QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ASK YOUR NEIGHBOUR
• Could you please turn your music down a little please? • Would you mind making sure you are by the pool when your children are swimming? • Would you like to come in for a drink?
“In our home we organise get- togethers and barbecues so people can meet us and other buyers in a relaxed way; we also take them to the bar we own in the village so they can get a fl avour of the local lifestyle. We want happy owners, living in happy communities.” Katie and Hakan also introduced us
to professional violinists Caroline and Colin who have bought a villa and an apartment in a neighbouring scheme to ours; and also Robin Phillips, a fi nancial director of a global blue-chip company, his wife Anne and their four children (top left). We got on so well that I nearly missed my fl ight back home last summer while enjoying sundowners with them! We have also been introduced to
Andy Parks, a chartered surveyor from Muswell Hill, north London, his Polish wife and daughter (left) and the hedge fund manager who, while on holiday in Dalaman a few years ago, went out to buy a toothbrush and came back with a villa. So we’ve now met most of our neighbours in our eight-unit apartment complex and feel very lucky that everyone is committed to preserving the peace and quiet of our rural paradise. We love watching the kingfi shers
bought a villa and an apartment in a neighbouring scheme to ours; and also Robin, a fi nancial director of a global blue-chip company, his wife Anne and their four children. We got on so well that I nearly missed my fl ight back home last summer enjoying sundowners with them! We have also been introduced to a
chartered surveyor from Muswell Hill, north London, his exotic Polish wife and daughter and the hedge fund manager who while on holiday in Dalaman a few years ago went out to
Below right
Fishing at Sunset Below Left
Benches and palm trees at a marina
play in the marshy stream at the bottom of the garden and the wagtails preen themselves by the pool. Hours are spent gazing at the storks and eagles swooping overhead and at night listening to the frogs croaking and splashing in the reeds. Amongst the other owners we have
agreed on uniform sun beds around the communal pool (beige); poolside etiquette (no glass), and for some fruit trees (oranges and lemons) to be planted in the garden. Fortunately most of us don’t want to rent out our homes – we’re hoping to use it about six weeks a year and also lend it to
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friends. There is always the risk that the transient neighbour will not be like-minded so we have ensured there is a complaints procedure just in case: he is called Cevki, Lycia’s Mr Fixit, whose phone number is on speed-dial. Some developments in Spain limit or ban short-term rentals, but even so it is important to have a basic code of rules and etiquette in place if things go wrong. Stuart Condren, who is marketing eight remaining properties on the Turkish Apollon scheme in Altinkum in Didim, a few miles west, also advocates sussing out the neighbours before buying. “I bought two apartments before I
started selling them,” he says, “and went to speak to lots of owners. I discovered they were all British, which was nice. Not because I minded especially but I didn’t want to be the only British owner if all the others were locals. “It is important to know that you
have a common interest with your neighbours. Also all rentals have to go through us so we can vet people and make sure they understand that they have to respect other people, their properties and the public areas.” Properties on Apollon Palace 2
cost from £29,000 for a one-bedroom apartment and £50,000 for a villa
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