"Leave your house for 48hrs and you can lose it to squatters forever."
My father passed away in August 2022 and I went to Spain then to collect papers from his house in Cartama Estacion and take his ashes home. He had lived there for 22 years.
In February 2023 Curro, the neighbour below my house contacted a friend, Mario, who lived here and was helping me acting as caretaker to say that someone had broken in. The police were called but did nothing as the squatters claimed to have been there for several weeks even though Curro and Mario both stated they had just got in. The police still did nothing and left them in the house even though they can remove them in the first 48 hours. It was reported immediately and I was in Spain the next day but they did nothing. If they had removed them I wouldn't have been living a 2 year nightmare and none of this would be happening now. Mario then went to file a complaint for me. Nothing ever came of this and Mario has since died.
I contacted an eviction company who went to the house but also did nothing as there were children in there which we had told them. The squatters then called the police on us!!
I contacted other eviction companies but none would do anything until the house was in my name. My inheritance lawyer, Patricia Rivas advised I leave it until closer to the time I was able to sell as others could break in if I evicted the current squatters.
My father left an English will and as such I had to apply for probate in the UK before my lawyer could process my inheritance in Spain which took a very long time because of a backlog due to covid.
Curro told me in July this year that no one was living there so I hired another eviction company to come with me while I secured the house. When they went though magically someone was in there again so their lawyer was going to apply to the courts for an eviction but I don't believe this ever happened. I believe they are being tipped off.
On Monday last week I had a Spanish friend back home call the police in Cartama who advised I come and secure the house to prevent anyone else getting in which I did but it seems that was a waste of time because the police don't do anything.
On 20th September I received a message from Curro who is a neighbour to say there were lots of police at the house. As I am in England I couldn't get there so contacted my inheritance lawyer who made some calls and found out it was a raid.
I have since discovered that the house was being occupied by drug dealers until the Guardia Civil raided it on 20th September, sealed it and it has been empty since this date. The local police advised me to come and secure and alarm it as soon as possible which I have done last week. I was at the house on Monday and Tuesday when I fitted a new lock to the outside gates and through the windows it was clear to see the property was empty. On Wednesday I returned to fit new locks and install an alarm with a locksmith, an alarm installer from securtias direct and my estate agent and they broke in 5 hours after we left. The alarm was triggered and the police attended along with myself and my estate agent Peppe. The police refused to remove them because they claimed they have lived there for 2 years which is a lie. Peppe verified this but they still did nothing. I tried to explain that they could verify the raid and the house was empty but they kept saying it was a separate issue. If they had bothered to go into the house they could clearly see it was unoccupied. I am desperate to have them removed as the house is for sale and now my agent cannot go there. I have photos and video showing that the property was empty, no possessions no food etc and one image of the offender captured by the alarm before it was destroyed.
I believe that Guardia Civil were negligent and in dereliction of duty by not removing them from the house under Article 245 of the Spanish penal code.
I have been failed badly twice now and it makes me think the authorities are being paid to let them stay. There is something seriously wrong with this and they need to be held to account for not doing their job.
The squatters have now targeted my estate agent and threatened him so I'm extremely worried about his safety.
The potential buyer provided them with €2000 to vacate the property. However, they accepted the money and subsequently threatened him with a rifle and a vicious dog when he came to collect the keys..
Rather stupidly the conartists made videos to boast about how they fooled the man as you can see below.