From this Thursday, April 3, it will be possible to evict squatters in no more than around 15 days rather than what can take up to two years. This is because of amendment to Spain's Criminal Procedure Law which has added the crimes of usurpation and breaking and entering so that these can be processed by the courts within a maximum of seven to eight days. The period for eviction will be of a similar length.
The amendment also specifies that people affected by the squatting may request the imposition of precautionary measures. So if a judge deems it appropriate, the eviction could be ordered in an even shorter time.
The change to the law was pushed for by the Basque National Party (PNV) and had the support of the Partido Popular. José Vicente Marí, a PP representative for the Balearic Islands in Congress, says it is "a very positive measure" but adds that it is not sufficient. "Court deadlines are already very long because the minister of justice, José Féliz Bolaños, has not done his job and dedicated the resources that the justice system needs to be expeditious. The speedy trial provided for in the amendment is very positive, but we fear it could overwhelm the courts."
This latest measure, it should be noted, does not affect vulnerable people, as they cannot be evicted under regulations approved by the Spanish Government.
Marí blames the government for having facilitated squatting. The state housing law, he says, is causing many people to take their properties off the rental market, as they fear that tenants will declare themselves vulnerable and stop paying rent; owners are then unable to evict them.
He is demanding that the Speaker of the Congress of Deputies, former Balearic president Francina Armengol, processes the anti-squatter law proposed by the PP and approved by the Senate. "It is essential to pass this law, but Armengol has it frozen in Congress. More measures are needed." In this regard, he believes it essential that evictions can be carried out immediately - within the first 24 hours of an occupation.
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".....This latest measure, it should be noted, does not affect vulnerable people....." Define vulnerable. Are not the owners who lose their homes to squatters vulnerable? Under current law, aren't owners prevented from entering their own property while squatters are in possession and have to pay to stay in an hotel or a rental property deemed to be extremely vulnerable? I think they are.