Looking for somewhere special to live in Spain ? Look no further

Reasons why Spanish mainland provided all the options

So let me raise a few reasons we love living in this beautiful country and why the area we live in Spain ticks so many boxes, far more than we ever envisaged when we moved here

My family are from Poole Dorset and since the late 1960's early 1970s for many people from Poole & Bournemouth annual holidays to Spain often meant a Palmair trip (locally operated air carrier) to Mallorca. The reason for this was that Bournemouth had its own airport and since the 1960s Palmair was a wonderful service to Palma de Mallorca with a great hotel network. So in the footsteps of our grandparents and parents our happy holiday memories were of holidays in the Balearics . So it's no surprise that we dreamed of living there.

As a family we often chatted about living abroad on the Mediterranean sea and regularly suggested to my wife that we consider living in Spain . We began exploring our options starting with Mallorca.

Despite my love for Mallorca, my realization was that Spain was a vast tapestry of Historic Cities and contrasting scenery and we decided that to make a move and be constricted to a holiday island was not what we wanted. Over the 5 years of planning we made many visits to mainland Spain and enjoyed great Road trips through Northern Spain wending our way South and down along Spain's Southern Coasts. We had discounted Almeria as too dry arid and dusty and North of Barcelona was stunning but too quiet and isolated. We liked Javea & Moreira areas but my wife who was tasked to investigate the children's schooling could not be convinced. It was as a result of one of my lads golf trips to Spain that we found out about Sotogrande. I returned home saying that I had stayed in the Almenara hotel and had found a place that was stunningly green, a private estate surrounded by mountains sea river lakes and forests.

My wife started looking into the International School and liked what she found out. (picture of Sotogrande International School)

Over the next few years we traveled many times for holidays and loved coming here particularly when we started to make friends. I would play golf the children loved horse riding and my wife enjoyed the sun. We also liked coming here and exploring villages and towns nearby and soon we discovered the culture history and gastronomy of the Spanish cities. From our base in Sotogrande we would often head off for an overnight stay in Jerez, Seville, Cadiz and Malaga all within a 2 hour easy Road journey. Sophisticated Cities buzzing day and night all on our door step. Sotogrande is Europes largest upmarket private community that we often describe as a bubble. No traffic congestion, beautiful surroundings, wonderful climate and immaculately maintained. The estate has 24/7 security and traffic in and out is monitored and checked on CCTV.

Since living here enjoying Sotogrande we often travel all over Spain and even Portugal only 4 hours drive. In the winter a favorite family half term trip is 1 hour 45 minute up to Sierra Nevada for the skiing. At half term in February you meet half of Sotogrande there. Sierra Nevada is the highest ski resort in Europe and every year I will do several day trips up there with mates . There can be snow there right up until late April

For my wife the Sotogrande area was a great mix of English European and Spanish where she would not feel isolated she even pops into Gibraltar a couple of times a month for her English shop. For me Sotogrande is a very social community where I am spoiled for golf and other active outdoor lifestyle a secure community where the weather lends itself to boating cycling, fishing, racquet sports and hiking. I also love the diversity of the wild life that surrounds Sotogrande.

We have lived here for nearly 9 years and to this day there is no going back. The community we live in is all about meeting up with friends at the beach or at sporting venues or socially and there is always lots going on. We love the lifestyle in Sotogrande but its also great at a drop of a hat to head for the long weekend break to a Spanish city. Our location is perfect as it offers us so many choices and its having these choices that has made our move to Spain so perfect.

Click on this further summary Sotogrande in brief to find out more

Article by Francis Payne

www.tailormadesotogrande.com

Spains best kept secret if you like sophisticated lifestyle in unspoilt surroundings

Spains best kept secret

I wanted to write something brief which sums up this beautiful location in Southern Spain.



Sotogrande is located on the western edge of the "Costa del Sol" just outside the province of Malaga. The Sotogrande estate is approximately 40 minutes drive west of Marbella and 20 minutes from Estepona.



Also in close proximity is Gibraltar and many Sotogrande residents work on Gibraltar or live in Gibraltar and have holiday homes in Sotogrande. My wife likes to pop over there simply for the occasional British shop, its a comfort thing.



Often when the TV flashes up the luxury lifestyle  in Spain the eating drinking dancing are normally images of Marbella. However many of the images that are used of Marbella are infact Sotogrande. Its annoying to a Sotogrande estate agents when the press show stunning scenery shots are shown alongside party people enjoying life in the sun and state its Marbella. All the Polo, Our port scenes, beach scenes, mountains forests are not Marbella. Sotogrande is very unspoilt with no high rise development and no traffic congestion.

Marbella has become over developed crowded and congested and often traffic grinds to a standstill.



All too often those beautiful scenes are photo shots of Sotogrande. The word Sotogrande means "a large wooded area" and that is exactly what it was. A vast valley chosen for its natural beauty and wonderful scenery. The gated community is possibly the largest private upmarket estate in Europe.

Sotogrande is roughly 4 kms wide x 8kms deep and is surrounded by a mountains, native forest and sandy beach's and there is even a large river running through the heart of the estate. Sotogrande has its own Port, an upmarket marina, 7 golf courses within 5 minutes of each other 4 of which are in the top 10 for Spain. There are two tennis centres, 2 International Equestrian centres and two beautiful beach clubs and a great international Polo scene with 10 local polo clubs in close vicinity.

Security is good and  Securitas control entry gates and cctv in and out of the walled estate with regular patrols and are on call 24/7 if needed or worried



Sotogrande is not a mass tourism destination and whilst tourists do come to Sotogrande the main residents are the full time dwellers and the second home visitors with many of the latter often choosing to live here more often than not. For me Sotogrande is wonderful because there is a good community its a place where new faces are readily accepted. Join a few clubs get the kids involved in a few activities and in no time your social life will rocket. The International school is at the heart of Sotogrande as without a good school this place would become a faceless holiday destination. The schools reputation has often been the decider for any parents who maybe concerned at any move that may affect there children's education. With nearly 700 children at the school that's a lot of families all involved in community the life .



A quick drive around Sotogrande is no way to find out what this location has to offer, its so spread out that its impossible to take it in on a single day trip. People who do a day trip may comment that the area is very quiet and maybe too quiet for them. I would respond by explaining that in Sotogrande its not always the most obvious locations where people gather and meet. There is a lot going on here socially and the people who live here are very open and welcoming the key is to make a couple of friends whether its from chatting to other parents while waiting on your childrens activities or your own involvement in golf tennis boating fishing etc and from there you quickly will start to know and understand Sotogrande.

When searching online for Sotogrande via web portals please note that we are on the western fringe of the Costa del Sol infact we are 1km outside the boundary. So property websites such as rightmove overseas, zoopla abroad do not include Sotogrande in a search of Costa del Sol. Its annoying for an estate agent as mentally we are considered part of the Costa del Sol lifestyle yet factually we fall just outside the boundary being in Cadiz province and technically Costa del Luz.



Sotogrande 1 hour 10 minutes Malaga airport, 30 minutes Gibraltar airport



Article by Francis Payne



Tailor Made estate agents based in Sotogrande Port. 



www.tailormadesotogrande.com

Find out more on our Google plus page follow the link Tailor Made Google plus

Golf front villa is located in one of Spains best kept secrets

A golf front luxury villa for sale in Sotogrande Spain

To see this on our web page click VILLA SOTOGRANDE ALTO

Tailor Made estate agents Spain

Buy this property in Sotogrande Spain call Formentera Sotogrande Alto

a GREAT holiday Idea for Spain. What do you think about this great suggestion ?

The two most recent rentals to northern Europeans looking for holiday homes in the sun

My first couple are from Scotland Jim and Karen retired and spent many years traveling and seeing the world. The big attraction for Jim in Sotogrande was golf. He is a golf fanatic and loves playing the best courses all over the world. His favorites here are San Roque new, La Reserva and Sotogrande Real. Karen loves great scenery and peace and quiet and she also doesn't like driving in Spain so finding Sotogrande she found a location with wide Avenidas no congestion and a place where driving was easy within the estate.

Tailor Made rented them a 3 bedroom penthouse apartment on the marina very close to beach and the Old Port for 900 euros per month on a 9 month renewable contract. Their intention is to regularly visit and bring family and close friends with them, although I know Jim sees it as great opportunity to sneak out a few long weekends with his golf buddies.

Danish couple Aleksander & Agnete arrived two years ago looking to Ride Horses Agnete loves dressage and Aleksander loves tennis.Over the last 12 months they have spent a lot on regular hotel stays. Both decided that they could not indulge their passions enough in Denmark and they wanted a more permanant base in Spain so have rented a 2 bed port apartment 850,00 euros per month for 6 months the owner will take the apartment back in July August and they will return in November. Aleksander is in iT so can work from any location and has made his decision now because the marina in Sotogrande has the blue fibre optic fast internet which he needs for video conferencing and meetings online.They anticipate being here at least 5 months of the year

Long term holiday renting is on the up with rising costs of hotels at peak season people are finding by renting an apartment between two families or with other family members they can really get to know the area they enjoy and get more involved with local people with similar interests.

Here is a current rental property available in the marina within 100 meters of the beach. Waterside Apartment Sotogrande Spain

Rental property with Tailor Made estate agents

A lifestyle to die for is on offer here Waterside living at its best

You have made the decision to leave the cold and rain behind and live in Spain

The question is then where to live. For those seeking waterside living Spain offers many options, however whilst many marina port developmentslook attractive and similar the question you need to ask is whether there is a nice community that lives there.

Puerto Banus - Marbella sounds upmarket but for those that live here the location is pure and simply a tourist trap living on a reputation glam glitz reputation that has long been lost. These days its a hen and stag destination a party location surrounded by all the usual problems you would expect from locations such as Magaluf,Kavos and Playa de las Americas Tenerife.

Many other marinas in and around the Costa Del Sol offer much better affordable options for expats looking to live on the waters edge and seeking that better lifestyle. The first thing to establish is whether the community that live there would suit the lifestyle you are looking for. Nothing worst than buying into a marina port community to find that you cannot cope with the surrounding nightlife.

Sotogrande Port and Marina is one of Spains best kept secrets that so far has avoided the tourist trap. The majority of people that buy here live here or are second home owners. In Sotogrande you will find a mix of wealthy expats and well heeled Spanish.

This marina is a small part of this upmarket Spanish estate, one of the largest private gated communities in Europe. Yet surprisingly property here is still affordable. A good example is the marina waterside apartment on the market for sale for 390.000,00 euros

For this price you will buy a 3 bed 3 bath apartment marble floor airconditioning with waterfront balcony terrace not far from beach restaurants and bars. Most bars restaurants are centered around the old Port a few minutes walk away. The property market here in Sotogrande has been picking up but prices are not as high as most expect for such a great location on the western side of the Costa Del Sol.

So if you love the sun the Sea, Golf, Tennis,Sailing, Fishing or even Polo take a trip to Sotogrande and spend a few days or more finding out just what a wonderful place this is

Alternatively you could always consider trying the area before you buy. Waterside apartments rent long term from around 800,00 euros per month having said that they usually go for a little more and the average rental on offer is 1000 pm. Demand is high so make sure that the agent you approach can actually show you the apartment that has caught your eye. Too many agents here never update their website's and people come believing their is a glut of rentals only to be disappointed. Now with strong GBP Sterling many people who work in Gibraltar prefer to rent and live in Sotogrande, Spain .

To see the apartment featured click on this link Waterside Apartment in Sotogrande Spain Nearest Airport Gibraltar 25 minutes away or Malaga just over 1 hours drive

Find Sotogrande on our map click on MAP

School Results Sotogrande International school IB and response to my complaint from IBO

MY IBO COMPLAINT YR END 2015 My daughter attended Sotogrande international school for just over 8 years and during that time we have been very happy with her development and her enthusiastic approach to learning and wanting to do well.

However some serious downgrading on course work by external examiners seemed to totally contradict marks given by a number of teachers. My wife spoke emailed and dealt with the school over the summer and I took it upon myself to tackle the IBO making a formal complaint about the level of discrepancy between two of their experienced examiners (one who marked my daughters work as a teacher) who marked the same piece of course work 6 and the external examiner giving it a 3.

There have been many exchange of emails between myself and the IBO over the last few months but i have copied and pasted the two most relevant please read below.

International Baccalaureate discrepancies reveal problems My daughter recently completed her school year and was disappointed with the 35 points she achieved 4 below predicted. She was figuring exams didnt go that well. However on finding out exam results were good she was horrified to find out the low marks had come from the course work.

'That cannot be she announced my course work was graded quite high by my teacher'

So here you have a student who worked hard under what we believed was good tutelage and submitted her course work well in time allowing herself the possibility to make amendments if deemed necessary. The teacher made recommendations and adjustments were made and 6 points were awarded by the tutor. This equates to an A. The said work was submitted to the IB for the examiner to mark and the examiner awarded a 3. The result was complete shock for all of us. How can a teacher who also is an IB examiner get it so wrong and if the teacher did get it wrong who has failed. In my daughters words 'Had I any inkling that the work was to be scored so low i would have stayed up day and night to improve it. Instead we trust our teachers to know the standards required'

The teacher an experienced IB examiner is totally bemused and in his response to head of secondary replied 'i am well aware of the standards required to do well and would not dream of submitting work of Level .. 3 standard'

Here is an extract from IBO where school is questioning the whopping gap between the marking

'I do not believe there is enough evidence to suggest the marking of the essays are incorrect and warrant a re-mark and unfortunately we do not offer a re-mark service for individual components. In order that we can resolve any injustices in the final grades awarded to candidates, we offer the category 1 EUR service to schools (re-marks). As you are aware this service involves a candidate's externally-assessed components being re-marked by the most senior examiners available to ensure that the grade upon re-marking is fair and correct. If you feel that the grade awarded to any of your candidates is incorrect, I would advise you to request a category 1 re-mark of their work. You will not be charged if the re-mark results in a change of grade.'

We feel very agrieved by this situation as if the teachers get it so wrong its the student that suffers. Surely the IBO should be looking at Teachers own marks for course work done and where such huge discrepancies exist a formal inquiry should be set in place. My daughter is 2 marks short of either University due to her course work that she was told was excellent

I have tweeted my disdain over this situation on the IBO twitter page many times in last 2 weeks. Its very frustrating and annoying and you have to ask who has failed the pupil is it the teacher or the system. Whatever way you look at it the student has been duped by the system.

Our youngest is just starting secondary so it maybe a good time to bail out of International Baccalaureate system

The final email (there were many more between these) is below

Dear Francis, Your complaint has been forwarded to me to respond to as Head of Assessment Principles and Practice.

I appreciate that your concern is now about the apparent difference in marking standard between two of our examiners, and so I will discuss that issue. If you would like to discuss your daughters grade then please let me know.

I completely agree with you that we need to be confident that students will get the same outcome whichever of our examiners marks their work. Occasionally when a candidate is borderline between two grades then we may have a situation where 1 mark difference between examiners results in a different grade, but that is substantially different to the situation who are describing when two examiners have very different views of the quality of students work.

If I may I would like to explain the approach the IB takes to examiner reliability, which is the technical term used to describe the concern you raise. We have two different approaches to monitoring that examiners are marking to the correct standard, “seeding” and moderation. We are currently moving away from the moderation approach to what we call “dynamic sampling” which has many of the advantages of the “seeding” approach.

With “seeding” we ask the examiner to show that they have a good understanding of the correct standard by marking a number of “qualification scripts.” These have already been marked by the Principal Examiner (who sets the correct standard) and so we can compare their marks with those of the Principal to check they are accurate. They then start marking candidates work, but every 10 scripts or so we give them a “seed” which the Principal Examiner has already marked so that we can check they are still working to the correct standard. This means we can immediately stop any examiner we are concerned about.

For teacher marked internal assessment and a few essay based tasks, including the literature written assignment, we are currently using a moderation approach. This means that we provide examiners with clear guidance and examples of the marking standard but do not have a “qualification” process before they start. Instead we collect a sample of their marking and have it remarked by a senior examiner. By comparing the two sets of marks we decide whether we can accept the marks, need to remark all of the student scripts that they have done or whether a mathematical calculation can be made to bring them in line with the Principal Examiner.

As an example of the latter case, if we know that one examiner is always 5 marks more generous than the Principal Examiner, but is very consistent in always being that generous we would simply reduce their marks by that amount. This means that all candidates would get the same outcome whether marked by the “generous” examiner or the Principal Examiner.

If there is no clear pattern when we look at the examiners “moderation sample” we will simply remark all of their work, and we do this every session. If however a particular examiner is consistently harsh or generous in their decisions we can still get a reliable result by applying this correction factor. I agree that a better solution is to monitor the examiner as they carry out their marking (i.e. the seeding approach) to make sure they match the Principal Examiners standard and this is what dynamic sampling will allow us to do.

Neither approach can identify an occasion when an examiner marks one particular script incorrectly, but the rest of the scripts in line with our expectations. We do identify candidates who are receiving an overall grade which is radically different to their predicted grade and endeavour to have these reviewed by a senior examiner. We call this the “at risk” process and typically review candidate work which is two grades below their predicted grade. We also have the EUR process as a final opportunity for schools to bring such cases to our attention.

It is not appropriate for me to disclose the performance of specific examiners with you, and so I am not able to provide evidence to expand on the particular case you raise – however I would reiterate that I agree with you that a 3 grade difference of opinion would be cause for concern and justify further investigation. As you acknowledge it is not appropriate for us to ask a teacher to mark their own students work, but our experience is that even examiners who are very reliable markers find it difficult not to be influenced by their wider knowledge of the candidates when marking their own students. It is not uncommon for senior examiners to have a correction factor applied to their IA marks, sometime to correct over generous marking sometimes to correct marks that are too harsh.

I hope this response will provide you with some confidence that the IB takes the reliability of marking very seriously and are continually monitoring and looking to improve. If you would like me to expand on any of these points, or explain part of the system further I would be very happy to do so.

Regards

Matt

Dr Matt Glanville, Head of Assessment Principles and Practice International Baccalaureate Organization (UK) Limited

IB Assessment Centre

Peterson House, Malthouse Avenue, Cardiff Gate

Cardiff, CF23 8GL, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 29 2054 7818 | Fax: +44 29 2054 7703

Spanish Agents - Estate Agents you gotta hate them or just go in prepared

BEWARE

or should that be

BE-WARE

12 things to avoid when property hunting in Sotogrande Spain

(Applies to Spain generally)

• The agent whose website has 100’s property most of which are no longer on the market

• Estate Agents that show you lots of property you are not interested in

• Estate Agents who forget you are even coming

• Estate Agents that still show Illegal property

• Estate Agents that show you blighted property

• The bankrupt Estate Agent that’s desperate and very pushy

• The part time have a go Estate Agent that does not know the market

• People who claim to be experienced property agents who are not

• Estate Agents who work out of a car & have no base

• Estate Agents who book you too many appointments simply to stop you going elsewhere

• The notorious dodgy Estate Agents there are plenty in Spain

• The estate agent that when you arrive does not speak your language

This list may sound silly but 70% of people who come to Spain to look at property will run into problems due to one of the above or even several of the above. So often client’s looking at property on websites arrive here expecting to see 20 homes and find out that most of the website are old listings.

Why Our Bespoke Service will save you time and money

As an agency Tailor Made source property based on your exacting requirements . You tell us what you want or send web-links of property you like. Tailor Made offer our clients a finding service at no cost to you the buyer.

Tailor Made estates will source your requirements directly from good local Agents and evaluate each property with you long before you arrive to view.

When you do arrive we will chauffeur you to meet each estate agent at each property and after the viewings a coffee to discuss what we have seen and consider values.

Our clients then receive the benefit of our specialist negotiating skills in order to buy property at the price you want to pay that is not way over the going rate.Think about it if you went direct to an agent that agent is being paid by and is working for the owner

To start the process put us to the Test

We ask you to find a property in or around Sotogrande and send us the link and we will provide our evaluation and response

Let just recap - By instructing Tailor Made estate agents you will arrive in Spain be collected by us on the day of viewings and only shown property that you are interested in seeing,working to a schedule of timed appointments and dealing with good agents.

Easy reliable and efficient use of your time and it will not cost you a penny.

Finally at the end of your inspections you have someone to analyze what you have seen and an agent that will work hard to negotiate the best price.

At Tailor Made estates we speak English & Spanish and have good connections through family and personal experience of local golf, International School,Boating,Tennis as well as other family hoobies and sports

Tailor Made estates Sotogrande www.tailormadesotogrande.com

Tailor Made estate agents . Office in UK www.tmea.biz

The Sotogrande urbanization of La Loma affordable & so much to offer

La Loma de Sotogrande

This urbanization is located inside the Sotogrande estate. It is very central being part of Sotogrande Costa and minutes from the beach. Sotogrande itself is one of Europes largest upmarket private estates a haven where well heeled Spanish rub shoulders in a very friendly community of wealthy European expats. The main reason for the success of this community is that there is a very popular school at the heart of it for children from 3 to 18 yrs of age. Hence many families live here full time enjoying the many upmarket facilities and sports and surrounded by stunning Andalucian Countryside. Sotogrande does not have the congestion and over building that one see's in Marbella 40 minutes east of us.

La Loma is well known to all of us who have children that have grown up here. It is one of the children's first steps towards gaining a little bit of independence & some short lived stress for parents. It was only a few years ago we as parent buckled under the daily requests 'dad dad can i go to La Loma today' the reply in the early stages was often a NO! but guess what as you would expect our child was the only one not allowed to go (that old chestnut). Anyway we started to relent and were often dropping off then collecting again after couple hours. We soon realised it was a lovely bunch of kids meeting up there to mess about in the acres of parkland that surrounds La Lomna. The kids also had a good number of friends who lived there so as well as the park our kids meet up to swim and play tennis. Much healthier past times than hanging around the local village shops which is the next stage of growing up in Sotogrande.

The picture shows a typical style La Loma Town House

I would add that the park area is large enough that the groups of children are often tucked away and no bother to local residents and for those with children living there it may save you a lot in fuel as we did many a mile dropping off and collecting over a 2 year stretch of children hanging out in the recreation fields.

La Loma itself comprises of several streets of town houses mainly 3 or 4 bedroom although some have joined two houses together. Front gardens are open plan with enclosed rear gardens. Some properties have converted their garages to form added living space. They vary in finishes and I have seen some very dated houses clearly in need of reformation refurbishment whilst others have completely refurbished to a high standard. The properties provide good affordable homes in Sotogrande and whilst many are holiday homes there are a good percentage of permanant residents.

The community is well established and as a result it is properly looked after. At the time of writing this I understand that the tennis Courts are about to be upgraded and the gardens are to be given a wc facility on site.

Looking out toward tennis and park from a La Loma house we have on market Aug 2015

For location it is very central La Loma is about 2 minutes from Paseo del Parque, a 7 minute cycle ride to the beach by Trocadero Beach club, a 5 minute drive to Sotogrande Marina and port. The Shops supermarkets at Pueblo Nuevo village a few minutes drive. The Sotogrande international school is 7 minutes drive Here is a link to a beautifully modernised La Loma home one of the best I have seen La Loma House for sale with Tailor Made estate agents

The luxury apartments of Sotogrande Spain

Sotogrande a beautiful private estate at the entrance to the Mediterranean

The estate is approximately 4 kms wide fronting the Sea and extends inland up a mountain approximately 7kms. A private security gated estate with its own Port and Marina, 2 beach clubs, 2 tennis clubs, 3 hotels,2 equestrian centers, a yacht club and beach on each side. For this article I wanted to concentrate on the 3 residential upmarket apartment developments within Sotogrande.

Whilst there are many apartment urbanizations these three are the ones which offer a more luxurious lifestyle with more spacious living.

Valgrande in Sotogrande Alto (check out the Valgrande community page on Facebook)This community is Possibly my favorite because of its facilities which include an indoor swimming pool and spa, flood lit padel tennis court, a golf practice area. The three free-form community swimming Pool's are stunning and the grounds are manicured to perfection. Many of these apartments enjoy golf course views of San Roque golf or Almenara golf.

The development is walled in with 24/7 manned security and a concierge like administrative office. The apartments themselves are spacious and beautifully fitted, most people love the large balcony terraces. Whilst there are a few 2 bedroom apartments the majority have 3 bedroom 3 bathrooms. For the people that really love space then the 4 bedroom 4 bathroom duplex penthouses are grand living at its best. There are also 4 bedroom 4 bathroom apartments all on one floor with some of the best terrace balconies I have ever come across. The Valgrande apartments are well maintained and well administered and whilst community fees seem high lets reflect on the many facilities that come within that price. The entrance is directly opposite the entrance to world famous Valderrama golf course.

Ribera del Rio apartments This urbanization is just across the Road from Sotogrande's waterway marina. The development fronts the river and across on the opposite bank you will see some pretty impressive riverside villas one belonging to Eddie Jordan of Formula 1 fame. What I like about these apartments is that the grounds are extensive. Beautiful lawns run down to the river edge and in the centre of the lawns a large community swimming Pool hedged in to offer sun bathers some privacy. The apartments themselves are well built. There are two parts to the development.

The smaller apartments 2 or 3 bedrooms are beautifully finished and have great water views. However the apartments in south facing block are larger and offer great living space and the beautiful terrace balconies all have plunge pools. The 4 bedroom apartments are triplex with room on the lower balconies for lounge suites dining tables all can be laid out at a good distance from the pool. Some of the upper balconies have hot tubs superb for star gazing on those hot summer nights. Ribera del Rio is a walled in secure complex in Sotogrande Costa close to Octogano tennis club, almost opposite the yacht club a few minutes riverside walk to the beach so location is wonderful. There is a security gate but the caretaker is there part time and gate is not manned at night.

Polo Gardens This development is built in 2 phases. The apartments directly in front of you as you enter security gate (manned security 24/7) are the larger spacious homes. Minimalistic in design and feel beautiful finishes and very spacious all on one floor with very large patio doors allowing wonderful light to flow into the apartments. Some of the ground floor apartments have walled in gardens and front gardens overlooking Santa Maria Polo with plunge pools.

The quality and finishes here are as good as it gets in Spain. I love the large 4 bedroom apartments on one floor where master suite is huge and love the his and her en-suite bathroom. The downside in this block is that they have built a series of town houses at lower level in front of the block and you look onto the green flat roof of these properties. Space between the various phases of the development is tight. I do like the gymnasium in this development and the sauna steam facility. This property also has a large communal pool and padel tennis court. The development is on Sotogrande Costa and is very popular with Polo lovers due to its proximity to the world famous Santa Maria Polo club.

A naughty Landlord in Sotogrande. Renters be careful

Looking for a rental villa in Sotogrande Interestingly I have now come across two people who have rented off the same Spanish Landlord in Sotogrande who has played the same awful game twice now.Whilst for obvious reasons I cannot give you exact information I know there are lessons to be learnt from this story.

The trick he plays is to initially demand a large deposit. In the first instance 4 months deposit was paid over. The owner hides the problems of the property which is riddled with damp. The tenants move in realizes the walls are ringing wet and they soon turn moldy. This Landlord rarely deals with anything in writing very friendly and prefers verbal arrangements. Within 8 months the tenants hit winter weather and the problems of damp get worst. Various remedies are tried and then the walls cleaned and repainted within 2 months mold is back in the bedrooms. Tenants complain as they do not want to renew tenancy. The Landlord offers a rent reduction for the inconvenience which the tenant unwittingly accepts whilst continuing to complain beyond the expiry date of the fixed term.

The tenant being nice people say they cannot stay any longer and give 3 months notice feeling that a long notice would be generous of them. However the Landlord then demands tenant to leave within 3 weeks telling them he will get major money for summer lets. Tenants being nice people move heaven and earth to be out within the three weeks. They wash down moldy walls they clean the house top to bottom polishing floors and even a fresh coat of pain to many rooms. They video the house as they close the door behind them to go to their next home.

Three months later the Landlord finally announces he will not return the 16k deposit as they left the place in a mess and creates a fictitious list of damages and cleaning. He also tells them that he agreed with them a new 12 month term as from the date the rent was reduced and they must now pay him 18.000,00 euros to the end of the contract this is in addition to keeping the deposit.He denies asking them to leave immediately.

The tenant soon receives a denuncio {court order} to pay a further 18.000,00 in rent. The tenant cannot believe it and spends 10.000,00 euros to defend and counter claim in the San Roque Court. The first shock for the tenant is that they were told in Court photo or video evidence is not accepted by the Court unless a notary was present when film was taken. Second shock for tenant was that he finds out that by accepting a reduced rent to stay on the Court decided a new fixed term had been negotiated. You will recall the Landlord had verbally told him he could stay on a month to month basis during which time the builders would be curing the damp.

The tenant made the mistake of not confirming everything in writing and insisting the owner responded to written requests or arrangements. The awful thing is that I have found out that the same Landlord has played virtually the same game with the next tenants. Beware of this Landlord from Madrid and incredibly the same agency who put the tenants in is still offering the property knowing the history Article by Francis Payne of Tailor Made estate agency www.tailormadesotogrande.com