The occupation by squatters at the Sol y Mar in Cala Bona raised concerns that it could set a precedent and lead to copycat incidents. The Sol y Mar was unprecedented, but only because of the nature of the establishment - an aparthotel. In Cala d'Or there are tourist apartments which have had squatters since 2020, a case that only first really came to general public attention in autumn 2023.
The owner is Jordi Chalé. In 2019, he inherited the apartment blocks. Six years ago, a third party to whom the apartments were rented out stopped payments. Covid followed, and this third party asked the owner to forgive the outstanding debt from 2019. As it was to turn out, the non-payment wasn't to be Jordi Chalé's biggest headache. In September 2020 he reported usurpation and trespass to the Guardia Civil. "And here we are in 2025 trying to defend private property."
To this day he doesn't know exactly how many apartments were occupied. He calculates seventy, around a half. Unlike the Sol y Mar, where the water and electricity had been cut off at the end of the 2024 season, the services were still being supplied. In itself this represented a combined cost of some two thousand euros per month. Lawyers told him that maintaining the services would help his case.
He and his representatives held talks with the Guardia Civil and Santanyi Town Hall. "Social services told us it was a private individual's problem and left the meeting. As there was no solution, the courts requested us to start procedures for squatting against each of the cases."
The next step was to contact the squatters' lawyers. He says they demanded 10,000 euros for each apartment for the squatters to leave. Many of them did leave. With preventive measures taken - new alarms and security cameras - Jordi Chalé is aware of there now only being nine people, including school-age children and an elderly woman. "They are part of the same gypsy family who claim to have been living there for sixteen years."
He has had the occasional brush with the squatters. One attacked him. This was recorded by a bodycam he was wearing. Another tried to cut off the electricity so that he could report Jordi. "When I stopped him he tried to attack me with a stone." Meanwhile, the apartments had started to acquire a reputation as the 'Son Banya of Cala d'Or'. Marijuana was being grown, and so the police became involved but only because of this.
There are now two legal proceedings against the last squatters. Definitive solutions from the courts are therefore pending. Some five years on, an end to what has been a nightmare may just be in sight. But if there is an end, then comes the cost of restoring the apartments.
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Gypsies ey. Don't you just love them?