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ARCHIVED - Complaints over squatters in Murcia rise by 60 per cent
Murcia reports the third highest rise in complaints among the regions of Spain
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and the travel restrictions that came with it, the problem of squatters taking over unoccupied properties has been increasingly highlighted both in the news and on social media. Faced with months away from their houses, many people living abroad have returned to Spain only to discover their home has been usurped by unwelcome and uninvited guests, and have to endure the often difficult and lengthy process of having them removed.
Another result of the pandemic is that for many developers, money has simply dried up, and so many properties are left abandoned or half finished, offering perfect camping grounds for squatters. At the height of the pandemic, Cartagena Town Hall went as far as bricking up doors and windows of unfinished apartments and blocking the access road in the Los Naranjos development in La Palma to prevent people staying there illegally.
There are few places where the issue of squatters is more keenly felt than in the Region of Murcia. In fact, figures from the Ministry of the Interior point to an increase of almost 60 per cent in complaints made between 2018 and 2019, a figure exceeded only in La Rioja and the north African enclave of Melilla. One company that mediates between property owners and squatters in Murcia, has also reported that 25 per cent more home owners have contracted their services this year in comparison with 2020.
An attempt to forcibly evict squatters from a house in the Urbanización Mediterráneo in Cartagena ended in dramatic fashion on Monday, August 9, with shots fired at the evictors and at the car of an off-duty local policeman who happened to be in the area with his two children in the back seat.
Image: Archive
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