THE Costa del Sol attracts all kinds of property hunters, from well-heeled sun-seekers to those on the lookout for an unoccupied residence to break into and call home.
Squatters, or okupas as they’re known in Spanish, are becoming increasingly common across Spain, especially since the financial crisis. More than 83,000 properties were in ‘okupacion’ in the middle of 2019, a year-on-year increase of nearly six percent.
The province of Malaga is ranked third nationwide, after Madrid and Barcelona, in terms of the number of properties occupied illegally. For homeowners here, not just those with second homes on the coast but also year-round residents who go on holiday and return to find their habitual residence okupada, understanding the rights and wrongs of what you can do about it is crucial.
To find out all about owners’ possible rights of recourse, we asked our friendly neighbourhood lawyer, Adolfo Martos of Martos & Gross Abogados, for his professional opinion. And the first thing to be aware of, he warns, is that Spanish law tends to protect squatters more than owners, so recovering possession can prove to be a long and costly process. While squatting is illegal, Adolfo insists that taking the law into your own hands to get squatters out of a property can also be considered a crime. As a result, immediately calling the police and eventually going to court is the safest, albeit not the fastest, way to get your property back.
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