DOWNANDOUT

Yes , that looks like good news for landlords (at last).

DOWNANDOUT

Update:
The eviction was suspended but you won't believe what happened.

My brother who lives in the UK , visited the flat 4 years ago to identify its location. He took camera photos of the outside and street entrances (via double doors to the stairwells and corridors of the block leading to our apartment). We sent his photos to our Solicitor who forwarded it onto the courts officials doing the eviction.

The court officials used the street entrance photos we gave them and couldn't find the flat - therefore they suspended the eviction.

My brother now thinks he took photos of 2 street entrances leading into the block but then deleted the 'correct' street entrance photo and retained the wrong photo (the flat photo is correct but the street entrance info wrong). Therefore the officials decided the location was not 100% certain and suspended the eviction.

I am so angry at my brother for making this mistake , our one window of opportunity to evict this tenant in over 2.5 years has now gone. The courts will now charge us another 500 euros to request another eviction date . But on the other hand, why didn't the court officials just go through the other street entrance up to the 2nd floor and look for our flat number on the door ? They didn't even try to find our flat or ring the 'President' (the tenants mother ) and just ask for the correct street entrance number. I gave the court officials her telephone number but they couldn't be bothered.

I'll provide another update probably in another 9 weeks (ie. that's how long it took for SCNE to set an eviction date).

There is only one positive coming out of this catastrophe and that is the possibility that the tenant knew he was being evicted on Tuesday and has paid for a removal company to move his furniture, washing machine , fridge, TV etc. I suspect he must be very annoyed to find out that the eviction has been suspended.

DOWNANDOUT

I have been delving deeply into this last 'suspension of eviction' and it will be very disturbing if we find the tenant is still in our flat .

1. The tenant was made aware on Friday evening 2nd Oct that an eviction was taking place on Tuesday 6th Oct (early morning).
2. There was no time for his lawyer to raise a petition to stop the eviction (ie. only Monday to do this and it takes days to process through the courts).
3. Why would the tenant risk losing his belongings (fridge, tv, cooker, beds, furniture , crockery , washing machine , heaters , etc ) knowing he would have only 'X' minutes to clear out on Tuesday morning or lose ownership to us. He would have no choice but to hire a removal company and move all his goods to another location on Saturday- Monday.

Now if the tenant is still there with all his goods and still enjoying his rent-free life, would what that suggest? Could it mean he knew beforehand that the eviction was going to be suspended by the court officials before Tuesday deadline? That is a very worrying conspiracy theory indeed and I hope I'm wrong .

missile

Do you have a friend who could go and check if tenant has moved out?
Have you asked your solicitor to check?
Employ a gestor to check?

I would suggest you arrange to change the locks and secure the property asap.

DOWNANDOUT

I have contacted someone who might be able to visit our flat , confirm the street door entrance and take a few photographs that may help the court officials the next eviction date.

What I don't understand is why the Courts depend on the landlord directions and why can't they use the Town Hall website that allows free reports showing the schematics of each flat and the stairwells for access. Surely they knew that the street entrance my brother gave them was the wrong one because it was in another street around the corner of where our flat is located (with the 'correct' street entrance doors directly underneath).

My father is the landlord but he is 90 years old and blind so if we weren't around would they be expecting my father to provide them the intricate details to locating the flat (ie. 100 yds here , 60 steps up , turn left, the brown door with xx number on it)?

We can't personally attend the eviction by travelling to Spain from the UK because of the COV19 threat . Plus the fact we would have to self-isolate for 14 days on our return and the subsequent impact this would have on our employment. Employers would not be very happy if their employees went purposely to a country that is listed as not COV19 safe.

For the moment we hope the court officials have enough common-sense to just go through the correct street entrance doors , up the stairs to the 2nd floor, turn left and its there (only 2 flats on this landing , our one on the left with a balcony and, unfortunately , the tenants parents live in the flat located to the right).

We have a 'perfect storm' of a rented apartment, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong and I can imagine there is lots more grief to look forward to.

inbarcelona

Why don´t you employ one of the companies that get rid of Okupas. As far as I know they act legally.

DOWNANDOUT

We will next time (if there is another next time). We are at the last stage of the eviction process so no point using any of those companies at this moment.

We've just had some bad news from our solicitor regarding the 1st eviction case (which we lost because our Abogados used the wrong eviction process - something called 'Precario') . The last we heard from our old solicitor was that they were attempting to nullify the plaintiffs 'court/free legal-aid solicitor' costs for that failed case , but it looks like they didn't do anything. We have never been notified about the final cost via our Abogados or received any demand or breakdown of the plaintiffs free-legal aid solicitor's charges. Now the plaintiffs original solicitor (he's had 5 different ones so far) has issued an enforcement action against us for non-payment adding even more costs for this 'enforcement' process plus interest (ie. the failed case was dated back in Jan 2018). So they want us to pay 4,700 euros otherwise they will put an embargo on our property and possibly repossess and auction it off.

We are hoping that our current solicitor will be able to offset our debt to the plaintiff against what he owes us in this 2nd eviction case (which he's lost) . But I doubt that the Spanish courts will agree because they know that the chances of their costs being paid by the tenant is zero while we have an asset (our property) . They know that we will pay the 4.7k rather than lose our property.

missile

"possibly repossess and auction it off."
That might be one / the only way to end your nightmare?

tebo53

Just read this article in the Olive Press. Looks like some owners will also be having this nightmare!!


https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-n...roperties/amp/

Steve

DOWNANDOUT

Update :

The good news is that the courts have requested the SCNE to arrange another eviction date .

The bad news is the numerous ways that the tenant can still stop the eviction from being carried out on the day.

If the court officials cannot gain access to the stairwells through the 'locked' street doors . the eviction will be suspended again. There is a Dialpad outside the street entrance doors so unless someone is willing to allow the courts officials entry when they press all the buzzer buttons (or they catch the door open when someone is entering/exiting) , they will probably suspend the eviction . A local person did visit on our behalf a few days ago and found the street door entrance locked which does not bode well for the next attempted eviction.

This could drag out for years if the tenant manages to keep the street entrance door locked with the help of his neighbours. It's completely insane how biased the court process is towards the tenant and ultimately anti-landlord.

The only way to gain access would be for us to fly over to Spain the day before the eviction, sit outside the street door entrance waiting for someone to open the door , then gain entry and just park ourselves inside until the court officials arrive .

The problem is we've spent many hundreds of pounds on flights /taxis/hotels the day before a planned eviction for it to be suddenly suspended because the tenant has dismissed his lawyer or submitted a petition at the last moment .

I'm wondering whether we can order a key to be made by the local locksmith for the street entrance door (we have the nota simple to prove we are the owners) and then have it posted by special delivery to our lawyer.

Running out of ideas now!!!!

I've attached a picture of the 'Dialpad' if anyone is interested and think the numbers are labelled 'Left ' and 'Right ' . Was wondering what that means . For example , does pressing one of the left buttons communicate with the flat on the left side of the block as seen from the outside?

scot47

Maybe the moral is, "Do not become a landlord in a foreign jurisdiction."

DOWNANDOUT

100% true . What an absolute nightmare.

If we'd known about these bizarre court procedures before we went down the 'legal route' (as flouted by most Spanish lawyers as 'express eviction') , we'd have used other means to get him out of our flat.

missile

You own an apartment, but do not have the keys?
Why have you not arranged duplicates?
Have you asked your solicitor to advise?
Have you considered employing a Gestor?

It is very important that you or your agent should be present at the eviction, take vacant possession and change the locks. Otherwise tenant may simply move back in.

scot47

being an absentee landlord is not a ticket to easy money !

Mark604

"does pressing one of the left buttons communicate with the flat on the left side of the block as seen from the outside?"
My brother lives in flats labelled front and back, so it makes sense.