Being an owner is not always synonymous with security. Many face a worrying scenario: tenants who stop paying rent, squatters who refuse to leave, and slow justice that forces them to live in precarious conditions.
The extension of the eviction moratorium, included in the social shield, has protected vulnerable families, but has left owners like José trapped in a nightmare: “We are sleeping three people in the same bed when we have one more floor,” he denounces before the cameras. Antena 3 News.
And the real estate market has become complicated. At the end of 2025, 23,010 homes for sale in Spain already had squatters, 3% of the total supply, according to Idealista. After two years of declines, complaints of illegal squatting rose to 4 or 5% in the first half of 2025, with peaks in Catalonia and the Valencian Community.
Joseph’s story
José and his family live cramped in an apartment surrounded by boxes. He has had to take in his daughter and his young grandchildren because another apartment he owns is occupied by tenants who neither leave nor pay. Although the moratorium protects vulnerable families without housing alternatives, José, with two homes, is not covered.
The law allows vulnerable tenants to be evicted if the landlord demonstrates greater vulnerability, but social services take weeks or months to offer alternatives. “A judge would have to say who is most vulnerable to stay in the home,” says Ricardo Bravo, spokesperson for Affected by squatting.
But what does the Government say? The measure proposed until December 31, 2026 is the suspension of evictions for vulnerable families who do not have a housing alternative. If the tenant proves economic vulnerability, the eviction is stopped. If the owner demonstrates greater vulnerability, the Administration must offer a housing alternative, but without clear deadlines or resources.
For landlords with one or two homes, the law does not specify the function of each one, so they can carry out evictions even if the tenant is vulnerable. And, as detailed, the only thing José is looking for is to recover his apartment, since he assures the tenant that “we are not social services.”