Can anyone tell me how to get bad tenants out of a house owned by friends?

Few ideas for you to consider.

Have a large wallet ready for expensive lawyers and be prepared to wait a long time.

Move next door and make life unpleasant (usually noise) so they want to leave.

It's a bad situation to be in, I know what I would do.

The answer depends on the situation - if the friends and tenants have a proper legal contract and tax is being declared on the income then it should be possible to use the proper legal channels - if it is all done outside the law then they have a problem. It is always best to try and negotiate with the tenants and not involve legal processes due to costs and time, make sure any notices are legally served in writing. Good luck.

There was a thread not so long ago but for the life of me I can't remember the title. Maybe a search would yield it?

Yes. To my knowledge there were at least two threads on this topic not long ago.

The bottom line is that the best route, is the legal one. It used to take ages but the government have brought in new laws which could speed things up.

Take a browse ....

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Rosemary and Graham

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=733251

If it is a straightforward case of rent arrears or they have broken the terms of the contract then eviction cases are being speeded up and it will only take 10 days. Was in the news a few days ago but I only saw the headline so don't know the finer details.

Yep, but it's 10 days from the date it gets before a judge. And, in my experience, that's where some of the problem lies.

We had people refuse to move out of our holiday let, we went to the police who told us to cut the water and electric. They soon left!!!

That is illegal you could have been fined and ordered to restore services.

Tenants have too many rights in Spain!!! What gives anyone the right to not pay their rent, electric and water and expect to be able to stay. I think it is disgusting that people have no control over their own property. There are too many people with no conscience who happily abuse other peoples good natures!!

As to my above post the police said as there was no contract and it was a holiday and they were not Spanish residents they had no tenants rights.

Nice one Cazzy, spot on.

This is true. I've been trying to evict my tenants for the last 18 months. In fact they don't even live there any more, but left all there furniture in the flat. My neighbours tell me that the tenant will keep her stuff there until she finds a place to store her furniture. My lawyer tells me that I can't move back in unless I want to risk legal proceedings against myself. I've won the case, the tenant has been notified (two months ago) but I have to wait until the prosecutor gives me permission to move back in.

Never, never, never, rent a place to spaniards for more than a summer let, 4 weeks maximum, and then make sure that they have another home to return to. I love my neighbours, and have a lot of spanish friends, but the legal system is so slow, especially these days, that if they don't pay, it takes forever to get your home back. From now on, I'll move back in myself, and then only rent to language school students. I'm lucky in that the city where my home is has a lot of these schools and is a good market for summer lets. Never ever let to Spaniards for more than a summer 2 week let.

That's awful, SteveDW. I hope you get your apartment back soon. Thank you for sharing your horrible experience...sympathy!