Squatted houses are nothing new. If they were already something common, the pandemic has led to an increase in the number due to mobility restrictions, with many owners outside the country and without being able to go to their second residence as usual. Now, luxury homes are the new focus for those who want to squat a house in Marbella.
A recent case, which has been a topic to be discussed today in Espejo Público on Antena 3, is that of Yoel, a Cuban who supposedly would have squatted a luxury mansion in the Nueva Andalucía urbanization, in Marbella. In this program, the lawyer for the owner of the house, José Luis Tejuca, has affirmed that his client bought the house in January and in August a change of locks was found: there were people inside the house.
Pool, garden, a huge house in a luxurious area … A third floor or a townhouse in an urbanization in the center is no longer enough. Now, chalets are in fashion, in the best urbanizations in the area and with all the comforts.
The alleged squatter has ensured that he has not squatted any house, and that the alleged owners who would have rented the mansion are from Austria; he would have a contract and would have paid a year’s rent in advance for that house. However, the mansion owner’s lawyer contradicts these statements, adding that Yoel I would have already squatted a home before: “Curiously, the same name appears in the contract as in the previous lease of the other house.”
Now, recovering the house is not going to be an easy task, since the judicial processes could take up to six months until the owner can return to his home.
The ‘squatting’, a business?
Squatting houses has become a business for mafias or people dedicated to it. In some cases, the squatter has asked the homeowners for money, reaching the minimum “fee” of 3,000 euros for some squatter mafias.
In the end, recovering a home leaving justice on the sidelines requires paying money. Not only by the fact that squatters ask the owner to pay them if they want them to leave their home, but also by resorting to companies dedicated to evicting houses in this type of situation.
Squatting of properties or homes has grown in recent years. In our country, in 2013 there were more than 7,000, reaching 12,000 in 2018, while in 2020 the figures oscillate in 15,000 squatted homes. As they told us to the Costa del Sol Area a few months ago from the Anti Squat company, they have a large volume of work: “We receive an average of 30 calls a day.” They go to the squatted house, hit the door and try to convince the person that they should leave, until they succeed.