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Meet Madrid’s anti-eviction warriors

Leah Pattem shares what it's like to be on the front line of an eviction.

Published: 24 January 2019 13:46 CET
Meet Madrid's anti-eviction warriors
All photos by Leah Pattem
I’d heard on the radio that there was going to be an eviction at 11 am, just a five-minute walk from where I live. I turned on TeleMadrid and their cameras were already there. I put on my coat, grabbed my camera and said to my other half, “look out for me on the TV”.

Rosa, who’d been living in her three-bedroom flat on Calle Argumosa for more than 20 years, was the latest victim of property speculation. Her building had recently been bought up by investors demanding an increase in rent from €400 per month to €1,700 – a distorted hike with one objective: eviction.

Lavapiés, the neighbourhood that both Rosa and I live in, has always been – and still is – a working-class barrio. Most residential buildings here were quickly erected centuries ago to house a flood of economic migrants from elsewhere in Spain but, today, these buildings host some of the smallest flats in the country.

In recent decades, Lavapiés has also become home to migrants from Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Walk through the narrow, sloping streets of Lavapiés and see spice shops and Latin diners oscillating between old traditional Spanish shops – it’s a beautiful neighbourhood, if you ignore the crime, filth and inequality.

READ MORE: The real reason why this Madrid barrio is the world's 'coolest' neighbourhood

I squeezed through the TV cameras filming Rosa, who’d come to join the 100-strong protest outside her flat, and found Carlos, the leader of this tactical operation. He explained to me that he believes, for being an EU country, Spain is quite unique in its cruelty, evicting families with young children.

There appear to be no laws in Spain that protect tenants from investors buying up their rented property and throwing them out. These evictions – one occurs every eight minutes – are even more disturbing when you realise that around 3.5 million properties currently sit empty across Spain.

I spoke to several others in the crowd; they were all victims of evictions. Their trauma and misery had quickly turned to anger, which led them to join Stop Desahucios, where Carlos (Pictured above in green) and his warriors convert rage into activism.

Stood outside the evictee’s home in their well-known red and green vests, the activists chant, scream and envelop the building in spray-painted bed sheets. They make the whole city aware of what the landlord is doing, which is humiliating and bad for business.

Stop Desahucios activists pull back tenants from the edge of losing everything. Their success further empowers them all and, in the process, they gain a new warrior.

Chanting suddenly turned to cheering and Rosa was absorbed into a crowd of hugs.

“We’ve won! The landlords negotiated with Rosa and she’s been given one more month to stay. So, we’ll be back here again in a month.”

In this building alone, Rosa is the tenth eviction that Stop Desahucios have either stopped or delayed, with a further two prevented in the last week, making Calle Argumosa 11 an iconic example of what this unstoppable force of people can achieve.

BE A WARRIOR

If your contract expires, your landlord wants to increase your rent and you accept their increase, you’ve become part of the problem. Negotiate hard. This comes with undeniable risk: if you lose, you’re out and someone else will turn up willing to pay the price you walked away from, so stop them: negotiate to stay for what you believe is a fair price.

READ MORE: Renting property in Spain: Know your rights as a tenant

If you anticipate eviction for any reason (speculation, job loss, personal crisis, rent increase), get in touch with Stop Desahucios. By fighting your battle, we come one step closer to winning the war.

INFO

  • Stop Desahucios are Spain-wide. Find your city’s organisation here.
  • For Madrid, find your neighbourhood group here and get involved by attending one of their upcoming events listed in the calendar.
  • Follow PAH (Plataformas de Afectados por la Hipoteca) on Facebook and Twitter.

See you there.

Leah Pattem is the founder of Madrid No Frills, a blog that celebrates those overlooked corners of Madrid untouched by the gentrification and modernization that has transformed the city in recent decades.

To discover stories that reveal the grittier, real side of Spain's capital, follow her on the Madrid No Frills blog, on Facebook and in Instagram. 

IN PICS: Madrid's hostile anti-homeless architecture that you see everyday but don't even notice 

 

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PROPERTY

Q&A: What to do if you buy a property built illegally in Spain

Buying an illegally built property in Spain is fairly common but can have several consequences down the line. Here's what you need to know, how to make it legal, whether you can sell it, and the benefits of doing so.

Published: 25 April 2024 09:35 CEST
Q&A: What to do if you buy a property built illegally in Spain

Unfortunately, over the years, many properties have been built illegally in Spain, not adhering to local rules and regulations. Foreigners who don’t know the legislation can easily fall into the trap of buying one of these properties, only to find out later down the line.

Maybe it’s when they come to sell or perhaps it’s when they want to do works or improvements on the property.

There are several reasons a home could have been built illegally in Spain. Firstly, it could have been built on the wrong type of land. This is it could have been built on suelo rústico, rural land where residential properties are prohibited, also called no urbanizable. 

READ ALSO:

It could have also been built too near the coast. This is down to the Ley de Costas or Coastal Law, which was brought into force in December 1989 in order to protect the costas from overdevelopment and high rises spoiling the landscape. 

The law defines different areas of the beach and dictates which is public land, owned by the state and which parts can be owned privately and built on.

If you buy or own a house in one of these non-buildable zones, there are many problems you could face down the line, often sooner rather than later. This is because there are several rules you have to abide by concerning works, reforms and extensions. In some cases, they may not be allowed at all and everything must be approved first by the local government by providing a detailed project.

Because of coastal erosion, this issue is getting worse as some shoreside homes that were once built outside of these areas are finding that they’re now illegal.

READ ALSO: 

The house may have also had extensions made to it that were built without a license, meaning that the extra parts are illegal.

Q: How do I know if my home is legal or not?

A: Unfortunately it can be difficult to know if your property is legal or not. You could have bought and signed for it with a notary and it could be inscribed on the Property Registry, but this still doesn’t mean it was built to the correct specification and on the right land.

The only way to truly tell is to find out if your home ever had a Licencia de Primera Ocupación or First Occupation license, also referred to as a Cédula de Habitabilidad or Certificate of Habitability. This means that according to the authorities, it is suitable to live in and has the correct licenses.

READ ALSO: How to get Spain’s certificate of liveability for properties

Q: What happens if my property doesn’t have a habitability certificate?

A: If your property has never had a Certificate of Habitability, you must regularise the legal situation. First you’ll need to start a legalisation file (expediente de legalización) and contact the town hall. Depending on the seriousness of the case (ie. where exactly it was built, if there’s any structural danger, whether the entire property is illegal or just an extension) the cost of making an illegal property legal can be considerable. As such, each case must be studied individually with the help of an expert to determine whether it is even feasible or worth the investment.

The next step is to bring in an architect and check whether the property complies with all the building regulations. If it does, you simply need present the expediente de legalización to your local town hall, who will confirm whether or not the property adheres to building regulations and can be made legal.

If it doesn’t, you’ll need to consider whether it will comply with the regulations after some renovations. If that’s the case, you’ll need to draw up a renovations project document (proyecto de reforma) outlining the proposed changes and how they will adhere to building regulations. It must be presented to the town hall along with your expediente de legalización.

According to law firm Acal, the legalisation process can be broken down into steps as follows:

  • Contact the town hall.
  • Begin with the expediente de legalización when the town hall confirm whether or not the property can be made legal.
  • Pay the corresponding fees and taxes (in this case it will be IBI) depending on your municipality and region.
  • If you need to make renovations, obtain the proyecto de reforma and hire an architect.
  • Obtain a building permit from the town hall.
  • Once completed, register the property in the Land Registry.

READ ALSO: What is Spain’s IBI tax and how do I pay it?

Q: Do I really need to make my property legal?

A: Yes, because it will benefit you in the long run. It doesn’t matter what the previous owner told you when you were originally buying the property, owning a property that isn’t fully legal (or legal at all) can create problems and even lead to fines worth up to 20 percent of the property’s value in extreme cases.

By going through the legalisation process and making the relevant renovations, if necessary, you gain a legal property for all purposes and with all the benefits that entails.

You will not have problems setting up, paying, or cancelling electricity, water or gas utility services. You won’t have to undertake reforms and renovation work unofficially, avoiding the eyes of the authorities. Instead you’ll be able to register your property in the Land Registry, which will make things much easier when you decide to sell it or pass it on.

In terms of selling it, perhaps that is the biggest benefit of legalising your illegal property: by registering it properly, you will be able to benefit from its full value when selling it. When a property is illegal, the appraised value will probably be no more than 40-45 percent of its real value at best.

The renovations needed to get your property in shape to meet the building regulations could be costly, but will they cost you half of the total value of your property? 

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