On July 17 this year, a man shattered the glass of a first-floor balcony window in Cardedeu, a small town south-west of Barcelona, and slipped inside the empty flat.
An alarm began to wail, but he sauntered over to the control board, switched the siren off, and quietly settled into the apartment.
That man was named Marc M., and he had done this before – more than 200 times in the past four years.
Marc, a 22-year-old man originally from Saint Boi de Llobregat near Barcelona, is a professional squatter.
READ MORE: Here’s what the new British-designed tower in Malaga port will look like – if it ever gets built
He makes a living by illegally occupying empty flats in and around Barcelona. Most of his targets are owned by banks or investment funds: he will blackmail owners into paying him hefty fees to leave, or sell the keys to low-income families who are desperate for a place to stay and will move in once he is gone.
Since 2021, he has been sued 225 times over the scheme and detained 31 – but he has never been to jail, because in Spain his offences are classed as minor misdemeanours and punishable only by fines.
Authorities in Barcelona are at their wits’ end, but as long as he continues to pay his fines, there is little they can do. That is how the law works.
In February this year, an exasperated judge took the most drastic measure yet: he barred Marc from entry into his native Saint Boi.
The judge said: “He has made crime, especially in Sant Boi, his way of life for nearly four years.”
Marc simply shifted his sights to other towns in the province of Barcelona and has been operating undisturbed since.
Authorities do not know how much the scheme has fetched the squatter so far.
In April this year, Marc threatened a property fund manager that he would occupy a house in Arenys de Munt, north-east of Barcelona, unless he was paid an eye-watering €17,000.
On that particular occasion the manager refused to oblige, and Marc sent back photographs of himself strutting into the property after he had disabled the anti-squatting system.
But most owners prefer to cave in to Marc’s demands and pay him to leave.
In Spain, when squatters illegally occupy property, the resulting court cases can drag on for two or three years before an eviction order is issued, so it is simply cheaper and faster to buckle and pay up.
READ MORE: Modelo 210 Explained: The Essential Guide for Non-Resident Property Owners in Spain (2025 Update)
Part of the problem is that Marc embodies a legal paradox. Spanish legislation is designed to protect vulnerable tenants from fast-track evictions, but the law is routinely exploited by squatters for profit.
And despite the flurry of court cases and injunctions against Marc, repeat offending is not considered an aggravating factor in squatting cases.
Another issue is that Marc does not work alone. Police investigations have described him as part of a structured group.
Different members handle different stages of the operation: scouting vacant flats, forcing entry, disabling alarms, negotiating payouts, and ultimately selling the keys to new occupants.
Marc is often the face of the break-ins, but officers say the network extends across several towns in the greater Barcelona area, allowing them to move quickly when pressure mounts in one place.
On April 15, the day after Marc blackmailed the fund manager over the Arenys de Munt property, police turned up at the house to find another man – named as Ivan S. – lounging inside.
The squatter casually informed officers that Marc had moved in.
When they pointed to loose cables snaking across the floor, Ivan said he was “making some adjustments” because the house had no electricity.
About a month later, on May 15, power went out across the entire Arenys de Munt urbanisation.
A resident in Arenys relied on a respirator to survive, so the electric company was forced to intervene urgently.
Technicians traced the blackout to the house occupied by Marc and his associates.
The property owners pressed charges, and the group is now under investigation for their most serious alleged offence to date, La Vanguardia has reported, after jeopardising the life of a local resident.
In late May, officers returned to the house to find Marc was gone. A Romanian man had occupied the flat in his place – and even begun the process of registering as a resident.
Authorities believe the man bought the keys from Marc.
In 2024, according to Idealista, more than 11,000 people were investigated or arrested for squatting in Spain – a record high, up 17% from previous years.
Meanwhile, more than 23,000 properties listed for sale by September 2025 were identified as being “illegally occupied.”
That is about 3% of all property listings on major real estate sites.
Squatting in Spain has become more than a legal headache – it is a mirror of the housing crisis, where empty apartments sit unused while demand for affordable homes spirals out of control.
The law struggles to keep pace, leaving both residents and authorities caught in a cycle of frustration and compromise – as people like Marc seize the opportunity to prey on the wealthy and the vulnerable alike.
In July, after Marc broke into the Cardedeu apartment, police were called to the scene.
When officers called out to him from the street below, Marc emerged on the balcony brandishing a chair and threatened to toss it at them.
Sued over the incident, Marc is now scheduled to face trial in January 2026. By then, he may have occupied dozens more homes.
Click here to read more Property News from The Olive Press.
