PropertyEnglish-speaking squatters lawyer in Spain

Two different offences, two different speeds

Spanish law distinguishes allanamiento de morada, which protects a dwelling in actual use and allows a fast response, from usurpación, which covers empty properties and leads to a slower procedure with a lesser penalty.

Which one applies decides how quickly you get your property back. A holiday home you use regularly is not legally the same as a property left empty for years, and the difference must be evidenced from the first complaint.

What we do

• Evidence of actual use: utility bills, travel records, photographs, neighbours’ statements.
• Criminal complaint with an application for interim removal of the occupiers.
• Civil route in parallel where it is faster.
• Damages and unpaid utilities claimed alongside.

Never cut off the water or electricity and never change the locks yourself. Both can turn the owner into the defendant, which happens more often than people expect.

Handled remotely

You do not need to fly over. We run the case and report to you in English at each stage.

Why the legal label decides how fast you get your property back

If the property is a dwelling in actual use, including a holiday home you use regularly, the occupation is allanamiento de morada. The offence is serious, the police can act while the intrusion is ongoing, and recovery can be swift.

If the property is empty and unused, it is usurpación: the penalty is a fine and the procedure is slower. The distinction is not academic. It determines whether you are out of your home for weeks or for many months.

That is why proving actual use is the first thing we build: utility bills showing consumption, travel and flight records, dated photographs, neighbours’ statements, and evidence of furniture and personal belongings.

What not to do, and why

• Do not cut off the water or the electricity. It can be prosecuted as coercion and turn you, the owner, into the defendant.
• Do not change the locks or force entry. Even an unlawfully occupied dwelling is legally protected as a home.
• Do not negotiate a payment on your own in exchange for them leaving. It can be used against you and it feeds the problem.

The sense of injustice is entirely understandable. But Spanish law protects possession, even precarious possession, and the owner’s own mistakes are the occupier’s best defence.

How the case proceeds

We file a criminal complaint with an application for interim eviction (medida cautelar de desalojo), which where the evidence is strong allows recovery of the property before judgment. In parallel, the civil route may be faster in certain cases following the reforms designed to speed these matters up.

We also claim damages and unpaid utility bills. The whole matter is handled remotely: you do not need to fly to Spain.

See also: theft and burglary.