Shameful Tenant Tactics To Avoid Eviction

[Humbug]

Out of desperation , I have sent a complaint email to the Spanish Minister Of Justice : Dolores Delgado GarcÃ*a

I have advised her that after this court case is over , we will be telling our story to the Spanish Newspapers about how a 'Provincial President' of a Political Party (ie. our tenant) could be given many thousands of euros in free legal aid when he had enough money (ie. 18k) to stop his eviction so that he could raise an appeal. I've asked her whether she thought this was 'Spanish Justice' and why would a Landlord consider renting their properties to Spanish residents.

I have also found out (and I wish the Abogados would actually explain the law more clearly to their clients ) that any outstanding 'Fuel' utility bills are not linked to the property but to the name of the person whose name/NIE is deemed the 'Contract Holder' with the energy company.

Therefore, if the 'contract holder' is in the name of the tenant , then they are legally liable to pay any outstanding fuel bills , not the property owner.

So now us Landlords can use Spanish rules/laws to our own advantage bypassing the poor Spanish legal system to get rid of tenants defaulting on their rent.

1. Contact the energy company and ask for the 'Contract Owner' to be changed to us the 'Landlord'. Give them a copy of the deeds , provide them your NIE, open up a Spanish bank account and complete a direct debit mandate.
2. Then once the contract owner is changed , empty your bank account , cancel the direct debit.
3. Any electricity charges accrued by tenant of flat will not be paid
4. Advise the energy company , that you don't have enough funds to pay the bills because the tenant is not paying the rent.
5. Energy company will cut off the electricity and remove the meter.
6. Tenant will leave the property

Okay the electricity company might delay cutting off the electricity and allow a substantial debt to increase which the landlord will have to pay , plus a hefty re-connection charge. Isn't that better than paying tens of thousands of euros to the Spanish legal system that will drag out for years (in our case over 4yrs at a total cost of 24k euros in lost salary due to travel back and forth to Spain, court costs , etc etc)?

I cannot envisage the electricity company allowing debts increasing into the thousands before cutting off the supply.

The above seems to be the easiest way to get rid of tenants who default on their rent while still being allowed free legal aid to appeal and delay eviction for years.

Time for landlords to fight back