Slowlycatchymonkey

Usually when I hear these type of things a clear pathway through it occurs to me but in this case it seems there just isn't one.
I don’t know how you haven't given up, then again you cant give in either can you.

Is there a lawyer you could consult who specialises in evictions who would at least be familiar with current law? One who is well connected if you know what I mean. From my experience (in the uk mind you) paying top dollar to the most influential, well connected shark gets the job done fast. The top psychos (lawyers) egos care about their win stats and bragging rights too much to be beaten.

Apologies to all nice non psycho top banana lawyers out there, I know you exist too!

This must be taking up an awful lot of your waking day. How on earth do you manage to switch off from it?

DOWNANDOUT

I must admit that the stress is taking its toll on the whole family , including my elderly father who is 89 , almost blind and cannot understand why everything seems so unfair . My mother used to pray every night for us to resolve this nightmare but she passed on last year without seeing any financial benefit from the flat that she and my father paid for over 30 years ago .

We are not getting paid rent for the last 2 years, the tenant has avoided eviction for the last 4 years (due in part to one of our lawyers not listening and making mistakes) and it seems the 'rug gets pulled from under us' when we get within a hairs breadth of evicting him. We cannot enter our own property , we don't know if he's trashed it or run up sky high utility bills , yet the Spanish State offers free legal aid and Courts fall over themselves offering the tenant a never-ending range of options to appeal (even after his appeal has failed in the highest court in the land - the Supreme Court Of Madrid).

What else can we do except wait and hope that we see some justice at the end of this.

Let me be clear , I don't blame the tenant although he is of questionable character , but I do blame the Spanish Court system and the Spanish State for causing landlords enormous financial strife and mental stress .Their institutionally biased attitude towards tenants rights and complete lack of empathy for the plight of landlords is despicable.

jonboy

I do feel for you in this situation. As has been said there is little choice but to persist.

I do understand the emotions that arise when faced with such a situation and especially when thwarted due to the tenant's tenacity and the courts seeming to act as the guardian of the tenant. Although it may seen unending to you at this moment, the time will come when you reclaim what is rightfully yours. At that time you will move on with your life and try and leave this experience in the past. In many ways it is a business and others make it their business to capitalise from the situation by putting the landlord at a disadvantage, they just see it as gaming the system. Thankfully not all landlords nor tenants are like that or the world would be an even sadder place than it is. It doesn't always pay to be decent but overall, you will be the winner.

DOWNANDOUT

Many thanks for those kind words jonboy .

Shanorme

Gosh, what an awful situation!

Might I suggest, that as the 'tenant' is clearly in a position of power within a political party, that there might be another route forward. Perhaps, contacting the political party press office and suggesting that you have been a approached by a local reporter and that you might not be able to stop yourself from dropping a few hints to that reporter might bring this whole sorry story to an end sooner. Your tenant and the political party he belongs to, might not want this being heard about as it stains their moral character.

missile

Why not? It is he who is abusing the system.

If it were me I would be sorely tempted to employ someone to do him harm.

Moses2013

Not only you. There are Security Companies in Spain who deal with Okupas and once these large guys come and throw you out, it's usually done with.
Unfortunately people like the OP are the ones suffering and sometimes enough is enough.

missile

A legal option would be to bribe the occupant to agree to terminate and move out then change the locks.

DOWNANDOUT

Here is the update

Apparently the new laws dated 6th March 2019 regarding tenancy eviction can be applied retroactively .Therefore any landlords who have an ongoing legal court case trying to evict a tenant 'using the existing Spanish laws before the 6th March 2019' will have effectively wasted their money and time . The tenant can claim 'Social Vulnerability ' and delay the eviction and no-one can tell me the specifics of how this new law will affect a legal eviction date.

This is what I have said to our lawyer:

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Can you please confirm that you are 100% certain that this new tenancy law dated 6th March 2019 can be applied retroactively for leases signed before 6th March 2019?

I have attached what I think is the official bulletin stating the new laws and it relates to TITULO 111 article 5. Does it say that this new law can be applied retroactively?

How can the legal system apply a new law to affect an existing case (our case started in 2018)? It doesn't make any sense from any legal standpoint because how can one pick and choose which of these new laws can be applied retroactively (isn't it all or none)?

If we have a legal right to appeal against the Court's decision please advise what that process is, what the cost will be and a deadline for doing this?

Do we have a right to ask the Court to compensate us for all the legal costs/time we have wasted using their existing eviction laws (which are now rendered ineffective because of this new law)?

Apparently this new law states a maximum delay for 1 month ? What exactly does that mean?

Does it mean :

a. That we must wait a maximum of 1 month for the Social Services to reply back?
b. Does it mean that they can reply back (within this 1 month) saying they need 1 year to provide alternative support and accommodation for our tenant? And if that is the case , must we wait another year without rent or being able to access or sell our property , or have the tenant run up massive utility debts before finally evicting him?
c. Does it mean that the date of eviction will be 1 month?

Your Spanish laws make little sense to me because they are so imprecise and arbitrary?

We need clear and specific guidance on how these new laws are going to effect our case.
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We might end up applying to the European Courts if there is a breach of EU law by the Spanish Justice system.

There is no stopping the tenant from sacking his free Legal aid lawyer every time there is an eviction notice. He can drag this on forever!

DOWNANDOUT

I have a name of someone who is quite an authority in Spain

He has a great dislike for my tenant and I am tempted to use his website and advise him what has occurred . The problem is I don't know legally how that might affect our current eviction case . If it got out into the public domain and our tenant was named , would the courts annul the case?

DOWNANDOUT

I'm fast believing this is the only way because the Court system is so biased towards tenants. Do you have any website links for these companies?

Moses2013

https://www.fueraokupas.com Just one of many and maybe not in area but seems to be only way these days. They could maybe give tips or recommend others

DOWNANDOUT

I did think about that and tried contacting the party leaders but I think some of them could be involved in fabricating evidence for the tenant (ie. the redecorating invoices were from a building company owned by one of the party leaders).

Now that the matter has been referred to the Social Services , I'm wondering whether they can be contacted and forewarned that this tenant may try all sorts of things to claim social vulnerability . The 1st time we went to court , he and his family (parents and uncle) dressed in rags and he pretended to be 'learning impaired' . But then at the next hearing he was highly articulate and we found a you-tube video of him doing his tourist guide propaganda (that's what he does as well as claiming to be a chef). He really is a very dishonest character and thank heavens he didn't succeed in his candidacy to become Mayor Of Lliber.

I can raise all sorts of questions about his character to the Social Services using the court evidence but I'm worried that could be used as ammunition by him and his lawyer to claim discrimination on his efforts for Social Services assistance and then later complain to the courts to avoid eviction again.

I'm also wondering if the court evidence is freely available in the public domain. If it is then I'd have no problem contacting the head of social services and advising them that the same tenant who claims 'Social Vulnerability ' also did the following:

1. Didn't pay rent for 10 years. This means he was able to save over 36,000 euros in that time.

2. Privately offered to pay 40,000 euros for our flat to avoid court action.

3. Paid 18,000 euros to avoid eviction while also successfully applying for free legal aid to appeal as high as the Supreme Court of Spain.

4. Provided evidence in court that he has been paying 150 euros a month for over a year to La Asociacion Juvenil Poder Joven.

5. Highly involved at some senior level in the management of a Spanish political party (I have their name)

6. Was considering trying to become the Mayor Of Calpe and a proposed candidate for Mayor of Lliber according to a news article (I have the url link with his photo and his aspirations )

7. Has parents who live above our apartment who 'are/were' the 'Presidents' of the block responsible for collecting the Comunidad. They are also highly involved in helping him avoid eviction.

8. Seems to be working as a tourist guide. Please see the 'you-tube' videos he is posting so he seems to have access to a computer and the internet (I have the url links)

9. Why has he stopped paying his water bills if he can still pay for a computer and access to the internet? Will lack of water supply improve his claim of social hardship and vulnerability?

DOWNANDOUT

Many thanks for that link - it might end up quite ugly if we cannot get rid of this tenant the legal way . I know that my brother is so angry , he is thinking very violent thoughts against this tenant.

DOWNANDOUT

Here are some interpretations of the new law that the Judge used to stop our eviction . Our case started on the 24th May 2018 using the eviction laws that were decreed at the time , but it seems the Spanish Court system has introduced and applied new laws while the case is still ongoing (basically moving the 'legal goalposts'). Therefore paying lawyers and court costs for some 'lauded' express tenant eviction process has been a waste of time and money.

1. Evictions for non-payment of the rent
The new legislation puts in place protection for those in ‘socially vulnerable’ situations, whereby Social Services can intervene once a judge has issued the eviction order, putting the eviction on hold until alternative housing can be sorted. The length of stay depends if the owner is a private individual (one month) or legal entity (two months).

2. Evictions
Tenant evictions in Spain are high and the new legislation will aim at reducing this. Before any tenant can be evicted, it will now need to go through social services to determine whether the tenant can be classed as being in a ‘vulnerable situation’. If they are deemed to be, the eviction can be pushed back one month if the landlord is an individual or three months if the owner is a business, giving the tenant sufficient time to find a new home. A judge will also have to communicate the exact date to the tenant in that they will evicted

3. Evictions

• Once a judge has ordered the eviction of a tenant, social services must be notified so that they can act if the tenant is in a vulnerable position until alternative housing is found. The eviction will be delayed for a period of one (1) month if the owner is a private individual and will be paralysed for a period of three (3) months if they are a legal entity.
• Once the judge orders the eviction petition, they must communicate it to the social services ex officio with the exact date and time of the procedure.
• If a home is being rented to people in an economically vulnerable situation, people with disabilities, minors and people over 65 years of age, and the main signatory on the lease contract passes away, the rest of the tenants in the property will not be evicted and the rent will be subrogated to them.

4. Evictions
"5. In the cases of the number 1 of article 250.1, the applicant will be informed of the possibility of going to social services, and where appropriate, of the possibility of authorizing the transfer of their data to them, so that they can appreciate the possible situation of vulnerability.
For the same purposes, the existence of the procedure will be communicated ex officio by the Court to social services.
If social services confirm that the affected household is in a situation of social and / or economic vulnerability, the judicial body will be notified immediately.
Once this communication has been received, the Justice Administration Lawyer will suspend the process "until the measures that the social services deem appropriate are adopted" , for a maximum period of suspension of one month from the receipt of the communication of the social services to the body judicial
Once the measures have been adopted or after the deadline, the suspension will be lifted and the procedure will continue for its procedures.
In these cases, the identification card of the defendant must contain identification data of the social services to which the citizen can go.

You can see how ill defined this law is for landlords trying to reclaim their property back from a tenant who claims 'social vulnerability'. Its incredibly worrying that there is no clarity to this law and one will be anxious about what the Courts may decide to do (almost on a personal whim).

Comments :
1. What measures and processes do the local Social Services use to assess if a tenant is 'vulnerable'?
2. What does it mean by 'they can act if the tenant is in a vulnerable position until alternative housing is found' ? What processes and measures do they follow to support the tenant?
3. What does it mean 'putting the eviction on hold until alternative housing can be sorted'? Does this mean the tenant can stay in the flat rent free until alternative housing is found? For how long? What about the financial risk to the landlord who might have to pay a mortgage or needs to sell the property, or might even wish to use the property for his own individual means?
4. What does it mean 'until the measures that the social services deem appropriate are adopted'?
5. What does this mean 'Once the measures have been adopted or after the deadline, the suspension will be lifted and the procedure will continue for its procedures'?

Points 3 , 4 and 5 seem contradictory.

What happens if no measures are put in place after 1 month? Does the eviction proceed as per point 5? But how can it proceed if eviction needs to be put on hold until Social Services measures are put in place/adopted as per point 3 and 4?

Eviction number 4 above is the one I translated from the actual 'Royal Decree' documents but Eviction 1-3 are from various legal and property websites who seem to word it differently.

It really is a terribly ill-defined law that can be misinterpreted , misused and cause a potentially disastrous outcome for the landlord.