Squatting in Spain: evicting a squatter takes 1.5 years

The express eviction ordeal: 1.5 years to remove a squatter

The story of Rosa and Jesús, a retired couple whose property was squatted and whose court case dragged on for a year and a half, has peine the debate about the slowness of the justice system in eviction cases. The delay is no isolated incident: average waiting times for an eviction order far exceed a year, while owners bear the losses and the squatting becomes entrenched.

Justice that never comes: from filing the complaint to the eviction
The legal process requires a judge to order the eviction, but the courts are overwhelmed. An 18-month wait has become the norm for squatted homes. This creates a perverse incentive: the longer the process drags on, the harder it is to recover the property, and the squatter gains time to consolidate their situation. Self-help (evicting by force) is illegal and carries incivil risks.

The political backdrop: votes and housing
The debate takes on an electoral hue. Some argue that judicial slowness benefits certain parties electorally, as they present themselves as defenders of the disadvantaged. However, the data show that private owners —many of them elderly— are the system's main victims. The impunity of squatting is not an ideological problem, but one of judicial management.

Painful figures
A court can take 1.5 years to issue the eviction order. That means that, while the owner pays the mortgage and community fees, the squatter lives there free of charge. The police cannot act without a court order, except in cases of flagrante delicto. The economic calculation is devastating: the property depreciates, and the owner suffers a loss that is rarely recovered.

The question nobody has fully answered is why, with technological and procedural solutions available, the judicial machinery remains stuck in the 20th century. Meanwhile, Rosa and Jesús wait.