claim of this appeal.”

Simply, to cut through the legal jargon, WimPen/Onagrup continue to deny any responsibility for demanding and collecting fees and preventing access to apartments as they only do so on the instructions of Mr Roger Barrow as President of the DOA and Escritura.

My view is that throughout this protracted dispute your Committee, and a group of hard working members, have worked extremely hard and with integrity.  They will continue to do so as long as that is your wish.  You, the members have suffered for too long and won too many victories to even contemplate giving in to bullies.  However, that is your decision.  I expect that you will express your wishes at this AGM.
If you cannot attend the meeting then please complete and return the Attendance/ Proxy Form.  Your vote will then be counted.
Your Attendance/Proxy Form must be returned to:
The Chairman, Club Los Claveles, 98 Bleak Hill Road, Erdington, Birmingham, B23 7BT.  UK.
The form must reach the above address 48 hours prior to the meeting, i.e. by 11am BST on Thursday 25th April 2019.  Any form not dealt with in this way cannot be counted.  (See guidance notes enclosed)
I extend my very best wishes for a successful meeting and I invite you to make your views known beforehand by leaving your comments below or emailing them to me to publish on the website chairman@losclavelesowners.eu 
 
Your Chairman,
 
 AEJF Signature
 
Albert Fletcher
Chairman, Club Los Claveles
Enclosed Documents:

Agenda
Agenda Explanatory Notes
Committee Report
Club Minutes 2018 AGM
Nomination for Committee
Finance Report
Resolutions 8, 9 & 10
Attendance/Proxy Form
Guidance for Completing Attendance/Proxy Form

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