mlun
29-12-2011, 21:19
I know here in Spain it is not uncommon to pay staff with black money. But I must say I was somewhat surprised when I recently found out that everything our edificio pays to gardener, cleaning lady and the administrator herself is without any proof of recipient whatsoever. If you did this as a private person, I could somehow - not accept - but understand it, as you are dealing with your own private money and responsibility. But when doing it for an edificio, you put yourself in a position where anyone could raise a suspicion such as: You claim to have paid the gardener 200€, but I believe it is only 100€. And rightfully so.
As one of the owners, and having no confidence in the administrator/president whatsoever, this is exactly what I would like to do. So basically I feel that I'm entitled to ask her to refund every cent that she cannot justify by legally correct documented expenses. A gardener should for example appear with a name, a DNI number, or at least have made a receipt where he/she signed for the receipt of the payment. But no - nothing is written other than "Gardener - 200€". The President writes a cheque, goes in the bank, cashes the cheque, and - so she claims - pays the gardener. And the cleaning lady, herself, etc.
What would you do here? I am condering to bring this person to court claiming that she must refund everything to the edificio. But also, to report her illegalities to the authorities. But who - where? My fear is also of course that then the authorities would fine us - the edicifio - for all unpaid taxes, social security, unpaid pensions etc etc. And we did not know about this until now - the president/administrator and auditor have kept this hidden for us.
I really hope this does not reflect the normal situation here in Spain. If so, I simply do not understand why people trust administrators who pay themselves money completely without documentation.
I like to understand and accept foreign cultures, but there must be a limit!
As one of the owners, and having no confidence in the administrator/president whatsoever, this is exactly what I would like to do. So basically I feel that I'm entitled to ask her to refund every cent that she cannot justify by legally correct documented expenses. A gardener should for example appear with a name, a DNI number, or at least have made a receipt where he/she signed for the receipt of the payment. But no - nothing is written other than "Gardener - 200€". The President writes a cheque, goes in the bank, cashes the cheque, and - so she claims - pays the gardener. And the cleaning lady, herself, etc.
What would you do here? I am condering to bring this person to court claiming that she must refund everything to the edificio. But also, to report her illegalities to the authorities. But who - where? My fear is also of course that then the authorities would fine us - the edicifio - for all unpaid taxes, social security, unpaid pensions etc etc. And we did not know about this until now - the president/administrator and auditor have kept this hidden for us.
I really hope this does not reflect the normal situation here in Spain. If so, I simply do not understand why people trust administrators who pay themselves money completely without documentation.
I like to understand and accept foreign cultures, but there must be a limit!