Akumal, Quintana Roo, June 24th, 2015        

Dear TAO Homeowner,

We have been contacted recently by individual owners regarding some matters that we would like to comment to all owners, some of which have been communicated in the past. We want to make sure we are all in the same page.

The topics range from getting title of the property, repairs, running the HOA, insurance costs for homes to the water supply in the community.

CONDO REGIME/TITLE: There has been a lot of misunderstanding about the delay with owners getting title to their homes post-delivery. Pre-construction condos or lots in a private community with shared areas and amenities need a legal structure called a condominium regime or condo regime for short (“Régimen de Condominio” in Spanish). The condo regime describes the whole property and each individual unit in it. It defines common areas and shared amenities and it lays out the community rules. A condo regime must be set up and approved before individual owners can get title on their property.

In Quintana Roo, certain conditions apply before a developer can request approval of the condo regime. Even with a very small project with only a couple of dozen units, it takes a minimum 6-8 months to get approval. With TAO, a multi-phase project, we had to wait some time before we could finalize the approval process. That meant delays for early-in buyers.

The good news is that the Condominium Regime process has been finalized for TAO Phase I (Townhomes on Agua Street, Townhomes on Bamboo Street and Residences on Lake Street) and Phase II (Condos in QI, ZEN, KUN Buildings, XIAO Premium Condos and Town Homes on Eclipse Street) can start the process for getting title of the property. Phase III closings are scheduled to happen in 2016. The Condo Regime is the legal document that your Closing Attorney requires to draft and produce your ownership title. This is certainly great news for our residential community.

At this time, we would like to invite you — owners of units in Phases I and II — to contact your licensed Mexican real estate attorney so you can proceed with the closing process. If you don´t have an attorney, we can suggest the attorney most of our clients are using, as it makes it more cost effective to the owner to deal with an attorney who already knows the project, but feel free to choose someone different if you decide to do so. The Attorney is Mr. Ernesto A. Patron, contacto@interlexmexico.com, and www.interlexmexico.com. Please note, HOA fees and water supply bills must be up to date to get your ownership title.

HOA: Initially, the developer manages the Home Owners Association (HOA) with a board of owners. Once the owners control the HOA, they can vote on issues such as keeping pets, displaying For Sale boards, etc. It’s important to bear in mind that rule changes need majority approval – so even with owners running the HOA, individual owners may not get exactly what they want if that does not fit with the wishes of most owners.

For those querying the current HOA costs, again, this is something the owners will manage once control of the HOA passes to them. Now, the current cost of the fees per month comes out better when compared to residential communities close by, most of them not having as many activities, amenities and open spaces as TAO community has. If we consider the HOA fees for a condo, the following developments in Puerto Aventuras: Marina Mia, Gran Península, Chac Hal Al; plus developments in Bahía Príncipe Residential like Terrazas and Quetzal, the HOA fee at TAO is at least 33% below the average of those.

The current annual cost to owners for mandatory INSURANCE is low compared to other communities in the area, as it was done as a global policy that includes the common areas and an amount over $14,000,000 USD to cover for damage to buildings or individual units. If the owner wants to cover furniture and other things inside the property, it is possible to pay a reasonable difference and buy complementary insurance. If you want complementary insurance you can contact Eduardo Sanchez at eduardo@insureinmexico.com.

A new HOA Manager started just a couple of weeks ago, Noé Villegas, his mission is to improve the common areas, and services that the HOA Administrator takes care of, like gardening, cleaning, the installation of sonic bat deterrent devices and keeping the community updated and informed. These are some of his priorities. If you want to contact Noé you can contact him at hoamanager@taoinspiredliving.com.

JUICE BAR: The Elixir juice bar at the TAO Wellness Center will be replaced in the next few weeks with a Bistro that will serve breakfast and lunch (and, of course, juices and smoothies!). The Bistro is expected to open during August 2015. The Elixir juice bar is currently open from 7am – 11:30 am from Monday to Saturday.

REPAIRS: We are working our way through a list of pending repairs for guarantees and requested improvements, which we call change orders. A couple of months ago architect Belem Raya was hired to take care of repairs and Quality Assurance. She has a “Swat Team”, of over 15 people at the moment. They are independent from the construction team. We are trying to get all repairs done in a timely and satisfactory manner. If you have any queries about pending repairs to your unit, please contact Yatziri Casanova, Deliveries manager, at yatziri@taoinspiredliving.com and she can coordinate a visit with Belem.

Karen Contreras is the Deliveries Assistant, since a couple of months back she is helping Yatziri answer your requests in a timely manner, they work together and are based in the same office building where HOA administration is.

Some changes in the construction department have taken place too. Construction is now independent from the Projects department, so a better follow up and supervision is now taking place.

RE-SALES: Some owners would like to sell their TAO homes, and have requested us to do so, and this is not easy when developer-owned property is still available for sale, with direct financing. We have identified three local brokers who will list/sell properties for owners, they have worked with us, and that will give those owners looking to sell their property extensive visibility through their real estate networks. Their contact details are:

Roberto Rivas from Remax in Tulum, roberto.remax@gmail.com
Dulce Elorriaga from Remax in Playa del Carmen, dulce@remaxmaya.com
Alex Martinez from Rikerworld in Akumal, rwidirector@gmail.com

TAO WELLNESS CENTER: Since it was inaugurated it has hosted over 75 events and seminars, in all of which owners could participate, and there are activities in which owners or renters can participate on a daily basis, if they wish to do so; for example using the pools, gym, going to yoga class, cooking and Spanish class, meditation class, fitness and training by Chris Walker, among other things. A simple calculation is that over 2,000 classes in the last few years have taken place. The Wellness Center serves the TAO community and other guests, we invite you to take more advantage of having it right there on your doorstep. We want to mention that the TAO Wellness Center is an independent company, it is not owned or run by the TAO community and no funds from the HOA fees goes to the Center.

RESORT AMENITIES: As a TAO owner, you also have access to the Gran Bahia amenities at a discounted rate. Currently, you can get an all-inclusive day pass at Tulum/Coba for $65USD per person and $70USD at Akumal/Sian Ka´an. You and your family have free access to the common areas (lobby, pools and gym) and beach of Gran Bahia Tulum. Remember to have access to these areas you will need to get your special bracelet from the Golf Club House (open Monday – Saturday 8am -8pm and Sundays 9am – 8pm).

You can enjoy snacks, buffets and/or bar at the GBP Tulum and Sian Ka´an. Please contact the front desk or the clubhouse to get your tickets.

As owners you also have special discounts on golf (starting from $45 twilight, and depending on the season).

SHUTTLE: Some owners and renters requested an improvement in the shuttle service to/from the resort. The TAO Wellness Center operates a new shuttle that runs from 8am – 5:30pm Monday to Friday and on Saturdays from 8am – 2pm, it runs between Sian Ka´an Hotel and the TAO Wellness Center. If someone needs transportation, you can ask at the front desk or Moksha Store at the TAO Wellness Center. You can also ask the bell boys at Sian Ka´an hotel to call TAO Wellness Center to request to be picked up.

WATER: Originally, the plan for all the Bahía Príncipe residential complex was to use the private water supply inside the Gran Bahia Principe resort, a reverse osmosis system. But that changed when the local municipality ran a municipal supply past the Bahia Principe complex. In accordance with local law, once the municipality runs a public supply by your land, you are obligated to connect to it, use it and pay the appropriate fees, regardless of what other private water systems you have in place. Bahia Principe negotiated with the municipality over this matter but failed to reach an agreement. So, all residential communities inside the Gran Bahia will have to use the municipal water supply, same as TAO.

TAO has no control over this decision. As developers, we have funded a water treatment system for TAO at an additional significant cost to the project, a cost that was not budgeted for, to soften the water and reduce the issues with minerals caused by the supply by CAPA. The new cistern with approx. one million liters of water is in place, and will also help prevent water supply shortages.

If you have any queries about your home in TAO, or any of the matters outlined above, please contact Darren Spencer at darren@taoinsiredliving.com

We appreciate that you are part of the TAO community. We are looking to improve communication with homeowners and will keep you updated as a group, so everyone gets the same information on general matters.

Best regards,

Benjamin Beja.