In Spain, about 40 houses are seized daily (!). And it turned out that this could affect absolutely any property owner in this country. But who are the okupas? And why does it take several years to evict them from their own housing? Continue reading the personal story of the struggle for your apartment for 3 years and the lawyer’s comment on the problem of payouts in Spain.
Who are the payouts? Ocupas (from the Spanish verb ocupar — “to occupy”) is a term used in Spain to refer to persons illegally occupying empty housing. Catalonia continues to be the undisputed leader in the seizure of residential real estate — it accounts for over 42% of the total number of cases. This is followed by Andalusia, the Valencian Community and the autonomous Community of Madrid.
This is not least facilitated by the policy of the administration of many Catalan cities, which often openly encourage the actions of squatters and even issue official instructions for them that help slow down the eviction process.
“Squatters in Spain are already a separate social phenomenon”
Personal history of the fight against payoffs
Gala told us about how she faced the problem of payouts and how the process of their eviction from her apartment took place:
— I live in Catalonia. I took out a mortgage on the apartment (duplex) and planned to rent it out for a while. And at the beginning of 2020, I rented it out room by room for several months — since the apartment is two—storeyed, one floor housed some people, and the other was rented by a family of 3 people (parents of 50 years old and their daughter), which later turned out to be “payback” (payouts are people who carry out self-seizure of other people’s houses and apartments — ed.). This family paid for one month. When the tenants moved out of the upper floor, this family was left alone in the entire apartment.
When we had already agreed on the eviction, I came to pick up the keys and found that the door to the apartment was blocked. I called them and heard in response that they were supposedly not at home. In complete shock, I called the police. The police arrived when I was no longer on the spot: the okupas opened the door to them and said that, they say, they had paid for six months (probably by showing some kind of fake paper). After that, the police call me and tell me that I can only go to court now, since they are now allegedly in my apartment on legal grounds.
I turned to a lawyer who followed the path of the Criminal Code and, unfortunately, we lost a year with this lawyer — he incorrectly filed an application that the court refused to even consider. And with the second lawyer, we immediately received not only the court date, but also the date of eviction — this happened already in the second year of my litigation.
But the okupas here are quite knowledgeable, especially since they have a lot of information (in particular, the government of Barcelona and Catalonia publishes whole instructions on how to make sure that okupas is not evicted). Accordingly, these people began to use these instructions: a few days before the court, where they had to re-approve the eviction date, they turned to a free lawyer. He, in turn, said that he had little time to familiarize himself with the case — as a result, the court date was postponed for another six months, and the eviction date was postponed to February 2022.
So, in February 2022, one or two days before the eviction, another action takes place: the residents say that “we are unprotected segments of the population here, therefore we cannot be evicted.” The court suspends the eviction and reschedules the eviction until May.
By the way, the whole story of the unprotected segments of the population soon crumbled before our eyes. Due to the fact that the okupaski turned to a free lawyer, social services came to them — they recorded that in Their relative lives in Catalonia with a living space and that they can safely move in there. Moreover, they arrived in Barcelona in 2020 as tourists in general.
Are squatters home invaders or fighters for their rights? What is the situation in Europe, America, Asia and Africa
— In May, my lawyer and I come to my apartment and what we see: a crowd of people stands at my entrance and does not allow me to enter the entrance; neighbors called the police, who, upon arrival, called for reinforcements; this turned out to be not enough, so they began to call the riot police, who disperse such demonstrations; but, unfortunately Unfortunately, at that very moment there were no available cars and the riot police did not arrive. As a result, the eviction did not take place, as a representative of the court could not carry it out due to the lack of security measures. And the eviction was postponed again, now to November 2022.
It is worth noting that by this time, a political subtext had also intervened in my case: after February 2022, this family (one of the parents had a Ukrainian passport) began lobbying for the idea that, they say, living in this apartment, they were waging their little war against the Russian hostess (which, of course, a bluff, since they had been living in my apartment for two years until February).
Where did this crowd at my entrance come from? Obviously, these salaries have turned to the syndicate for the protection of salaries. There are such syndicates in every district of Barcelona and Catalonia — they are engaged in convening people to get up like this and prevent eviction. Savvy lawyers also work for these syndicates, so the slightest movement on the part of the owner will be perceived as a counteraction or a threat to the payouts — accordingly, the eviction process will be delayed for an even longer period. Therefore, it is impossible to succumb to provocations in any case.
All this time, I was watching my apartment through the Instagram of one of the payouts; I saw that they had a cat, a dog. By the way, this is also done so that they are not evicted: if a bailiff comes to evict them and sees a dog there, he may refuse to enter the apartment, since animal rights protection comes into play here, etc. Actually, all the payoffs know that they can move children and animals into the apartment in order to extend your free presence in someone else’s apartment.
Demonstrators gathered at the house to prevent the eviction of the okupas (Photo source — Tot Barcelona)
What happens next: November comes, and a week before the eviction, my lawyer and I start receiving calls and messages from people from the aforementioned syndicates; they say, “sit down with us at the negotiating table, otherwise the same thing will happen that happened last time.” To which my lawyer said that in no case should you enter into any negotiations with the blackmailers. Moreover, we already had an agreement with the court that riot police would come to the eviction this time.
Riot police arrived for the eviction, but these people were no longer in the apartment. Two entrance doors were closed and blocked from the inside, and a dog was barking from the apartment (it turned out it was an entry in the speakers). It took about 2 hours to open the doors and go inside. The payouts came out, most likely at night through a window on ropes (this is the 3rd floor).
In what condition do we find the apartment: the batteries have been stripped from the walls, the gas heater has been removed, a number of pieces of furniture, everything is in a terrible, dirty condition. In general, I had to redecorate the apartment again, since it was the first time I did it before letting the tenants in.
I got my apartment back in November 2022. That is, the whole process took 2 years and 8 months.
A court procession upon arrival at the apartment for the final eviction (Photo source — La Vanguardia)
I must say that my case was not an easy one, as there were a lot of factors preventing eviction. The first lawyer unsuccessfully applied, we lost a year with him, then political moments intervened. For many people, this happens faster.
Even if the eviction did not happen the first time, it will definitely happen the second time. It is a very common situation that after the trial it still takes six months before the eviction, because there are whole queues for these evictions. The courts have few resources, few bailiffs to go and evict squatters. They can make 3-4 evictions per day approximately, and there are hundreds of these payouts.
As for the consequences for payouts, they remain in lifelong debts, but, as a rule, it is impossible to get them out of them. All information remains in the court archives, but you need to understand that the payouts are not the people who are very worried about this.
Final eviction (Photo source — Crónica Global)
You see, there are different people everywhere, that’s not the question. The problem is that it is in Spain that this kind of behavior is, one might say, encouraged by the government; it is here that there are these syndicates that help payouts; and all this is not punishable. Salaries in Spain are already a separate social phenomenon.
I also wanted to add a remark about real estate in Spain. Due to the existence of a problem with payouts, the investment climate in the country regarding real estate is generally uninteresting; since people who want to buy something here need to protect themselves a thousand times.
What Reddit users write about payouts
Here are some stories on this topic shared by Reddit users:
The msondo user says:“I have a good friend here who lives on the top floor in a three-storey building. The apartment directly below her apartment has been illegally occupied for more than 15 years. Obviously, the woman who occupied it had a small child, and the court ruled that they could not be evicted, as this would endanger the child. The child has finally grown to the age when the law no longer applies, so the owner is now trying to evict them again, but the process has been dragging on for several years.”
The same user shares an observation: “I also see several houses here that are clearly abandoned by the owners, but occupied, at least temporarily, by strange people. It is always unpleasant to see such a house between well-maintained houses that could sell for almost a million euros.”
Reddit user 33764 transmits a story told to him by an Airbnb host in Alicante: “His way around this is to make friends with the neighbors, install cameras and alarms so that the security company can immediately call the police in case of a break—in. And do not rent to families with children, as it is more difficult to get rid of payouts with children.”
User paffnuc says:“My apartment was occupied by a ‘family’. I called the police and they just told me to get out of my house. All I could do was sue them. Now I live in another building, and there is also one apartment that has been seized.”
The user TradeFit1826 shares: “It happened in my apartment. I’ve owned it for 49 years without any problems. I visited friends and returned a couple of weeks later. Okupas refused to talk to me or leave. In the end, I paid a private company to do it, realizing how long and complicated the police/civil process would be.”
Many other users in the same discussions claim that the problem is exaggerated and not as widespread as it may seem from the media. Here are some of the similar quotes:
User UruquianLilac writes: “The best marketing campaign for alarm systems. There has been a huge increase in sales since these articles became popular. And it just so conveniently coincides with political programs that represent one side as a party that wants your house to be occupied.”
The same user explains: “Squatting was originally a political and social movement demanding public investment in public facilities and condemning the institutional abandonment of public property, often with the explicit purpose of speculation and privatization.”
Another user’s comment:“There are serious housing problems in Spain, mainly caused by the same speculation processes that squatters have opposed since the 80s, but much more acute due to the turisticification of city centers, the displacement of local residents through unaffordable rent increases, if not directly through the refusal to maintain buildings or direct threats”.
Payouts in Spain. The legislative aspect
Squatting in Spain (illegal seizure of property) — this is a serious problem. The National Organization of People Affected by Seizures (ONAO) reports that in 2022 the number of such invaders in Spain increased by 20% compared to 2021. It is noted that about 40 houses are being seized per day. As you might guess, squatters are also a threat to real estate investors in Spain, who should take this point into account before embarking on the purchase process.
It should be noted that cases of such seizure of houses or apartments are found in different countries: in France, in the USA, Germany, etc. But in In Spain, this is more global and painful.
Squatting in Spain became possible thanks to the 1994 Law “Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos” (Urban Rental Law): It allows people to occupy unused or abandoned properties without the owner’s permission. They must then prove that they have used the property for a certain period of time. The law was intended to provide housing for vulnerable segments of the population, but it is currently being abused by a huge number of people.
It is important to understand the legal consequences of squatters seizing property in Spain. Firstly, Spanish law explicitly states that illegal occupation of someone else’s property is a crime. Article 245 of the Spanish Criminal Code states: “Any person who, without proper permission, occupies property, dwelling or building belonging to another person and not being his place of residence, or remains in the property against the will of the owner, shall be punished by three to six months imprisonment.”
However, there is a big difference in Spanish law between the terms “usurpación” (illegal seizure of something without the right) and “allanamiento de morada” (breaking and entering). Encroachment on possessions occurs in the case of unauthorized entry into a residential premises — in this case, a penalty of imprisonment for up to four years is provided. Squatting usually falls under the category of “usurpation”, that is, a crime committed when the object is uninhabited for some time.
According to current Spanish law, the express eviction of okupas from their occupied housing by the police is possible only within 48 hours from the moment of their invasion. After this period, the invaders can only be evicted through the court.
Therefore, apart from the economic damage, one of the biggest problems is related to the time it takes for the courts to issue a verdict allowing the squatters to be evicted. According to the latest data from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), final court decisions on the eviction of squatters were made in an average of 18.1 months. This means that the owners manage to return their house back in total more than 1.5 years after its capture.
The Pizza Tactic and other tactics used by squatters
One of the squatters’ tactics is the so-called “Pizza Tactic”, which originated in Catalonia in 2018.
The technique works as follows: The squatters order pizza at the address they have chosen to capture; they stop the courier and pay for the pizza; then they disappear for two days to occupy the house on the third day; when the police arrive, they can present a pizza coupon confirming that they have been in the house for more than 48 hours. This prevents immediate eviction — when squatters can “prove” that they have been in the house for at least 48 hours, their case must be reviewed by a judge.
However, lawyer Mark Pairo Pujol noted the following in our conversation: “I have to say that the police are not stupid at all. They won’t draw conclusions based on a check alone. They will ask the neighbors about the owners, etc.”
Another tactic used by the okupas is the seizure of someone else’s housing in order to obtain a ransom from the owners. According to representatives of ONAO, on average, fraudsters charge from 3 to 5 thousand euros for a quick departure without causing damage to the decoration, furniture and household appliances. At the same time, 25-30% of this amount goes to mafia structures specializing in this type of shadow “business” (searching for suitable objects, collecting information about the owners, spying on them, etc.).
Also, recently, tactics such as “inquiocupación” (from inquilino — “lodger”) have been spreading more and more actively. This means that the landlord lets these people into his house himself, they promise to pay the rent, then stop paying and turn into payouts.
At the moment, it is enough for the payouts to provide a false lease agreement so that the judge cannot order an immediate eviction. Eventually, the judge will conclude that the squatter is illegally occupying the house, but this process will take a long time.
Lawyer’s view on the problem of “squatters” in Spain
Marc Pairo Pujol, a lawyer and partner at Roca Mobility, shared his vision of the situation with us.
— The fact is that Spanish law says: “Everyone has the right to housing.”
So, there are two different situations that may arise in connection with the “squatter case”. The first is when you leave your apartment for a short time, and then find that it is occupied by strangers. Then the law is completely on the side of the owner, and in such situations the owner will always win in court. The question is how long it will take him.
The second situation is when the house has been abandoned for many years. In this situation, when the owner appears and sees strangers in this house, he has a problem. In this case, he doesn’t have many chances to evict these people.
Therefore, the most important thing is a quick reaction. Then it won’t be a big problem.
It is worth noting that there is a lot of misinformation on this issue, which, of course, is sad. Besides, it’s sad to say this, but right now it’s a big business on both sides. Some people help squatters take over property; on the other hand, some people earn money by advising people on how to protect themselves from recoupments, etc.
It is also important to say that delays in resolving such issues are more relevant to the courts. Currently, the courts in Spain are inundated with requests from many sides, so this is the main problem.
Author
Yulia Yanukovych Editor-in-Chief
I am responsible for the work of the editorial office. I write expert interviews and guides.
English 
Russian 
German 
Polish