"Leave your house for 48hrs and you can lose it to squatters forever."
They have stolen my house!
I purchased a house in a village near Chiclana de la Frontera in 2004 with the intention of residing there for the rest of my life. I had sold my house in England to make this dream a reality.
Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to move back to the UK after many happy years of living there. Consequently, I put the house up for sale and decided to rent it out in the meantime.
In early 2020, the previous tenant left, and I was approached by a young English woman named *******. She expressed interest in moving in with her boyfriend, **********, with her mother guaranteeing the rent. The rent was low as we had an agreement that she would cover the maintenance. I wanted to keep the house occupied to keep it clean and prevent squatters from moving in. The rent for the 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom house with a swimming pool and an annex that could sleep two with its own bathroom all for only €450 a month.
Initially, she was late with the first month's rent, and then the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Understanding the difficulties they were facing, I lowered the rent and allowed some months to pass without any payments. I also covered the house maintenance during the Covid-19 period.
When Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, I hoped things would return to normal, but then ***** had a baby. During that month, I waived the rent as I knew she would be facing financial hardship.
Later, I discovered that her boyfriend was involved in illegal activities, including using the annex as a processing and drying room for cannabis and attempting an illegal electricity connection for this venture.
The police raided the house, leading to her brother's imprisonment for drug-related offenses.
Meanwhile, I received offers to buy the house and unexpectedly found an acceptable offer. I proposed to ***** that she could continue to stay by engaging in a process available in Spain called “Rent to Buy,” but she took no action. I even offered to cover the deposit on a new place and the first few months' rent, but she claimed she did not have to move due to having a child, citing the law.
Subsequently, 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.
I pursued legal action, and in January 2024, I won a case for eviction and was awarded €12,000 in damages for lost rent
Apparently she is not a squatter just a person who won't/can't pay the rent. They have not paid a penny in rent for years. She is still there, has a new Spanish boyfriend who has ( maybe ) given her a second child.
I have all the Whatsapp communications if anyone wants to see them.
To my surprise, the government suspended evictions until January 2025, with a decision to be made in November '24 about potentially extending this for another year. Meanwhile, I am still expected to pay the property rates. I consider this a form of theft by the Spanish government and plan to take this matter to the European Court of Human Rights. I believe the Spanish Government has facilitated the theft and destruction of my home, and I demand €500,000 in compensation.
I know there are others who have suffered similar ordeals, and we must come together to seek justice. Let's unite in the fight for fair compensation and justice.
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.