Public record La Ventana del Mar · San Felipe, Baja California 19 condominium regimes Published by: Asociación de Propietarios “La Ventana del Mar”, A.C.

If you don't pay, you don't rule.

The developer of La Ventana del Mar pays no maintenance dues on its own lots, claims the right to vote with them, and keeps in office an administrator that the owners have already removed. Baja California's Condominium Law forbids every part of this. Here is the law. Here are the documents.

This site will stay online until Baja California follows its own law.

36–0Votes to remove the administrator, Oct 24, 2025
6072531Public Registry entry recording the removal
19Condominium regimes created 2003–2013
0Exemptions from dues the law allows (Art. 60)
The central lie

A civil association is not the condominium.

The removed administrator and his group keep saying that their “Asociación de Condóminos La Ventana del Mar, A.C.” is the authority over La Ventana del Mar and that its bylaws are “the rules.” That is false. An A.C. is just another legal entity. It does not own the condominiums, it is not the regime, and it does not decide for the owners.

WHAT THEY CLAIM

  1. The developer creates an A.C.Founded Dec 29, 2004 by just two members: San Felipe Beach Club, S.A. de C.V. and International Management Services, Inc. Not one owner.
  2. The A.C. appoints itself administratorIts own founders name José de Jesús Olmos “until he is legally substituted.”
  3. The A.C.'s bylaws rule everyoneAnd removing him takes 90% or 100% of the vote — a door that never opens.

WHAT THE LAW SAYS

  1. Each condominium regime has its own Assembly“The supreme body of the condominium is the General Assembly of Owners.” — Art. 33
  2. The Assembly appoints and removes freelyAn individual or a legal entity: an A.C., a company, or a neighbor. — Arts. 2, 37-II and 39
  3. The administrator answers to the AssemblyCarries out its resolutions, reports monthly, and hands over everything within 7 days if replaced. — Arts. 45 and 46
“Condominiums shall be administered by the individual or legal entity designated by the General Assembly under this Law and the Condominium Regulation.”
B.C. Condominium Law, Art. 39 (unofficial translation)
“The General Assembly shall have the following powers: […] II. To freely appoint and remove the Administrator or administrators…”
B.C. Condominium Law, Art. 37, section II

And it isn't just us saying it: their own deeds say it. All 19 condominium deeds, signed by the developer itself, state that only the Assembly of Owners has the power to appoint the administrator:

“…who likewise shall be the only ones with the power to designate the Administrator of the Condominium.”
Clause Five — identical in the deeds of all 19 regimes

The law gives the developer exactly one power: naming the first administrator of a new building (Art. 42). That was over twenty years ago. After that, the Assembly rules — and in the Assembly, those who pay vote.

The principle

If you don't pay, you don't vote.

This isn't our opinion. It is Article 38 of the law — and it is repeated, nearly word for word, in the bylaws of the developer's own A.C.

“Owners shall have their right to vote suspended, always keeping their right to speak […] I. For failure to pay two or more dues to the maintenance and administration fund and the reserve fund […] In these cases they shall not be counted for the quorum of the assembly.”
B.C. Condominium Law, Art. 38
“Administration and maintenance dues shall not be subject to offset, personal exceptions, or any other circumstance that could excuse their payment.”
B.C. Condominium Law, Art. 60
“Every owner must contribute in proportion to the undivided-interest percentage of their apartment, house, unit or area…”
B.C. Condominium Law, Art. 58

Even the developer's own regulation says: “Owners must be current on all their obligations to have the right to vote” (Art. 49-g) — and it defines the developer itself as an owner (Art. 3-H).

It's this simple

Six steps. All under the law.

The removed administrator and his lawyers don't understand the basics of condominium law. Here it is, step by step.

  1. San Felipe Beach Club created the regimes and sold.Lots, homes and condos, to hundreds of families, in 19 regimes recorded in the Public Registry.
  2. As creator, it named the first administrator.The law does allow that: “the first Administrator shall be designated by whoever executes the founding deed” (Art. 42). Only the first.
  3. Dues were set for each regime.And every buyer was charged: US$4,400 or more per year per condo, around US$2,000 per year per lot.
  4. The developer never paid dues on its own lots.No one could exempt it — not Jesús Olmos, not any administrator. Dues are set by the Assembly (Art. 37-V) and admit no personal exceptions (Art. 60).
  5. By not paying, it lost its vote.Anyone two or more dues behind loses the right to vote and doesn't even count toward quorum (Art. 38).
  6. Those who pay voted him out.On October 24, 2025, with notice and quorum under Baja California law (Art. 36). The Public Registry recorded it (Entry 6072531).

Today San Felipe Beach Club is the authority over nothing. It is a failed developer and just another owner — one that has never paid.

Article by article

Seven violations of Baja California law.

On the left, what the state law requires — published in the Official Gazette on June 18, 2004 and a matter of public order (Art. 1). On the right, what the developer wrote and does.

01

It exempted itself from paying dues

The law

Everyone pays in proportion to their share (Art. 58). Dues admit no “personal exceptions, or any other circumstance that could excuse their payment” (Art. 60).

The developer

“The following properties shall be exempt from Common Expense Dues and Special Dues […] (c) Undeveloped Lots owned by the Developer”

And for its developed lots, Art. 70 lets the developer “choose” to cover only the budget shortfall — as a loan that “will be charged to the Condominium with interest and paid to the Developer in the future.” In other words, the owners end up owing him.

Developer's Regulation, Arts. 70 & 79-c
02

It claims votes for lots that pay nothing

The law

Anyone two or more dues behind loses the vote and doesn't even count toward quorum (Art. 38). Each vote is weighted by the unit's ownership share (Art. 35-III).

The developer

“Each of the Owners and the Developer shall have the right to one vote per Lot.”

Hundreds of lots that contribute nothing to the condominium are used to block every decision of the owners who do pay.

Regulation, Art. 33
03

An administrator for life, appointed by the developer

The law

The Assembly appoints and freely removes the administrator (Art. 37-II). A non-professional administrator serves one year and may be re-elected only twice in a row (Art. 44). The developer names only the first one (Art. 42).

The developer

“…the Administrator shall be designated by the Developer for an indefinite term, and may be removed at any time by the Developer or by a resolution adopted by the affirmative vote of 100% of the Owners…”

100%. No assembly in a development of more than 1,100 units will ever reach 100%. The rule isn't meant to be met — it exists so that no one can remove him.

Regulation, Art. 53 A.C. bylaws 2004, Transitory 1 & Cl. 15-II
04

The administrator pays himself a cut of everything

The law

“The Administrator's compensation shall be set by the General Assembly” (Arts. 37-III and 41). The Assembly approves the budget and the accounts (Art. 37-VIII, IX).

The developer

“The Administrator shall receive as compensation for its services 15% (fifteen percent) of the Common Expense Dues, Special Dues, fines and any other amount collected.”

The more the owners are billed and fined, the more the administrator earns. No assembly of owners ever voted for that.

Regulation, Art. 54
05

He refuses to hand over the administration

The law

When the Assembly appoints a new administration, the outgoing one must hand over, within seven calendar days, all documents, account statements, books, valuables and property — a deadline that “may only be postponed by court order” (Art. 46).

The removed administrator

The owners removed him on October 24, 2025. The minutes were notarized and Baja California's Public Property Registry recorded them on December 26, 2025. The legal deadline passed almost a year ago. He still has not handed over.

Registry Entry 6072531
06

The watched appoints the watchdog

The law

Every condominium must have a Supervisory Council of owners, appointed and removed by the Assembly, serving unpaid one-year terms (Arts. 37-VI, 49, 50).

The developer

“…at least one of them shall be designated by the Developer, who shall act as President, for as long as the Developer owns any Lot…”

Regulation, Art. 66 A.C. bylaws, Cl. 22
07

Impossible majorities so nothing ever changes

The law

Resolutions by simple majority of votes present (Art. 35-II). Quorum: 75% on first call, a majority on second, whoever attends on third (Art. 36-IV). 25% of owners can call an assembly (Art. 36-III).

The developer

90% quorum and 90% of the vote for any ordinary assembly; 100% for extraordinary ones; 80% of owners just to request an assembly; 100% plus the developer's consent to change a comma of the regulation.

Regulation, Arts. 49 & 87

The developer's regulation is dated January 2002 and revised October 2003 — before the current law. The 2004 law is a matter of public order (Art. 1), and a condominium regulation may not contravene it (Art. 54). Quotations from Spanish-language documents are unofficial translations; the originals are linked.

October 24, 2025

The owners voted. The State recorded it.

At an Extraordinary General Assembly held in San Felipe, the owners of 17 condominium regimes resolved:

Second. To remove the administrator, “Mr. José de Jesús Olmos and/or Asociación de Condominios La Ventana del Mar, A.C. and/or San Felipe Beach Club, S.A. de C.V.”: 36 in favor, 1 abstention, 0 against.

Third. To appoint Asociación de Propietarios “La Ventana del Mar”, A.C. as the new administrator: 35 in favor, 1 abstention, 0 against.

The minutes were notarized as Deed 7,708, Volume 144, dated December 15, 2025, before Notary Public No. 2 of Playas de Rosarito, and recorded in the Public Property and Commerce Registry in Mexicali.

Condominium 8 and Polígono 15 are not listed because no owners from those regimes voted, so the resolution could not be recorded for them.

Anyone can verify the document's authenticity through its advanced electronic signature.

STATE GOVERNMENT OF BAJA CALIFORNIA
PUBLIC PROPERTY AND COMMERCE REGISTRY, MEXICALI
REGISTRATION SHEET
Entry (Partida)
6072531
Entry date
December 26, 2025
Section
Civil
Act
Notarization of assembly minutes
Deed
7708, Vol. 144, Notary 2, Playas de Rosarito
Assembly
Extraordinary General, Oct 24, 2025, San Felipe
Authenticity code
3938478
Removal
36–0
Recorded

See the full registry sheet (PDF, Spanish)

To every owner

Stop paying the removed administration.

If you keep paying Jesús Olmos's administration, you keep playing their game — the game of illegality, of misreading the law, of using your money, which should maintain the common areas of your regime, to prop up someone who has already been removed.

Pay your dues only to the legitimate administration: Asociación de Propietarios “La Ventana del Mar”, A.C., appointed by the Assembly of October 24, 2025 and recorded in the Public Registry, entry 6072531.

We have the money to pave the roads. We don't need the developer.

The money

Those who pay, pay for everyone.

Every owner who bought at La Ventana del Mar pays annual dues: US$4,400 or more per condo, around US$2,000 per lot. The developer — owner of hundreds of lots in the very same regimes — declared itself exempt. The cost of streets, gates, security, common areas and the administration's payroll falls only on those who pay.

In April 2015, the deed amending the land trust returned 282 condominium units and 33 lots to San Felipe Beach Club, S.A. de C.V. — in Beach Club 3, Condominiums 4, 7, 9-A, 9-B, 9-C, 10, 11, 12-A and 12-B — free of liens. Owners estimate the developer's group still holds between 600 and 800 lots across the development today.

And while those who pay cover everything, owners report that the removed administration has upper-management staff paid more than US$100,000 a year, and pays contracts with owners’ funds that have no specific goals. None of it was approved by an assembly of owners, as the law requires (Arts. 37 and 41).

That is the size of the hole. Use the calculator: move the number of lots and the monthly dues, and see what the condominium loses every year — and what everyone else absorbs.

Source for the 282 units: Deed 156,536, Vol. 4,148, Apr 1, 2015, Notary 5 of Mexicali; Registry entry 5723271. The 600–800 lot figure is the owners' estimate and will be documented as rolls are obtained.

700
$2000
10
Lost to the condominium every year$1,400,000
Accumulated over the period$14 M

Illustrative calculator. Reference annual dues: lot ≈ US$2,000; condo from US$4,400.

What comes next

Every lot that doesn't pay answers for its debt.

The law gives each condominium the tools to collect. The legitimate administration will use them.

“Credits arising from the obligations in the founding deeds […] the Condominium Regulation or this Law […] carry a real guarantee over the apartments, homes, units or areas, even when transferred to third parties.”
B.C. Condominium Law, Art. 71

Past-due dues are collected through summary civil enforcement (Art. 63), and an owner who repeatedly fails to pay can be ordered to sell the lot at public auction (Art. 64). When the legitimate administration takes possession, it will seek liens (embargo) on the developer's lots so they cannot be sold until what is owed is paid.

Warning to buyers: if you buy a lot or unit from San Felipe Beach Club, you become jointly liable for the dues that lot owes — unless the condominium administration gives you a no-debt certificate (Art. 68). Ask the legitimate administration for that certificate before you sign.
San Felipe has no Oficialía

San Felipe hasn’t helped us. The law promised a referee, and it never came.

The law orders every City Council to create Conciliation and Qualification Offices to resolve these disputes for free, quickly, and with the backing of public force. San Felipe has none.

“City Councils, within their respective jurisdictions, shall create the Conciliation and Qualification Offices, which […] shall be the competent authority to hear arbitration proceedings to resolve disputes concerning condominium property…”
B.C. Condominium Law, Art. 78
“Their awards shall have legal force and authorities may rely on public force to enforce them.”
Art. 83 — the process is governed by “legality, simplicity, speed […] free of charge, and good faith” (Art. 84)

City councils were given one year from June 2004 to create these offices (Third Transitory Article). San Felipe has been a municipality since Decree 246, published July 1, 2021. Tijuana, Ensenada and Playas de Rosarito have condominium regulations. San Felipe has neither an office nor a condominium regulation.

That is why we are in court — the other path Art. 67 allows. We are asking Baja California's judges for something very simple: apply Baja California's law.

The government of San Felipe has not helped the owners. It has not created the office the law requires, has not issued a condominium regulation, and has not enforced the law.

And it is putting its own property-tax base at risk. The owners at La Ventana del Mar and El Dorado who pay their dues also pay their predial (property tax), and that funds the town. Owners report that San Felipe Beach Club — that is, Pat Butler and Jesús Olmos — does not pay predial on its lots either. We demand that the City publicly state whether it is current.

Warning to investors

If the law isn't enforced here, where is it?

This site will stay online as a warning for as long as the courts, the executive branch and the City fail to enforce Baja California's Condominium Law. Until they do, no one who invests in Baja California can count on the law to protect them.

Legal certainty

No investor buys land, a home or an industrial building where the rules printed in the Official Gazette aren't applied. La Ventana del Mar is a test case for the whole state.

Foreign investment

Hundreds of families from the United States and Canada invested their savings in San Felipe trusting Mexican law. What happens to them here is told at every real-estate show and every investment conversation north of the border.

One simple rule

Whoever doesn't contribute to a condominium regime cannot control it with votes the law takes away. If Baja California can't enforce something this simple, how will it ask for the trust of the maquiladora, the honest developer, or the homebuyer?

Timeline

Twenty years of control without paying.

Everything below is documented in public deeds and Public Registry entries. The documents are below.

  1. San Felipe Beach Club, S.A. de C.V. is formed
    Deed 128,735, Notary 2 of Tijuana. James Patrick Butler, general attorney-in-fact.
  2. The land trust
    Deed 148,427. San Felipe Beach Club is beneficiary “B”. Textron Financial Corporation later enters as first-place creditor.
  3. Board: James Patrick Butler, Doreen Butler, Frank Wolthuis
    José de Jesús Olmos González, General Director.
  4. The trust committee orders the condominiums
    Signed by James Patrick Butler (President) and Frank Wolthuis (Treasurer); José de Jesús Olmos, Secretary.
  5. Beach Club 1, 2, 5 and 6
    Deed 86,907. Its annex is a design manual, not an administration regulation.
  6. The current Condominium Law takes effect
    Official Gazette No. 26. Repeals the 1973 law.
  7. The developer founds “its” A.C.
    Just two members: San Felipe Beach Club and International Management Services. They name Olmos administrator.
  8. Polígonos 13–16 and Condominiums 3, 4, 7, 9-A/B/C, 10, 11, 12-A/B
    All with Clause Five: only the Assembly appoints the administrator.
  9. Condominium 8
    Deed 64,578. Same Clause Five. Attaches the developer's 2002–2003 regulation.
  10. 282 units and 33 lots return to the developer
    Deed 156,536: Textron is paid off with a new Banco del Bajío loan.
  11. San Felipe becomes a municipality
    Decree 246. No condominium Conciliation Office.
  12. Owners remove the administrator: 36–0
  13. The Public Registry records the removal
    Entry 6072531.
  14. The removed administrator still hasn't handed over
    The owners are in court.
What we demand

That Baja California enforce its own law.

  1. To the courtsRecognize the removal recorded at entry 6072531 and order the immediate hand-over of the administration, books, accounts and funds, as Art. 46 requires.
  2. To the City of San FelipeSan Felipe has no Conciliation and Qualification Office. It has been a municipality since 2021 and still has not created one, even though the law requires every City Council to have it (Art. 78). We demand that it create the office, issue a condominium regulation (Art. 76), and state whether San Felipe Beach Club is current on its predial.
  3. To the State Government and CongressEnsure the Condominium Law is applied statewide — including when the violator is a developer.
  4. To every ownerStop paying the removed administration and pay dues only to the legitimate administration.
  5. To the developerPay dues on every lot you own, like every other owner (Arts. 58 and 60), and stop voting with lots that don't pay (Art. 38).
  6. To the removed administratorHand over everything, account for everything and open the books: income, payroll, salaries, and where the owners' funds went (Art. 45-XII).
The regimes

19 regimes. One rule.

Each regime is a separate legal entity with its own deed and registry entry. In every one, Clause Five says the same thing: the administrator is appointed by the Assembly of Owners.

RegimeDeedDateRegistry entryUnitsVoted removal
Beach Club 186,9072003-04-12525979354Yes
Beach Club 286,9072003-04-125259794120Yes
Beach Club 3 (Condominium 3)111,3622007-02-22542315314Yes
Beach Club 4 (Condominium 4)111,3722007-02-225423936112Yes
Beach Club 586,9072003-04-12525979570Yes
Beach Club 686,9072003-04-125259796111Yes
Condominium 7111,3642007-02-22543133417Yes
Condominium 864,5782013-11-11577516490No voting owners
Condominium 9-A111,3652007-02-22542838422Yes
Condominium 9-B111,3662007-02-2254309089Yes
Condominium 9-C111,3672007-02-22543093963Yes
Condominium 10111,3682007-02-22543090931Yes
Condominium 11111,3692007-02-22543091942Yes
Condominium 12-A111,3702007-02-22542874611Yes
Condominium 12-B111,3712007-02-22543221664Yes
Polígono 13109,3322006-09-225421632104Yes
Polígono 14109,3332006-09-225418562100Yes
Polígono 15109,3342006-09-22541944856No voting owners
Polígono 16109,3352006-09-22542201540Yes
Total1,130

All deeds except Condominium 8 (Notary 10) were executed before Lic. Luis Alfonso Vidales Moreno, Notary Public No. 5 of Mexicali. Data taken from the deeds and Registry sheets.

Area map of La Ventana del Mar
General area map of La Ventana del Mar (development's promotional material, for location only).
The file

Don't take our word for it. Read the documents.

LAWBaja California Condominium Property Regime LawCurrent text from the State Congress. Official Gazette Jun 18, 2004; last amended Apr 28, 2017. Spanish.PDF · 50 pp. REGISTRY 6072531Recorded removal of the administratorAssembly of Oct 24, 2025, Deed 7708. With advanced electronic signature. Spanish.PDF · 3 pp. REGULATIONThe developer's regulation (2002–2003)Dues exemption (Art. 79-c), indefinite administrator (Art. 53), 15% to the administrator (Art. 54). Spanish.PDF · 32 pp. · annex to Condominium 8 deed A.C. 2004Articles of the developer's A.C.Deed 100,323. Two founding members; Olmos named administrator. English translation.PDF · 33 pp. DEED 86,907Beach Club 1, 2, 5 and 6Regime deed, 2003. Includes the trust committee letter signed by James Patrick Butler. Spanish.PDF · 652 pp. · 19 MB 19 DEEDSDeeds for every regimeLinked in the regimes table.See table