Currently, one of the biggest concerns of housing owners is Okupation Of the mines, especially in the cases of going out a holiday season and leaving the house alone, or having a second residence.
Vicente Magro, magistrate of the Supreme Court, has analyzed this problem in an interview for Confilegal, in which he defends the need for a faster and more clear response to these crimes, and points out both the lack of protection to the owners and the most effective solutions that exist today.
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The magistrate emphasizes that the speed in the judicial and police response is essential to stop the illegal occupation of housing. He insists that, today, if the squatting is recent, the judge can order the immediate eviction.
“If a person enters a chalet right now and occupies it, the judge has the power to order the eviction. And not only the judge. If the police prove that the entrance has occurred 5, 6 or 7 hours before, it can do it even without a court order,” he says.
The law does not define what is the flagrance period in the squatting
According to lean, the main problem in this regard is that there is no clear regulation about the period of time in which the occupation is considered flagrant, which generates insecurity for both the owners and for the police officers themselves.
“The big problem that has the fight against illegal occupation is the definition of what flagrance is,” he says. Currently, the Criminal Code does not establish how much that period of flagrancy lasts, which causes doubts and fear when acting.
“The police are afraid of the problems, when it comes to evicting the squatters, because it does not know what is the period that the judge will accredit if they present a complaint for having evicted some people illegally.”
From his experience, the magistrate considers that the concept of flagrancy can extend between 12 and 24 hours after the occupation, but insists that a law that regulates this period in a precise way is essential, to give legal certainty to the owners and the State Security Bodies. A regulation thus allowed to act “hot”, preventing the squatting being consolidated and making the recovery of housing much more effective.
Spain is the only country in Europe without an urgent response
Vicente Magro highlights the enormous difference with the regulations of countries in our environment and expresses it strongly:
“It is not necessary to invent anything. Simply, you have to copy the same thing that is being applied in the rest of Europe. You enter a house that is not yours illegally and in 72 hours it is on the street. And, in addition, I do not care if you have vulnerability, that you have children or that you do not have them. This house is from a man or a lady who has paid it, that has been cured, or that you have even mortgaged. The owners the problem of some people who do not have housing.
The magistrate regrets that Spain is “the only country in the European Union that does not have an urgent response to respond to the phenomenon of occupation during the first 72 hours,” and notes that other countries such as Italy, France, the United Kingdom or Germany do allow the occupants to be expelled within that period. “The State has loaded on the back of the owners the problem that is theirs and which is responsible for finding a solution,” denounces the magistrate, who asks for an integral law of occupation inspired by European models, which allows the judge
24 hours alarms are the best defense for the owner
Given the legal insecurity and the slowness of some processes, Magro recommends that the owners install alarm systems connected directly with the police: “24 -hour alarms are a good measure to prevent the squatter,” insists the magistrate. In this way, “the security company will call the police, which will have an irrefutable evidence of flagrance, when the entry into the house was produced. It goes on insurance.”