Okupas: the time it takes to evict a squatter in Spain has increased

The length of time that property owners in Spain have to wait for a ruling to evict squatters from their homes continues to increase. Currently, the average period has increased to 20.5 months, between the procedures of the Courts of First Instance and those of the Provincial Courts.

According to the latest data from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the average period of verbal possession proceedings for illegal occupation of dwellings in the Courts of First Instance and Civil Courts of Instruction stood at 10.9 months in 2022, compared to 9.6 months a year earlier. In just four years, the period has more than doubled (in 2018, the average for the country as a whole was 4.9 months).

But to these times must be added the time taken for appeals of judgements in the Provincial Courts in civil proceedings, which in 2022 recorded an average of 9.6 months, also above the 8.5 months of the two previous years and the less than 7 months recorded in 2017 and 2018.

In both cases, this is the highest figure in the historical series of the CGPJ and raises the total average term by more than two months with respect to 2021, from 18.1 months to the current 20.5 months. However, the data differ depending on the autonomous communities.

Different eviction times in the Autonomous Regions

In regions such as the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Castile and Leon and the Valencian Community, the first instance procedure takes more than 11 months or even a year, which is the case in Andalusia and Murcia. On the other side of the table are La Rioja, Navarre and the Basque Country, with an average of less than seven months.

If we add to these periods the regional averages of the hearings, four of these regions repeat at the top of the national ranking, with periods above the average. These are Andalusia (22.5 months), the Balearic Islands (23.2 months), the Canary Islands (23.5 months) and Castile and Leon (31.5 months). In the latter case, it is worth noting that appeals against judgments are delayed by almost 20 months, which is more than double the national average. This results in a total delay of more than two and a half years.

Legislation and judicial malfunctioning

Experts criticise the fact that it is taking longer and longer to evict a squatter in Spain, something that is caused, according to Arantxa Goenaga, lawyer and partner of Círculo Legal Barcelona, by "the malfunctioning of the Justice Administration due to the lack of resources". In addition, she warns that the deadline will increase even more this year due to "the different strikes that are taking place".

According to the lawyer, the tendency will increase, as the new Housing Law is now added to the judicial bottleneck, a regulation that will further increase the time it takes to evict squatters "due to the series of requirements and formalities that are demanded in order to bring a judicial procedure of these characteristics". All of this, she insists, is causing many owners to opt to sell so as not to have a property that is susceptible to squatting and is causing investors to lose confidence.

Ricardo Bravo, spokesperson for the Platform of People Affected by Squatting (PAO), also blames the functioning of the Administration and the strikes for the delays that occur both in sentences and in evictions. And, regarding the Housing Law, Bravo criticises that "until now the paralysation of evictions was something provisional that had been promoted via decrees since 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. But with the law it is now permanent, so it will be a problem until the regulations are changed or repealed".

For José Ramón Zurdo, a lawyer specialising in leases and director general of the Agencia Negociadora del Alquiler (ANA), the problem with the delays in evicting squatters with a firm ruling is the legislation. "It has been legislated in this way, overprotecting the tenant, with a whole series of measures in which legal proceedings are becoming longer and longer, and all this time, with non-payments and damage to the property, is suffered by the landlord".

In his opinion, "this is a serious mistake that is a direct consequence of the different decree laws that have been applied and the recent approval of the Housing Law, where more weight has been given to the rights of the squatter as opposed to the legitimate rights of the owner of the occupied property. We are fine with wanting to protect vulnerable families, but that cannot in any way fall on the shoulders of a private landlord". "It is barbaric," he adds.

A problem for landlords and neighbours

Squatting has become one of the main headaches for landlords and a scourge that already affects around 100,000 properties throughout Spain, according to estimates by the Plataforma de Afectados por la Ocupación (Platform of People Affected by Squatting).

Proof of the concern that the squatting phenomenon in Spain is generating, specifically that of the mafias dedicated to squatting flats, can be seen in the fact that insurance companies are launching products and coverage in this area.

The latest to join this trend has been Línea Directa, which has launched a comprehensive and specific policy for this situation, adding several benefits to help homeowners in the event of squatting. According to the group, this new insurance policy will cover loss of rent, payment of utilities, compensation for damages suffered in the property or the legal costs of eviction proceedings, among other coverage.

Spain closed 2022 with 16,726 squatting cases, which means an average of 46 cases per day, according to the latest data provided by the Ministry of the Interior. This figure is 3.17% lower than in 2021, when there were a six-year high of 17,274.

With regard to judicial proceedings, the latest data from the General Council of the Judiciary indicate that in the first quarter of 2023, 629 cases were brought before the courts, with Andalusia being the region where the highest number of lawsuits were filed (145, 23.1% of the national total), followed by the Valencian Community (with 104), Catalonia (94) and Madrid (71).

On the other hand, if we compare the volume of cases with the population in that period, the autonomous regions with the worst results are Castilla-La Mancha and the Balearic Islands, with a ratio of almost 3 verbal possessory proceedings for squatting of dwellings per 100,000 inhabitants. On the other side of the table are Navarre, Cantabria and Castilla y Léon, with less than 0.5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

The PAO insists that squatting is not only a problem for the owners, who must continue to pay taxes and utilities for the properties, but also for the neighbours, who often suffer damage to the buildings and psychological damage. Despite this, the platform criticises that "the institutions are not helping those affected".

Measures to put an end to squatting in Spain

The Rent Negotiating Agency proposes three legal changes to fight against this problem. The first is to establish prison sentences (from 6 to 12 months) for the crime of squatting. Secondly, that judges, upon request, admit the precautionary measure of eviction from occupied housing before proceedings begin. And finally, that the State Security Forces have the capacity to evict squatters in the first few days without judicial authorisation.

"With the reform of one article of the Penal Code, another of the Criminal Procedure Law, as well as new clarifying instructions from the State Attorney General's Office, judges and State Security Forces would be given decisive tools to definitively streamline the phenomenon of squatting. If these changes are not made, perhaps it is because our politicians, looking out for electoral interests and not for the general interest, are not interested in making them," insists José Ramón Zurdo.

The president of FADEI, Montserrat Junyent, for her part, defends eliminating the changes included in the Housing Law to prevent evictions and "recovering the express eviction initiatives that were being considered, as well as giving the State Security Forces and Corps room to carry out evictions of squatters quickly and effectively", emphasises Junyent.

Finally, the PAO calls for direct aid to landlords, for example through debt forgiveness or to pay lawyers' fees, or for the law to oblige squatters to take responsibility for the damage they cause. "What we are asking for is a reversal of the economic and psychological problems, but the system is designed to make us invisible," concludes Ricardo Bravo.