Reader's question: What's this about a new 'cadastral evaluation'?

JIMENA (Via e-mail) First I new that I had a problem was when I tried to use my cash card at the bank and found that I had no funds available! Checked with the bank and found I had an embargo on my account placed by Junta Andalucía. Called into the tax office opposite the town hall and they checked on their computer and advised me that it was an unpaid tax bill for a property I had purchased 4 years earlier and included tax, administration charge and a fine, they printed of the information that was available to them and also gave me an office to contact in San Roque for more details. I then met up with the Notary who administered my original purchase complete with all my documents relating to the sale including the escitura, invoices and receipts from the notary and my NIE certificate and passport! The Notary phoned the tax office in San Roque and found out that Junta Andalucía had reviewed the Cadastral value of my property and set it at a significantly higher figure than the price I paid... (the house was a complete wreck... uninhabitable)! The tax bill was for the difference in the tax I had paid when I purchased the property and the "new" cadastral value. The Notary advised me that this is a common occurrence at the moment an not just limited to Jimena and ex pats!!

I will get some legal advice on my chances of getting the cadastral value reduced but from feedback from other affected individuals I think my chances are very slim. So something else to consider when you purchase a property in Andalucía!!!!

Questions for my solicitor.....

1/ How long after a purchase can they revalue and claim the tax difference? 

2/ How is the cadastral value calculated and why is it not done at the time of purchase?

3/ Why have I been fined?

Why will one of Jimena's three banks have to close?

Jimena branches

News yesterday confirmed that three months' worth of negotiation has ended with an agreed share swap whereby Banca Cívica is taken over by CaixaBank. Banca Cívica owns Cajasol since a previous rush to convert and conjoin building societies into banks. La Caixa became CaixaBank in the aforesaid M&S panic. Jimena has a branch of each. The question, alas, is which one is going to be closed, and will we know any of the faces taking over? The same will apply wherever there is a duplication of these two entities. Sadly, unemployment looms for many people in the banking business - more likely, of course, in the lower echelons without golden parachutes.

Why does it take three trips to pay for a single water bill?

Arcgisa head office, Los Barrios

JIMENA (and possibly elsewhere in the Campo) Considering we're in the 21st century and in the age of Internet, it is difficult to understand why we have to make three trips on three different days to pay a single water bill. Here's the procedure if you don't have your bill on direct debit: 1. You get a bill through the post. 2. You turn up at the Arcgisa office in Jimena (open only on Wed and Fri from 9am - 1.30pm) where you get two recibos ('receipt', one for you and one for the bank) and are told to pay it at Cajasol (soon to be renamed Banca Civica, by the way) 3. You head for the bank, where you're told you can only pay the bill on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8.30 to 10am. 4. You go home in a fury and have to come back the next day. 5. Having stood in the queue at the bank to pay, you now have to take the signed and stamped recibo back to the Arcgisa office - but you can only do that on another day. TOTAL: three separate trips on three separate days! What happened to the concept of service? Or coordination, even? The only possible reason we can think of is a desperate effort to have all our bills paid by direct debit for the convenience and profit of the entities involved - not, of course, for the paying customer.

La Caixa makes a donation to La Estrella

One of JimenaPulse's favourite local charities, La Estrella del Regüé, has received a €1000 cheque from the Jimena office of La Caixa. In the photo is manager Alberto Piña with La Estrella's President Cati Ledesma and VP Pepi Vallecillo. The money will go towards the activities carried out by La Estrella, such as psychological support, physiotherapy and rehabilitation of the youngsters of the organization. The donation is made through La Caixa's Obra Social programme, whereby 25% of the institution's profits are destined to charitable work. (See more on La Estrella on the old JimenaPulse -  50+ entries. For a summary of their activities see below.)

Bank card commissions up since January

According to Spain's central bank, Banco de España, banks and building societies have raised the costs we pay for our debit, or cash, cards by 7.9% so far this year, while credit card costs have increased by 6.56%.The cost of a debit card is now averaging €16.66 per year and that of maintaining a credit card is €33.30. These commissions do not include interest rates paid. The increase is even higher when compared to costs of September last year. Debit cards then cost €14.57 and credit cards €30.48, an annual increase of 14.34% and 9.25% in a year. Average maintenance charges are now the highest in four years, when cash cards cost €10.66 and credit cards €22.44 in 2005.