January 2026 update
Last Updated on Monday, 2 February 2026 05:00 Written by Steve Dent Monday, 2 February 2026 05:00
The Heights
January 2026 update
Presidents comments.
We have had a few comments about reinstating the charges for sunbeds….etc, however after explaining the reasons why, most accepted we needed to do something.
From a previous update, you will have read that the committee have been gathering information on apartments on the complex that are being advertised as holiday lets on .COM websites, and are not known to have a VV license, as you know this is illegal and causes many problems for resident owners. A letter has now been prepared and will be sent out to owners to give them time to respond with the necessary paper work, if they fail to comply, their details will be passed on to the relevant authorities to deal with. You have been warned !!!!!!. I would like to pass on my thanks to the committee who gave the input and wording to get this moving.
If you have a VV licence, please make sure you display it.
Can I remind you ( I know its early days yet), that if you can’t attend this years 2026 AGM in May, please pass your proxy vote to another owner or Etelina at Universal Properties, or me, and not to someone who rents a property on The Heights.
Complex news/ issues/updates.
We had a problem with the exit button for the gate in the postal area, it was giving a continuos bleep and did not lock , as it was a Saturday I did a temporary fix, and Nicanor changed the unit first thing Monday.
Previously we have had problems with B block lift, this time it was C block , a lady was stuck in the lift car on the ground floor and was very distressed, I managed to get her out, but then had a problem with Otis the lift company, accepting the fault as an emergency due to several people on the complex having mobility issues. It seems Otis did not follow the correct procedures for the problem, and the head of Otis is looking at the reason this happened, to make sure it will not happen again in the future.
Universal properties had a mail from an owner, who has had a VV licence plaque vandalised on the wall next to her front door, and wanted CCTV footage of the area, we do not have cameras that look down corridors of the apartments, so unfortunately it was not possible to comply, however we do not want vandals on our complex, this behaviour is not acceptable.
We are constantly issuing community rules to people who are renting apartments as holiday lets, they are leaving rubbish bags outside doors of the apartments or dumping them by lifts, this is due to owners not leaving our complex rules inside for their clients to view.
I was sent a video clip from a concerned resident , it was showing a huge amount of water gushing from a pipe around the side of restaurant Don Quixote, I had to call Nicanor at home as it was gone 7pm in the evening to come back to the complex, a float switch had failed to stop the water reservoir over filling, it had flooded the pump room and was emptying the water out through a drain vent, we lost a large amount of water.
The Swimming pool.
As per the earlier note we are now charging again for sunbeds….etc. at the pool, we are getting some income from the sales, but due to the poor weather not as much as we want, the next coming weeks/months should see this improve as the weather improves. This might also keep none residents out of our complex now they have to pay.
The storm we had the other week, damaged one of the pool blinds, we have had a quote to repair or renew, and it will be replaced soon.
Library open every Wednesday from 10am to 11am, located by the post boxes . Not open on public holidays.
If you need to contact me, please call 683 16 54 16. Please do not knock at my home address, I always have my phone with me, Thanks.
Emergency night / Disturbance.
Starts 11pm till 7am, you can call them on 671 14 66 16. If you have a problem, please call them.
We are having difficulty in finding a reliable replacement for Juan Louis, so he has agreed to stay on for another month, to provide cover until we do.
What’s happening in and around Los Cristianos.
With thanks to Colin Kirby for the following info.
Arona Carnival 2026, starts 7th March, this year the theme is SPACE,
The Grand Parade is on Sunday 15th starting from the Arona Grand Hotel, followed by the burial of the Sardine on Los Cristianos beach on Monday 16th.
La Laguna, 23rd May, marking the 50th anniversary of the “ Alan Parsons Project” . Front man and vocalist, he will be performing live on stage,
Tickets are available from several companies, check out prices on line.
Thank you for taking the time to read this update.
Steve.
December 2025 update
Last Updated on Wednesday, 7 January 2026 02:45 Written by Steve Dent Wednesday, 7 January 2026 02:45
The Heights
December 2025 update
Presidents comments.
The complex was fairly quiet over the Christmas period, with minimal problems, just the usual of people on terraces in the early hours.
Sad to inform you, Matilda’s (our cleaner) father died just before Christmas.
Complex news/ issues/updates.
Once again we had prostitutes in apartment B 216, this is the second time this year, we tried everything to get them out, putting pressure on the agent/owner, speaking to the police who were not really interested. This apartment is becoming a problem, the neighbours below are also having to put up with noise and rubbish going over the balcony walls.
We are putting the finishing touches to a letter that will go out to all owners of apartments we identify as being advertised on the web for holiday lets, without a VV licence. They will have a fixed period to respond, after that time we will be contacting the Tourist Board, and the Tax Office to deal with.
Apartments on D block Level 3 have had issues with the complex lights, this was due to some electrical relays failing, all seems to be OK now.
I have had calls on the emergency number, about children running about inside apartments, from neighbours, to me this is not an emergency, its the same with the large construction sites across the road, I cant tell them to stop work.
Again we have had terrible problems with B block lift, it was going up and down on its own, going to the wrong floors, and not opening the doors if it did reach the correct floor, I called OTIS several times a day over a 2 week period, on Christmas night at 12.40am I was speaking to their office in Madrid, trying to get an engineer out to fix it, as its the only way to reach C and D blocks apart from the stairs, it’s a massive problem for anyone with mobility problems, it seems to be working correctly now ( fingers crossed).
You may have noticed we have refreshed the signage on the complex, the old ones have been up for many years and were looking a bit tatty, also signs at the top and bottom of the ramp from garage B to garage A parking, to remind drivers to sound their car horns when going down or up to avoid any collisions.
The Swimming pool.
No issues with the pool, we had 2 umbrellas ruined, due to a high wind and people not putting them down when they leave the pool, I put the sunbeds back into line each Sunday morning .It’s crazy the amount of rubbish people leave by the beds, beer cans, fizzy drink cans, sweets crisps, all sorts of junk, just behind the beds, there are bins provided for unwanted rubbish, morons !!!.
Library open every Wednesday from 10am to 11am, located by the post boxes . Not open on public holidays.
If you need to contact me, please call 683 16 54 16.
Please do not knock at my home address, I always have my phone with me. Thanks.
Emergency night / Disturbance.
Starts 11pm till 7am, you can call them on 671 14 66 16. If you have a problem, please call them.
There has been no major issues just the usual niggles. Juan Louis our security man is retiring after many years working for us, he was due to leave on the 31st December, but has agreed to work for another month, until we can find another person to take over. If you know of a company that offers a concierge service, please let us know.
What’s happening in and around Los Cristianos.
Nothing to report.
Thank you for taking the time to read this update.
Steve.
November 2025 update
Last Updated on Saturday, 6 December 2025 04:45 Written by Steve Dent Saturday, 6 December 2025 04:45
The Heights
November 2025 update
Presidents comments.
The complex has been fairly quiet this month, with no major problems, although moving into December things will start to pick up again.
From January we will be charging for sun beds, mattresses, and umbrellas, we always did charge for these, but it was stopped due to the Pandemic, and not reinstated.
Those of you who are resident here, will have seen we now have the Christmas lights up, the Christmas tree is also up on the solarium at the entrance end and we have poinsettias in the plant tubs, its all looking good.
After lots of discussions, we have decided that our Community Fees need to increase, they have not changed for the last 18 years, during this time, our Water/Electricity/staff wages…etc, have increased year on year. We are looking at raising them by 10% to 20%, per year its not a huge rise, but it will boost our funds, we can’t keep them at their current amount for ever, of course this will be discussed further at the next AGM 2026.
Etelina has informed me that she gets calls from residents at weekends,
although she deals with these calls, she only works Monday to Friday, can you only contact her if it’s a real emergency, thanks.
As the next Monthly update will be January 2026, on behalf of the Committee and myself, we would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year !!!.
Complex news/ issues/updates.
We had a water problem on C and D blocks, but only half the apartments were affected, it was soon resolved.
As the clocks went back one hour at the end of October, it takes a week or so to get the automatic timers adjusted to the correct times, all seem to be working ok.
John Fisher discovered a “ Pardela ” bird ( Cory’s Shearwater), had crashed landed on A block, these are protected by law, he called me to see what we could do to save it, a couple of years ago one landed by our apartment, after trying to contact several agencies and the police who didn’t seem interested, I spoke to Javier from C 1, he took it to a rescue centre. I said he might be able to assist again, John spoke to him and once again Javier came to the rescue, many thanks.
On the way to the office one Sunday morning, It was pointed out to me by a resident, a used Hypodermic syringe was on the floor by the dustbins, it might not have anything to do with The Heights Complex at all, but we need to be careful, especially with young children running about.
We have had several problems with B block lift, a couple of people were trapped for a while when it stopped between floors, it then began to go up and down on its own, it was reported and Otis have been out to check it over, its working ok now.
A fishing rod was stolen from a parking space in A block garage, it had been left behind a parked car, it disappeared between 9.30pm and 6 am, we have a security camera in that area, but after looking through several hours of video footage, it didn’t show anyone going to that parking space. It would be nice to think we don’t have these type of people on our complex, but sadly we do, so make sure you lock any items in your store room or your car.
The water machine had a problem accepting 1 euro coins, the company that looks after the machine went to the wrong complex, so it took longer than expected to fix.
For over a week we were having problems with the TV on B and C blocks, the internet speed was fluctuating, after lots of calls to P and H and sending pictures of the speed tests varying from 2.7mbps to 25mbps within a 2 minute period, they sent out a technician last Friday, he tried to tell us it was because we didn’t have their own TV package, not the internet speed, he made some adjustments, and since then it has been working fine.
We had a call, late morning on Saturday, from an apartment on A4, the owner had accidentally drilled through the water pipe in the kitchen, unfortunately the stop valve above the front door which had been changed during a refurb didn’t work, so it had to be turned off in the water room on A1, it might be a good idea to check your own stop valve from time to time just in case !!.
You may have noticed that we now have extra cameras covering the lifts and entrance doors to the garages on A and B blocks, this is to deter vandalism that we have had to doors, locks and door closers in the past, any person caught damaging complex property will be billed for the repair.
Can we ask all owners to check with Etelina that your contact details are up to date, we sometimes have problems getting in touch with owners due to out of date mobile numbers or e-mail addresses.
The Swimming pool.
I had a call from Clouds pool bar, they asked me if we were draining the the small children’s pool, as the water level was going down, it was after 5pm so Nicanor had left for the day, I had a look and went to the pool pump room, water was gushing from a large pipe into a drain, after having a look around I noticed a large ball valve was wedged almost out of the water tank, I turned the pump motor off, and freed the valve, turned the motor back on and it did the trick, I didn’t want it to happen again during the night, so I asked Nicanor to pop back to make sure it was safe to leave it running.
We have had 2 companies come to the complex to price up the work for the tiling of the pool area, we are waiting on a 3rd quote for the work.
No other issues, to report.
Library open every Wednesday from 10am to 11am, located by the post boxes . Not open on public holidays. .
If you need to contact me, please call 683 16 54 16.
Please do not knock at my home address, I always have my phone with me. Thanks.
Emergency night / Disturbance.
Starts 11pm till 7am, you can call them on 671 14 66 16. If you have a problem, please call them,
Nothing major to report back on this month, just the usual, people on terraces in the early hours, normally apartments with a VV or illegal renters.
What’s happening in and around Los Cristianos.
With thanks to Colin Kirby for the below info ,
Check out Canary Run.Com, for more details on the San Silvestre fun run .
At Santa Cruz, port end of the town, Christmas lights, late shopping and dinning and food markets till 6th January .
Remember, TITSA bus services will run reduced services on the key days, check posters and time tables for details.
Thank you for taking the time to read this update.
Steve