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Thread: Shameful Tenant Tactics To Avoid Eviction

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  1. #1

    Default Shameful Tenant Tactics To Avoid Eviction

    Hi All

    Just to show how tenants can manipulate the legal system at the expense of Landlords:

    1. Our letting agents let my father's Spanish flat out to a tenant in 2008. They didn't draft a written contract (like they did for previous tenants) and was verbal.
    2. Tenant paid rent for over 2 years, including Comunidad
    3. Tenants mother (president of block ) found out that the deeds on our flat had not been officially amended. Told her son to stop paying us rent until deeds changed.
    4. Our letting agent went out of business.
    5. Taken us many years to track down the original agent who sold us the flat (we have a contract of purchase dating back to 1979). He was willing to attend court to prove we were the owners since 1979 and then got the deeds amended to my father's name . This was done in Feb 2016
    6. Our lawyer then tried to evict tenant as if there was no written contract - lost that case - our lawyer made a mistake - cost us £4.5k court costs. Tenant was using a 'free-legal aid' lawyer at the time.
    7. We then tried to evict the tenant for non-payment of rent - statute of limitations meant we could only go back 5 years - so tenant has got away scot-free not paying 5 years rent (18k euros). Won the case and judge gave a date last year for formal eviction , that the tenant would have to pay 18k up front before lodging any appeal.
    8. On the day of eviction, the tenant paid 18k to the court and lodged an appeal (still using a free legal aid lawyer). Huh!!!
    9. The date of judgement was yesterday and we were waiting for our lawyer to advise us about the outcome. Now we hear that on that same day, the tenant made a formal complaint about his free-legal aid lawyer asking for a replacement . This meant by law the appeal judges could not deliver a judgement until a new free legal representative has been hired for our tenant.
    Therefore ,judgement and possible eviction date delayed yet again (maybe another 6 months - I don't know).
    10. Our lawyer is lodging a formal complaint against tenant for 'contempt of court' . Hoping that the court sees sense and will agree that the tenant is 'playing the system' . How can he still be getting free legal aid after paying 18k ?

    Now you can see how the law in Spain is terribly biased towards the tenant no matter how dishonest they are. We think the tenant is subletting our flat and making an absolute fortune on the side while also getting free legal aid to use every trick in the book to delay his eviction (probably also going to trash our flat before we finally get rid of this scumbag).

    Be warned, letting out your flat in Spain isn't worth all the hassle and pain.

  2. #2

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    For anyone interested here is the summary update

    1. Went through courts to evict tenant for non-payment of rent.
    2. Courts decided in our favour - judge instructed tenant to pay 18k euros before he could lodge an appeal.
    3. Tenant paid 18k the day before the eviction and raised an appeal.
    4. 4 months later , the court of appeal judged in our favour again - gave the tenant 20 days to appeal to the 'Courts Of Madrid' .

    Now awaiting to find if this tenant will be given even more 'free legal aid' by the Spanish state to appeal to the 'Courts of Madrid' . If they do agree to fund the appeal , the case could take 18 months - 2 years before a decision is made.

    So there we have it. The Spanish state offering free legal aid to tenants to live 'rent free' at the expense of the landlord.

    If the State does provide free legal aid to allow this tenant to appeal to the highest courts in Spain , then it will make a mockery of these new 'quick eviction' laws. It would mean there would be no point in landlords using legal means to evict the tenants .

    Seems that the Spanish courts have failed landlords who have used the correct legal processes. What we have now is a biased system favouring tenants who do not pay their rent , can trash the property and run up sky high utility bills for the landlords to pay later. The state even pays free legal aid for them to use the appeal process to delay eviction, leaving landlords no other option but to use 'alternative' ways to get rid of this tenant. I think there are some companies that offer these alternatives services in Spain (using their 'negotiation' skills) and maybe this is the quickest and best way going forwards.

  3. #3

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    Okay here is the status update for any Spanish Landlord who might be interested.

    Firstly , I need to correct my previous post .

    1. The tenant had to hire his own lawyer for the 1st appeal . It seems that free legal aid is not made available for appeals . So he had to use his own money.
    2. The tenant decided he would appeal to the Supreme Court of Spain - he fabricated falsely paid invoices for building works done in the interior of the flat up to 10.5k euros (in the month he moved into the flat in 2007).
    3. The Supreme Court pushed back his appeal saying they could not accept the appeal unless the tenant had proved he had paid all rent arrears up to date (which he hadn't).
    4. Tenant made up some story that he'd paid our rent to some charitable organisation .
    5. The Supreme Court ruled that his appeal was to be rejected and allowed the tenant another chance to appeal against their rejection
    6. The tenant did appeal , knowing full well that by doing so , the Supreme Court would take over a month to reply because they go on holiday for the whole of August.
    7. September arrives and we hear from our Lawyer that the Supreme Court rejected the case and pushed it back to original court that raised the first eviction notice.
    8. As soon as that happens the tenant is allowed free legal aid again , so he sacks his current lawyer.
    9. The eviction order is fast tracked and we are told the tenant will be evicted in 7 days.
    10. 4 days before eviction , the eviction order is suspended by the courts because the tenant has not got legal representation.

    So to all you potential Spanish Landlords out there , DO NOT RENT YOUR FLATS!!!!

    The current Spanish Court system is institutionally biased towards tenants and provide so many loopholes to avoid eviction. They also provide lots of opportunities for appeals and even 'appeals against appeals' to make you pay extra court and legal fees.

    So now we have to wait for the tenant to get legal representation while he still lives rent free in our flat . It has taken since May 2016 to try and evict him so don't believe all this rubbish about quick eviction laws in Spain - its all lies.
    Last edited by Humbug; 09-26-2019 at 11:34 PM.

  4. #4

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    Since my last post dated 26th Sept, here is the update in all its glory :

    11. 8 days ago the Courts ordered that a legal aid lawyer support the tenant. That was done!
    12. Now today we received notification from the Courts that the tenants lawyer refuses to support the tenant as he wants the lawyer to use yet another 'appeal' process called “recurso de queja”, but the lawyer considers this appeal not viable and does not wish to continue with the case. The period for this appeal has been suspended, and the Court has given the lawyer 10 days to make allegations. The Court will decide what to do; but obviously this issue will delay the eviction for some time.

    So here we go again with the Spanish Courts still allowing the tenant the right to delay by appealing against the 'Supreme Court ' procedures for denying his appeal to be considered .

    Now isn't my sorry history of events enough proof for all you potential Spanish Landlords to rethink renting your properties to Spanish tenants . The rental market will just keep crashing down the drain and more Spanish people will have no choice but to live on the streets.
    Last edited by Humbug; 12-07-2020 at 05:42 PM.

  5. #5
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    Hi Humbug

    Thanks for the update. I'm sorry for the predicament you are in. Spanish eviction laws are indeed a joke, as they fail to protect landlords from abusive tenants. I hope everything is sorted out soon and you can recover your property, which I doubt you will want to rent out again.

    There are companies that offer a rental insurance for landlords, perhaps this is something to explore in the future if you ever decide to put the property in the rental market again.

    Kind regards

  6. #6

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by ifv View Post
    Hi Humbug

    Thanks for the update. I'm sorry for the predicament you are in. Spanish eviction laws are indeed a joke, as they fail to protect landlords from abusive tenants. I hope everything is sorted out soon and you can recover your property, which I doubt you will want to rent out again.

    There are companies that offer a rental insurance for landlords, perhaps this is something to explore in the future if you ever decide to put the property in the rental market again.

    Kind regards
    Many thanks .

    Here is the current update

    13. The Courts have ordered the tenants free legal aid lawyer to provide legal representation.
    14. The tenant has instructed the lawyer to appeal against the Supreme Court's decision to not allow his 'original appeal' to be considered (because he hadn't paid the backlog of rent in full). The tenant has claimed that his previous lawyer gave him wrong advice to pay the backlog of rent to a third party organisation and wants the appeal reconsidered.
    Last edited by Humbug; 12-07-2020 at 05:43 PM.

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