Spanish Express Eviction Law Pre-Approved
At last the Government has pre-approved a law proposal (PDF-Spanish) to encourage property owners to rent out their properties. Even though property sales have slowed down substantially, the property rental market is not increasing, and a staggering 2.8 million properties in Spain remain empty.
The proposed changes will mainly target the excessive length of proceedings (which in some instances can take up to 12 months) to enforce an eviction process. Below is a summary of the main law changes to be approved in due course:
- Notice of payment prior to going to Court is reduced from 2 months to 1.
- The Court proceedings are now conducted via an equivalent to a small claims court procedure and are therefore a ruling can be reached in a couple of months (depending on the specific Court).
- The Court ruling will now be enough to evict a tenant and will be enforced within 30 days, without having to execute the ruling (whereas before the ruling was not automatically enforceable as the landlord had to instigate this action). If the tenant cannot be found the ruling will be notified in the notice board which each Court has and will proceed to send the bailiffs.
- Landlords will be able to demand return of the property if they need it not only for their own use but for that of parents and children. This clause will have to be inserted into the contract in order to be enforceable.
It will be interesting to see how these measures, in addition to others, bring dynamism to an otherwise stagnant market and, more importantly, if the court system will be able to cope with the expectations these changes will introduce.
Dear Sir,
When a long standing tenant has repeatedly caused community owners serious enough problems to have to involve the police on more than one occasion what process would you suggest to ensure the security of all other owners and guests is assured.
Lee,
It is possible for the Community to take action against a tenant that mis-behaves where he seriously disrupts the peace and quiet within a Community of Owners.
My father (we are US Citizens)owned an apartment in Marbella. He was ill for several years, and nobody has been in the apartment. He died in February and had done a Spanish will, giving me the apartment. I am in the process of having my attorney (in Barcelona) take over my power of attorney to go through the process of changing the deed. Presently, I am waiting for my passport Apostille to come back in the mail so I can send it. Now I have learned that a squatter has just moved in to the apartment!
I already had plans to come over to Spain in July. I have no idea where to begin to evict this woman and her baby!
Leslie,
As soon as your lawyer formalizes the act of acceptance of inheritance, at the Notary Office, you can proceed with issuing proceedings against the people that are occupying your property.
Squatters in Spain do not have rights but criminal Courts, who should be dealing with individuals who commit trespassing, are generally not in favour of criminal prosecution but tend to refer the matter to civil Courts.
This is an opinion that is provided from our professional experience but it may well be that in Barcelona, Courts view this differently.
Your lawyer should be able to guide you in this process.