Dylan Wagemans
SQUATTING continues to rise all over Spain, with a 7% increase in all cases last year.
The most shocking thing is perhaps the fact that in many cases, it’s not even illegal, since there was a contract involved previously.
This means that tenants can stay in a house, even without paying anything after the rental contract has ended.
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This practice is referred to as inquiokupacion, this implies that, at a legal level, it’s not an occupation, so it will be necessary to resort to eviction for non-payment to kick out the inquiokupas.
Many of them are in a position to demand and even make dangerous threats, which causes fear among the owners, who in addition to being clearly harmed economically, feel physically threatened.
The debate on how to deal with squatting is sparking up, with an expert of the Barcelona University of Economics speaking out on the topic.
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“Squatting is a magnificent business,” Gonzalo Bernardos said.
“It’s a great shame that the owners can’t evict the squatters and also have to pay for their water and electricity bills.”
Bernardos said that the PP political party has a better stance on squatting than the PSOE, but he said that ‘it pays more to be a squatter than to have your own home’.
