Has anyone any experience of Squatters? - Page 4

Keith001 wrote on Wed Aug 18, 2021 2:14am:

Dear Benson

Firstly I am very sorry to hear the bad news.

Read more...

I am very well acquainted with your circumstances as it took our family 4 years to evict our tenant/squatter (and the nightmare is not over yet even after evicting him).

If you hire a lawyer it will cost you about 1500 euros + another 1600 for procurador costs.  If the utilities are contracted in your name you are obliged to pay for their electricity and water bills throughout the court procedure (which could take up to 2 years as there is a massive backlog of court cases). The squatter can also prosecute you for coercion if you ask for the energy and water to be cut off.

If I'd known how biased the State and Judicial system were in favour of squatters I would never have gone down the legal route.

1. The squatters probably don't have any savings and will delay court proceedings while they apply for free legal aid (which can take several weeks ).  The case cannot progress unless they have a legal representative. Many lawyers are keen to be on this 'legal aid assist list' as its a good source of income in Spain so be prepared for some savvy ones who will know every trick in the legal book to delay matters and add to their hourly rates (all paid for by the State).

2. Every accusation made against the squatter can be appealed against. Even if the judge rejects the appeal , the squatter can appeal against that judgement , and so on and on.......  The squatter, if he is really determined, can continue to appeal to a higher court (but he might have to pay his own legal costs for that part).  Our tenant squatter attempted to appeal to the 'Supreme Court Of Spain'  but failed because of a process error . If he'd got through their 'front door process'  we would have had to wait another 5-7 years for them to even look at our eviction case.

3. During the case , a squatter might produce fraudulent documentation to strengthen his case (possibly a fraudulent lease contract ). The courts do not seem to check or question documentation that is presented to the court and it will be up to your own lawyer to object (which could lengthen the court case even further).

4. During the court case , the squatter will sack his lawyer so that he doesn't have a legal representative . He will make all sorts of excuses to warrant the dismissing of his lawyer . This will delay the court proceedings for another 10 working days while the Court requests the Spanish Legal Bar to recruit another on their 'waiting list' .   Our tenant sacked his lawyer 4  times during the court case and the judges didn't bat an eyelid.

5. Then nearer the end of the eviction process the squatter will claim 'vulnerability '  due to injury or sickness or other mental ailment .  The judge will have no option but to ask the Social Services to intervene and interview the squatter.  If they agree that the squatter is vulnerable they have 1 month to provide him with some alternative assistance (ie. maybe temporary accommodation, etc).

6. Once the Judge has ordered the eviction it goes to the SCNE (some court office that arranges for court officials to enact the eviction). We waited 4  months for them to arrange an eviction date.

7. Then be prepared for the SCNE to cancel the eviction at the last moment (for a plethora of reasons that the squatter and his lawyer know how to exploit).  Our eviction was cancelled 2 times with a total wait of over 6 months . The 2nd eviction attempt found that our tenant was subletting our property to a young lady and son therefore the SCNE could not evict them. The 3rd eviction had an African man staying in our flat and he wouldn't leave so the SCNE called the Guardia to force him out and legally evict our tenant.

I recommend that you be there when the eviction happens to ensure that once your locksmith changes the lock  (it will cost you 100 euros if you are replacing it with a standard cylinder lock) he hands you all the sets of keys. If you are not there and there is the slightest doubt concerning the location of your flat , the SCNE will cancel the eviction.  If you are travelling to Spain , you might have many wasted journeys (and expense) if the SCNE evictions are cancelled.

Note that a squatter might leave the property before the eviction date and be replaced by another squatter in which case you may need to start from scratch again on the legal side.

My recommendation if you are going down the legal route is to proceed with the Criminal route rather than the Civil route . It might take 2  years and there is the chance that the squatter could be jailed and have a criminal sentence against his name (but sadly I've also heard stories of judges just handing out a 200-300 euro fine).

Have you contacted the Police ?  There is something called 'Alert Cops' which is a mobile application that can be used to inform the local police that squatters have entered your property. It's in English so that might be something you might wish to do and maybe strike lucky and the police might kick them out (but I doubt it). Normally the Police will only visit if the owner or a representative of the owner is at the premises  or if a burglar alarm has gone off.  My general experience is that Police cannot be bothered and they never reply back to my emails (especially if they are in English).

I can recommend a solicitor if you wish but be prepared that this could cost you many thousands of euros. Our 1st solicitor made a terrible process error in our 1st eviction attempt through the courts and it cost us 4700 euros having to pay the tenants court costs and their free-legal aid lawyer rates (so please be careful about picking the right lawyer). We still haven't paid it because we ran out of money so there is a threat that an embargo will be levied on our flat and it will be auctioned off . The tenant owes us 11k but is claiming he has no assets so unfortunately he gets off scot free . Also if he loses the case and does not earn enough salary to meet some threshold , his free legal aid costs (which he's obliged to pay if he loses the case) gets annulled after 3 years. We have paid 1k  lawyer and court costs appealing against the threat of an embargo asking for the 4.7k to be offset against the 11k he owes us (still awaiting the judgement after 8 months but you can bet that the judge will not accept our appeal).

So there you have the legal route which is 'not fit for purpose' and utterly biased towards the squatter.

I have heard that amendments to the squatter eviction law was made on the 15th September where one might evict and prosecute them for 'Trespassing/Burglary' . I'm unsure whether this law is actually being enacted through the Courts but a good lawyer will know.

Here are some links that might help you.

Instructions how to deal with squatters - Terrazas del Rodeo (terrazas-del-rodeo.com)

Squatters in Spain, and how to avoid adverse possession (spanishpropertyinsight.com)

There is however other ways but not entirely legal but are mentioned in you-tube videos (where you 'out-squat ' the squatter).

If it happens to us again we are not planning to pursue the legal route and we may have to hire a negotiating company to get them out (might cost us 500-1000 euros but it will be cheaper).

Desokupa tu Vivienda con FueraOkupas. Empresa de Desocupación

Kevman wrote on Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:02pm:

Wow that is awful!! Probably best to wait till they go out and you move back in with a couple of burly friends, throw their shit on the garden! judging by the legal route I think you could end up suicidal. Then maybe change the locks and put metal guards up and sign up with securitas. 

tebo53 wrote on Fri Aug 13, 2021 6:02pm:

Steve6 is correct and you may have an expensive fight on your hands which could, potentially,  take months and months.

You will need a Spanish court order to evict squatters. The police will not act without a court order.

Read more...

Steve

Stormy1 wrote on Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:06pm:

So sorry you find yourself in this position.  Spanish law is very strange and also slow. I hope there are no children involved because they do not like evicting children.  Someone near us thought he could disconnect the electricity and water to the property and that would force them out...

Read more...

... but apparently that is illegal!!  I hope you succeed in getting them out and then I would recommend an alarm.  Nearby a bungalow had all its windows bricked up whilst it was waiting to be sold in order to prevent squatters.

Kevman wrote on Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:16pm:

I don’t think it’s illegal to cut off your water and electricity, how the hell are squatters going to make you pay for all the electricity and water they want with you paying the bill. Probably nobody would miss aggressive squatters if they went missing.

Kevman wrote on Wed Aug 18, 2021 5:16pm:

I don’t think it’s illegal to cut off your water and electricity, how the hell are squatters going to make you pay for all the electricity and water they want with you paying the bill. Probably nobody would miss aggressive squatters if they went missing.

Balmer9 wrote on Wed Aug 18, 2021 7:11pm:

I really feel for you. This may be no help to you, but anyway, i was recently at a wedding, and got talking to a English lady who had a property near to Torrevieja. She told me that she had had squatters for years in a property below hers, they were so bad she couldn't use her own property for 2 ...

Read more...

...years (and it was a property she rented out to pay the mortgage). They used to bathe in the swimming pool, and just dumped their rubbish all over. They used Spanish solicitors etc but they were as much use as a chocolate fireguard so in the end the community clubbed together and paid them 4000 euro's to leave. The squatters apparently then headed off to Barcelona, no doubt to find another property to squat in. . In the UK i own and manage property, and when i get any issues with non payment of rent, drug taking or people not leaving when they should, i do not go down the legal route, i use force. I recently forcibly removed 2 men from a flat by kicking the door in, and physically throwing them out. My son and i closed down a drug den about a year ago and put all their belongings in the tip. I know everything i do is illegal, but i have never had a complaint or had an issue about it. The way i do it, is far cheaper and quicker. I suggest you find someone to do it for you, you will save a fortune and these scum need to be taught a lesson.  

Benson wrote on Wed Aug 18, 2021 11:45pm:

Thank you for your comments. It’s difficult when you live in the uk and don’t know anyone out there. The laws are different and you don’t want to cross the laws and end up inside as they seem to support the squatters . Just trying to decide  the best course of action to take . Or someb...

Read more...

...ody who has had the same problem and found the best course of action . Regards Benson