Nand

What a nightmare! Spain is now crossed off my list, even as a holiday destination for goodness sakes.

DOWNANDOUT

Here is the update on our situation:

• The keys to our flat ,after the Jan'21 eviction, resided with our lawyer in Alicante.
• We asked him to courier it over by DHL to us in the UK - done within 24 hours
• We received 2 sets of 2 keys (we were expecting just 2 identical keys)
• Found out that the other 2 keys were for the street entrance door (Hooray!!!!)
• My brother booked a hotel and flight to Calpe last Friday so he can finally enter the flat (he's never entered it before)
• Arrived late evening on the 20th checked the street entrance key fitted the security door (worked ! Hooray)
• Went up to the flat and inserted the key - went in almost but just failed. Jiggled it around but nothing. I thought it was a fault with the key because he cut a few duplicates and maybe he brought a flawed cut one instead of the original (but he said it was the original)
• He went back outside to see if he could spot any lights or persons inside our flat via the balcony windows - no sign of life - went back to hotel .
• I advised him that maybe the lock was suffering from dry cylinder and to use some WD40 to lubricate the pins
• He tried the next morning but the key wouldn't go in fully . Called the locksmith who replaced the lock at our last eviction in Jan'21 .
• He looked at the lock and didn't recognise it so went to get more tools to unlock it .
• While he was doing that , our ex-tenants father attacked my brother pushing him and our locksmith away from our flat door , then our ex-tenant appeared and together they were pushing my brother down the concrete stairs, my brother resisted and the ex-tenant fell against the door and broke the lock into pieces (grazing his arm ). So the door is wide open and no lock - just holes in the door.
• They continued to push my brother downstairs outside the entrance of the building while my brother (who is 64 yrs old) asked our locksmith to phone the police
• In the meantime some worker from the ground floor restaurant approached my brother to hit him with a long metal rod /skewer but was prevented by some lady passing by.
• The police came, took my brothers passport and NIE details and asked my brother to make a statement at the local police station
• My brother, now a nervous wreck and badly bruised walks to a nearby police station who says he needs to go to other one (not giving him any instructions ). He walks 2 km in the heat to another police station and finds it's closed . Exhausted he calls me in the UK and I google search and find another Guardia Civil police station.
• My brother goes to this station to make a statement but they said he needed a translator - apparently the police only request a translator (from some company they use) for people who have been accused of committing a crime , not the victims.
• We google search to try and find translators but many of them do not reply because it means actually travelling and sitting with my brother at the station.
• Desperate , we ask for anyone who can assist my brother using the Calpe forum - that we would pay them 100 euros. Luckily some kind heart who lived locally volunteered to assist my brother in his hour of dire need.
• Today my brother had to visit the local hospital for an examination of his body that is badly bruised , especially his ribs (he's too old and unfit for all this violence)
• He is now waiting in a long line to make a statement to the Police.
• Our property now has an open door for anyone to occupy the flat . If we ask the locksmith to secure it , the tenant and his family will just immediately break the lock and replace it with another. My brother cannot risk visiting the flat without a police presence .
• He's spent a small fortune on this trip just to see the inside of our own flat and was violently prevented from doing so .
• We are hoping that the tenant and father and that restaurant worker will be charged with assault and intent to harm.

Our locksmith informed us that this was the 4th time he has changed the locks on our front door and said that the tenant and family were scum. So it seems obvious to me that the tenant has broke back in , changed the locks , sublet it and then those people stop paying him rent, so had no option but to change the locks to get rid of bad tenants.

I've told my brother that maybe this isn't worth all the hassle but I think this experience has made him even more determined to keep the property and then sell it. Even if it means more thousands of euros installing security doors , property management service, court evictions , etc.

So the nightmare is not over yet.

Mark604

I presume your brother has the necessary paperwork with him, plus the contact of the solicitor, that prove he is the owner. Plus any paperwork to do with the eviction.
All to show the police.
Also, if the police have been called before to do with the eviction, who was the officer/were the officers attending.
This info may shortcut all the story being told again and again to them.

DOWNANDOUT

Yes, luckily my brother had every document regarding the previous court case, eviction. It took 4 hours in total for the whole process and there is a 6 page document to complete at the Police station . They have written statements from witnesses , etc , especially about that man who came at my brother with a metal skewer. He also luckily had all his medical documentation for the hospital visit to examine and record all his injuries (especially his ribs- he can't even touch them they hurt so much).

We don't know whether the ex-tenant/father have also submitted their own statements but the burning question will be why they were trying to prevent my brother from entering his own premises.

I have also made a complaint to the 'British Consulate Of Alicante' asking if they can investigate why the police didn't heed my warnings (I sent them 5 emails) that the ex-tenant and his family might cause us future problems after the Jan'21 eviction . They didn't even confirm receipt of my emails and they could have advised us to contact them to provide a police presence before we entered our property. None of this would have happened if they'd been a bit more proactive.

Mark604

".......but the burning question will be why they were trying to prevent my brother from entering his own premises."
Do they know he is the owner, i.e. recognise him? If so then obviously they are claiming the apartment as theirs to do with as they wish.
If not, then they don't know who he is and were just protecting 'their own' property.

"While he was doing that , our ex-tenants father attacked my brother pushing him and our locksmith away from our flat door , then our ex-tenant appeared.... "
That was convenient then for them. How did they know so quickly your brother was there?
I'd also keep going back at night to see if there are lights on.
I appreciate your brother is shaken up and he may have been told he can't go back without the police being present, however, that wouldn't stop me. I'd cause as much trouble as I could, in pain of being assaulted again, which I bet they are now loath to do because they actually don't want the police involved at all.

Further to that - "Our property now has an open door for anyone to occupy the flat." - and again with the risk of being assaulted, scream blue murder if it happens, that's why I'd be camping in the apartment sending out for supplies to be delivered - in effect "squat" in there and turn the tables, with the police on speed dial.

Where is the electric meter? Is it accessible from outside the apartment? Is it worth taking the reading and then returning a few times to see if the power is being used?
Who was the worker from the restaurant? Another relative?

If your brother is now there, he has to be proactive. He can't just give up and go home and wait for processes to happen. He's the same age as me. I'd be in there like a shot and bugger the (police) consequences.

Stingychips

If you were a Spanish national landlord this problem would have sorted ages ago.

SanNico

Sounds awful. But where is your lawyer in all of this and why didn't he come to the police station? Taking matters in to your own hands isn't helping and I'd say it's likely your brother is going to end up being charged with assault and the neighbour will say he was preventing someone breaking in which could be the case given the history. I'm no lawyer but if you break down the situation to the facts of the incident, excluding the history, it's not in your favour:

Neighbour sees stranger attempting to gain access to property with a locksmith. Neighbour tries to prevent this happening and son is pushed with enough force to break the lock in to small pieces, the same lock that a locksmith had so far failed to breach. Restaurant owner sees/hears commotion but does not atttack anyone. Stranger uses a forum member as a translator instead of contacting his lawyer. Stranger transpires to be owner/brother of owner. Owner/brother was expecting trouble due to the history of the property but turned up to gain entry without legal assistance and presumably didn't record any of the expected events.

If it was me, I'd stop digging and let the lawyers deal with it. I certainly wouldn't be walking in to police stations with unofficial translators and non legal advisors.

As for the door, if you've left it unsecured then you're more or less inviting the nightmare to continue

DOWNANDOUT

"Do they know he is the owner, i.e. recognise him? If so then obviously they are claiming the apartment as theirs to do with as they wish.
If not, then they don't know who he is and were just protecting 'their own' property."
Yes , the tenant and father have already met my brother during the 1st and 2nd eviction court cases. How can they claim the apartment as theirs ? We have the nota simple showing the property is legally ours and also my brother has a copy of the 'Power Of Attorney' with him (which the father tried to steal during the affray). Our locksmith was there too and he knew that we were the legal owners and had full POA , otherwise he wouldn't have attended to fix the lock problem.

"I'd say it's likely your brother is going to end up being charged with assault and the neighbour will say he was preventing someone breaking in which could be the case given the history."
The neighbour is the father of the tenant we evicted in Jan'21 through the courts. The mother (and now the father) claim to be the Presidents of the block.
There are no witnesses that can claim that my brother attacked anyone . He was trying to gain access to his own property because he thought the lock was broken and had hired a locksmith to assist him showing him full POA documents and a Nota Simple. The first question the Police will ask is why was the 'ex-tenant' there? Also if the tenants father thought someone was breaking in why didn't they contact the Police? Why did the father put up a notice (while my brother and locksmith were there) claiming that the property is owned by the 'Community Of Owners' ? They know the local locksmith and he wasn't trying to break in , in fact he has changed the lock on our front door 4 times. Once for the eviction and obviously another 3 times for the tenant and his family when they were illegally subletting it. The Police have copies of the POA , Nota Simple, our Lawyers details , the medical report showing any injuries , copies of the court eviction notes where the 'Guardia Police' warned the tenant that they would charge him if ever found in our property again.

"son is pushed with enough force to break the lock in to small pieces"
The locksmith picked up the broken lock pieces off the ground and gave it to my brother . He said if a court case results , he will testify that this is not the lock that he installed during the tenant eviction. We have now found that the lock that broke off was a dummy one put there for show. My brother showed it to me and the cylinder was fused with melted metal so it was useless , no key could be used in it and the whole lock was not even bolted to the door (no wonder the door opened when the tenant fell on it during the affray). The door is not locked and hasn't been since the tenant broke back in after the eviction in Jan'21 .

"But where is your lawyer in all of this and why didn't he come to the police station? "
Our lawyer is on holiday but I called him and he said there is no need for a professional translator but to just use someone who fluent in English and Spanish (and we found one).

"I'd stop digging and let the lawyers deal with it. I certainly wouldn't be walking in to police stations with unofficial translators and non legal advisors."
My brother was given a deadline to raise the Police statement - we had no time to employ legal advisors and company translators on a Sunday afternoon.

"Restaurant owner sees/hears commotion but does not attack anyone."
There are 3 witnesses who have already made statements that the restaurant man , came out of our building , ran into the restaurant and came out with a metal skewer to hit my brother (he was stopped by a lady passer-by). He obviously lives in the building and is a friend of the tenant & family.

"Owner/brother was expecting trouble due to the history of the property but turned up to gain entry without legal assistance and presumably didn't record any of the expected events."
I have 4 emails sent to the Calpe Police stating that the tenant's family live next door to our flat (ie. a few yards away on the same floor) and that they will try to break back into our flat and cause us problems . Not once did they bother to reply or even confirm receipt of my emails or even advise us to contact them before trying to enter our own property. Why should we be applying for legal assistance to enter our own property?

"As for the door, if you've left it unsecured then you're more or less inviting the nightmare to continue"
Unsure what you expected us to do ? It is Sunday evening, my brother needs to drive to Alicante Airport at 3am Monday, go to the COV19 testing centre and then catch his flight home. My brother asked the Police whether he should try and get a new lock put in and they said "why bother , he will just break it open again". Note what I said previously , there was a 'dummy' lock (not a proper one) fitted to the door. I still don't know why they (ie. the tenant and his family) didn't fit a proper lock rather than some dummy one but we took a photo of the lock. The locksmith said he'd bear witness in court to state that it wasn't the lock he fitted during the eviction.

The tenant and father would also have a deadline to complete their Police statement but I haven't go a clue what concoction of lies they will spout (it comes easy to this family who have forged all evidence during the Court cases and have no fear of the law).

PS. My brother said when the Police arrived the tenants father was shaking hands and smiling with them. Seems like the Police are well acquainted with him.

VFR

Have you been in touch with the Costa Blanca News. ( https://www.costa-news.com. )
This would make a great story I would think ?

Fredbargate

Excellent suggestion VFR get the press / media involved.

Also in the UK

spouse of scouse

There's an article on today's BBC news site that talks about illegal occupation of properties in Spain.

The hard men removing squatters in Spain
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-58310532

Holy Custard Batman

You beat me to it 😂 Good article. A lot of it covered in this thread but nice to see it condensed into one article. I have to say this thread and reading into the negatives of buying a place in Spain has altered my opinion, to the extent I know longer think its wise for me to buy in Spain as it wouldnt be my main residence, that seems to be what leaves you vulnerable to squatters.

bob_bob

Interesting article from the beeb

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-58310532

Worth reading.

Mark604

Look back two posts bob bob.

bob_bob

Missed it earlier, sorry about that.