Choosing your legal representative in Spain can be complex. You want some one that speaks your language and understands your culture but also you need some one who can work effectively in the Spanish legal framework. To help you make your choice, consider these questions:

Q. Does your lawyer speak your language? Do they understand the differences in the UK and Spanish legal systems? The best choice is a firm where there are English and Spanish lawyers working together. Also, ask for evidence of UK training if a Spanish lawyer says they are a solicitor.

Q. Has the firm been established for a long time? Are they a respected and credible law firm? There are new firms springing up all the time, but very few can boast a history dating back over a quarter of a century. Look for an established firm, which is well respected by the community, the judiciary and the tax authorities.

Q. Does the law firm have specialists? Law is a highly complex field; for example Wills and Probate is very different to Family Law or Property Law. Make sure you have an expert looking after you.

De Cotta, McKenna & Santafé stands out in southern Spain as one of the most experienced law firms. Established over 25 years ago, their services include: Property, Planning & Conveyancing; Wills, Probate & Tax; Family & Divorce; Personal Injury; Commercial, Timeshare & Fractionals; as well as Civil & Criminal Litigation.

Friendly English and Spanish Team

The friendly and experienced team in Nerja are available for private consultations. The team is headed by Sandra Wrightson, one of Spain’s acknowledged specialists in Family Law, Timeshare and International Law. Fellow partner, Jon Sutton is also available for expert counsel on Wills, Probate and Personal Injury.

Reyes Gomez Llorente and Francisco Martin are amongst the firm’s highly skilled Spanish abogados in Nerja, assuring all De Cotta clients the most expert service in all areas of Spanish law, especially urban and rural property; Timeshare, Divorce as well as international law.

5 Regional Offices – De Cotta Law has offices in Nerja, Granada, Coín, Mijas-Costa and Tenerife offer one of the best legal networks, staffed by highly experienced English lawyers and Spanish abogados.

International Scope – In addition, the firm’s expertise is international, working closely with their UK and global network of associates, clients are assured seamless service on all issues such as Wills & Probate; Family Law, including divorce and child abduction; Property, including Timeshare and buying and selling permanent and holiday homes.

Multi-lingual – The team is multi-lingual and in Nerja alone boasts some of the coast’s most experiences lawyers speaking English, Spanish, Danish, Dutch and Italian.

Private Consultations

To find out about the firm’s ‘Open House’ on April 27th, where over free

refreshments, snacks and, in the

afternoon, cheese and wine you can meet the team, and have a free consultation – simply email:

 nerjaenquiries@decottalaw.net

or call 952 527 014.

Here’s The Sentinella Axarquia magazine of March 2011. Click on it below and turn the pages, just like you would as if it were a physical magazine!

To advertise in the May 2011 edition call Kami on 664 210 468 before April 15th, or email sales@thesentinella.com

Here’s The Sentinella Axarquia magazine of March 2011. Click on it below and turn the pages, just like you would as if it were a physical magazine!

To advertise in the April 2011 edition call Kami on 664 210 468 before March 15th, or email sales@thesentinella.com

Accidents and other unforeseen happenings are not the first thing on your mind when planning a holiday or entertaining your family at a holiday home, but nagging doubts often linger particularly when you have young children.

Pool safety is top of most parents’ list and after looking at figures published by ROSPA on child drownings when on holiday, deservedly so. In France the problem has been tackled with swingeing penalties for pool owners who do not comply with the law to make all pools secure for young children.

The fine for owners who do not comply is 45,000€ for private pools and up to 225,000€ for shared pools. There are suggestions that these same laws will be adopted by other countries including Spain but let us be under no illusions, simply complying with the law doesn’t guarantee safety.

There are five main types of protection: rigid pool shelters, covers, electronic perimeter alarms, immersion alarms, and fencing. Covers create work putting them on and off and tend to be left off. Perimeter alarms give only marginally more notice of a child crossing the beam before falling in than electronic alarms, which only work when a person falls into the water. If no-one is nearby to assist, they are rendered useless. Fencing with self-closing gates tend to work best but as with any safety measure, cannot be assumed to be foolproof. Vigilance by parents is essential.

ROSPA point out that drownings on holiday tend to happen more frequently at the beginning and end of the holiday. Why is not obvious, but maybe influenced by the inquisitiveness of children on arrival and parents being busy packing before leaving.

Swimming pools are not the only danger on holiday, and like at home there are always potential problems around the house and gardens.

Self closing gates at Cantueso with child proof catches.

At Restaurante Cantueso in Periana, they have 10 self catering cottages with a large swimming pool and have taken steps to minimise dangers not only with a high specification pool fence but have also adapted some of the cottages to make them more child friendly with stair gates where needed, bed guards, electric socket protectors, elimination of dangerous chemicals, and enclosed terraces to enable toddlers to play within a secure area. More about this can be seen on their website: http://www.cantueso.net/wordpress/tots-to-teens/ or you can watch a short video which shows how they have made sure the fenced pool has landscaped gardens to lessen the visual impact. http://www.cantueso.net/wordpress/cottages/

Travel companies have been curiously slow to catch on to the needs of travellers and all too few give you a search option of “secure pool” but if you look around you can normally find one that does.

An excellent NHS website regarding summer safety for children can be found here:

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Summerhealth/Pages/Childsafety.aspx

“Summer is a great time for children to get out and experience the world around them,” says Peter Cornall, head of leisure safety at RoSPA. “You do need to be aware of safety issues, but this isn’t a reason to stop children enjoying activities.”

The website emphasises, as we all should, the importance of letting children have fun and not to get too obsessed with being as safe as possible, rather than as safe as necessary. 

Here’s The Sentinella Axarquia magazine of February 2011. Click on it below and turn the pages, just like you would as if it were a physical magazine!

To advertise in the March 2011 edition call Kami on 664 210 468 before February 15th, or email sales@thesentinella.com

Boulder Walling

Boulder walling is a common feature here in Andalusia mainly used as a retaining wall. They can be an attractive feature and relatively inexpensive to build when compared to other walling types, which is why they are so ubiquitous.

So far so good! The question is, why do so many of them fall down?

The problem stems from the fact that the builder does not fully understand the land structure were the wall is erected.

Boulder walls are just dry-stone walls on a larger scale. Dry-stone walls are classed as gravity walls. They rely on the principal that the weight of the wall itself maintains the horizontal pressure necessary to maintain strength and integrity in the wall.

If you look at large boulder walls closely you will notice that any given boulder is only touching its neighbour in four or five places and so there is very little structural strength in the wall. They tend to be built only two or three boulders deep, (when they should be four or five). The problem with this is that if one boulder moves the adjoining boulders will also move and the wall will come tumbling down like stacked cards.

The reason they are prone to move is that they are often back filled with the soil that was excavated to build the wall, instead of aggregates.  This soil often leaches through the wall leaving a cavity behind it and with the weight of the wall a boulder will slip. They tend not to be built on a reinforced concrete footing and the weight of the wall is not spread out and movement can occur. There is also ground movement during the summer months when the ground contracts and in the winter when it expands with water retention. So there are three factors occurring, land movement through contraction and expansion and the soil leaching through the wall, added to the fact that we live in a earthquake zone all adds up to a very glaringly obvious fact…they are not safe.

Which is why you will never see them built in any other country (were planning restrictions are more thoroughly controlled). Stone block walling is different as there is more friction acting to give strength.

LT Construction should be your first choice in deciding on which approach to take in designing a retaining wall. Please contact LT Construction to make sure you get this most important element of a garden designed and built well. http://www.ltconstruction.es/press/

The Sentinella Axarquia New Year edition (Jan 2011) is now out! Flick through the pages below and see in the New Year with a giggle

To advertise in the Feb 11 edition email Kami on sales@thesentinella.com or call 664 210 468 before January 15th.

Happy Christmas everybody! Click on the magazine below to read our Christmas special edition…

To advertise in the January 2011 edition call Kami on 664 210 468 or email sales@thesentinella.com before December 15th.

Sponsored by De Cotta McKenna y Santafé

Riogordo Galería celebrates it’s first year.