Catalonia is the region of Spain where there are more illegal occupations and Barcelona is its epicenter. According to the Ministry of the Interior, In the first six months of this year, 3,611 homes were squatted in Catalonia, 421 more than in all of 2019. This figure is six times that of illegal occupations in the Community of Madrid (657) and three times that of Andalusia (1,183).
These three communities are followed by Valencia (566) and Castilla-La Mancha (296) in number of squats between January and June of this year, according to data compiled by the newspaper The Spanish. But if there is one area where squats accumulate, it is Barcelona: the city suffered 2,644 usurpations, although they are data that may be greater, since many owners choose not to report and go to faster ways, such as hiring the services of private companies of desokupaciones.
This is the case of Desokupa, a company that exercises techniques (access control, for example) to return the squatted house to its owner in less than a week and for a price of about 3,000 euros.
And it is that going to court either for criminal or civil means recovering the apartment more than a year after the occupation, in addition to the cost of the judicial process and that of the reforms of the house itself.
The current profile of the squatter
Experts agree that many years ago the squatter’s profile coincided with a socially vulnerable person. However, today most squatters are people with no social needs who appear in court to testify “with latest generation mobiles,” he says. the judge of first instance of Barcelona Fernando Valdivia. Apostille that squats have increased because “the Administration is causing this to happen, populisms do not help.”
“The problem is not in the courts, but in the cowardice of politicians who do not recognize that it is an antisocial process and damages private property. There are very few squatters in need. For many it is a way of life. And then they carry a state-of-the-art iPhone and they have a belly, that is, they eat a lot, “says the magistrate in an online presentation organized by the Official College of Real Estate Agents (COAPI) of Barcelona and the Association of Real Estate Agents of Catalunya (AIC).
In his opinion, the majority of squatters are “pro-anarchists, violent and very well organized, with little need for housing and that most of them go to sleep at home, or occupants who are children of ‘good families’ who play squatting” .
Manel Roger, promoter in Barcelona and director of Noucastor, points out that nowadays squatters are professionals and they know perfectly when to occupy new-build homes, which is right at the time of handing over the keys to the real owners or tenants. “They are professionals, they change the locks and squat almost the entire building and then” sell “the flats to people who really want to squat for 1,200 or 1,500 euros. And they tend to summon more squatters than there are houses to get more (illegal) profit from them, ”says Roger.
Ramón Riera, founder and owner of Eurofincas, comments that many of the squatters organize because “behind they have logistical support, that is, behind there are mafias that provide false contracts, keys and also have support from organizations or associations, such as Okupar Barcelona, which tell you what you have to do to squatting a home ”.
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