Squatters in Spain: why Tories must defend property rights

Since the Conservative Government launched its attack on landlords in 2015,  there has scarcely been any let-up in the onslaught. Indeed, a doubling of Capital Gains Tax in the Budget is mooted – potentially costing many landlords tens or hundreds of thousands more in tax. Following on from the anti-landlord measures during the pandemic, it is hard to see how things could have been worse under a Corbyn-McDonnell government. However, if one looks at Spain’s governmental support for squatting in Spain, one can get an inkling of how bad it can get.

Spain is undoubtedly the squatting capital of Europe and property rights are under existential threat there. Spanish property owners whose properties have been squatted and others who have squats in their locality have told me they feel they are fighting a losing battle against people who have gained control of property they do not legally own. These problems are getting worse with the current Left-wing coalition government.

A friend of mine, Pilar, is one of the unfortunate victims; a 62-year old nurse and midwife, she found out after moving town for work that her home had been squatted. It didn’t matter that it was her only property — she had lost possession of it and had to follow all the legal procedures to get the occupiers evicted. According to Spanish law, the owner has to then pay the huge utility bills deliberately run up by squatters. In the case of Pilar, she also had to take time off from her important work in the health service because of the mental anguish of having had her home in effect sequestrated.

It is important to note that when the main home is squatted, as in this case, the squatters have complete ownership — in effect, all the owner’s personal possessions. They can burn photos or steal jewellery and computers with impunity. In Pilar’s case, they stripped the house bare at the end, taking away all her furniture – much of which was custom-made, in a lorry. They left a broken, empty shell, filled with mould from cannabis-growing. The perpetrators have faced no consequences and have presumably moved on to another victim. 

However, Pilar’s isn’t even the most shocking case. It is getting so bad in Spain now that there are even instances of the elderly and/or sick having their homes taken over while they are in hospital.  This recently happened to a 98-year old. In Spain, squatters have more rights over their homes than the home-owner.

Senior figures in one of the coalition parties, Podemos — some of whom are themselves ex-squatters — are now enacting further laws in squatters’ favour. For example, if someone is defined as a “vulnerable” squatter, the owners of the squatted property are obliged to find alternative accommodation for the squatter at a “social rent”, with a five-year tenancy, effectively handing what would be a statutory responsibility to individual property owners.

So what, you might ask, is the relevance of this to the UK and its citizens?

To start with, the kind of dystopian reality Spanish owners face, is what UK landlords would have been looking at under a Corbyn-McDonnell government, according to the 2019 Labour manifesto. As a member of a Question Time audience during the election campaign, I managed to draw attention to John McDonnell’s policy to effectively “steal” landlords’ property in order to give it to their tenants (the proposed “discount” could have equated to all of the equity in the property).

Unfortunately, however, it is impossible to ignore the Conservatives’ more surprising attack on private property rights. Preventing owners from regaining control of their property from non-paying tenants by banning evictions for the best part of 12 months, then extending notice periods to 6 months, then instructing courts to not start processing cases before 12 months’ arrears have accrued, means financial ruin for some owners and the costs could be at confiscatory levels.

The wrong tenant can result in two years of lost rent, legal fees and the cost of repairing damaged properties. There is even evidence now of some landlords losing their own homes, while desperately propping up the lifestyles of tenants to whom this Government has granted a licence not to pay. I have previously explained how someone could have £50 a month to live on if they have one rental property where the tenant is not paying.

 It is not the far-Left but a Tory Government that has orchestrated this onslaught on landlords. Comparing the situation in Spain and in the UK, there are so many similarities that one wonders to what extent this is part of a universal attack on property rights.

In addition to this political and moral question, there is also the practical issue that Britons are the largest group of foreign property owners in Spain. It is estimated that around 600,000 British people own property there and, whether they ordinarily live in Spain and occasionally leave the property unoccupied, or whether they live in the UK and only use it for holidays, all should be concerned.

There are worrying examples already. For example, a British family had to cancel their holiday in their villa in the summer in Catalonia upon hearing it had been squatted. Their cleaner discovered it when she went to prepare the house for their arrival and when she demanded the squatters leave, they reported her to the police and she was reprimanded.

This month, a Belgian family has had their holiday home in Marbella squatted. Spanish property expert, Mark Stucklin has delineated three types of squatter in Spain: those who sign a contract, then never pay rent again; those who kick the door in and may be part of a mafia, specialising in extortion; and those who squat large buildings like banks, presenting themselves as moral or political crusaders.

Within these categories, squatted properties can range from small flats through to luxury, multi-million pound villas with swimming pools. While this may be dismissed as just a problem for UK citizens who own Spanish property, the Spanish government should carefully consider its next move, remembering that it needs foreigners to support its economy. In addition to bringing vast amounts of money from their home countries, especially when they buy properties, expats increase Spanish GDP, pay taxes and employ people. Mark Stucklin has pointed out how this also reduces the national debt and budget deficit. Undermining this contribution will threaten the investment of potentially millions of euros. Who is going to invest in a country where that investment can be stolen from under their noses?

The British Government, likewise, should re-evaluate its thoroughly reprehensible attack on private property rights, which is diametrically opposed to conservative values. Unless it is prepared to champion these values, why should homeowners vote Conservative?