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DRUGS

Narcopisos: ‘Drug flats’ blight the heart of Spanish cities

A decade after Spain's property bubble burst, dozens of vacant apartments in Madrid and Barcelona city centres have turned into "drug flats", to the dismay of local residents who complain of abandoned syringes and frequent brawls.

Published: 16 April 2018 08:51 CEST
Narcopisos: 'Drug flats' blight the heart of Spanish cities
A youngster skates in front of a "narcopiso" or drug-flat, at the Raval neighborhood in Barcelona. Photo: AFP

“You don't live anymore. You are more afraid at home than outside,” said Begona Sebastian, a 51-year-old accountant whose building was one of the first  in Lavapies, a district in the centre of Madrid, to have a “narcopiso”, or  drug flat, where people come to buy and consume drugs.

For three years, dealers sold hashish and cocaine in the apartment below  her own, which had been seized by a bank from a heavily indebted family.    

READ MORE: Why now is the right time to buy a property in Spain

In mid-2016, she managed to have the squatters evicted and the door of the  flat walled up to avoid it from being illegally occupied again by drug dealers.    

The building was infested with bedbugs, and the constant coming and going  of drug buyers, combined with the fear that the squatters could trigger an  explosion with the gas cylinders they used for heating, caused her to lose  sleep.

“You end up crying,” said Sebastian, a brunette with a round face, as she  passed by another drug flat that has since sprung up in Lavapies, an old  district of steep and narrow streets that has a high immigrant population.    

Staircase of a building housing a “narcopiso” in the Raval neighborhood in Barcelona. Photo: AFP

She knows by heart the addresses of each drug flat and has learned how to  recognise them from the outside due to their broken doors and windows boarded  up with cardboard.

Other neighbourhoods in Spanish cities, such as the working class Puente de  Vallecas district in southern Madrid and El Raval in the centre of Barcelona,  have seen an explosion in the number of drug flats in recent years, sparking  street protests by locals.

Some have taken to hanging red flags from their windows to draw attention  to the problem.

View of the entrance of a building housing a “narcopiso” or drug-flat, at the Raval neighborhood

Evictions

Figures on how many empty flats have been taken over by drug dealers are  hard to come by.

The interior ministry does not have national statistics on drug flats and  refers any questions to local authorities.   

In the Madrid region, national police say they have dismantled 105 “narco  flats” in 2017, and made 314 arrests.   

Catalan police said that by early this month 17 flats had been searched so  far this year in connection with drug trafficking and 34 people arrested.   

IN PICS: Drone photography reveals haunting beauty of Spain's unfinished housing

The authorities blame the rise in drug flats on the sharp economic downturn  that followed the collapse of a decade-long building boom in 2008 causing tens of thousands of families to be evicted from their homes.

The empty flats they left behind often belong to banks or investment funds,  which can not sell them without making a huge loss, so they leave them empty  while waiting for property values to rise.

“El Raval is one of the areas most affected by speculation, with buildings  in a deplorable state of conservation, which facilitates occupations,” said  Gala Pin, the local  Barcelona city councilwoman.

'Zombies'

“Mafias occupy the apartments, then they sell drugs there, or they install  people who sell for them,” a police source told AFP.   

Traffickers take advantage of the fact that it is only possible to evict  squatters with a court order, which can take months to obtain, the source  added.

“They started by selling a lot of hashish, then they saw that there was  also a demand for cocaine and sometimes even heroin.”   


Banners reading “We want a worthy neighborhood” hang from a balcony in the Raval. Photo: AFP

The opioid epidemic in the United States has revived bad memories in Spain  of its own devastating heroin crisis of the 1980s.   

“In my generation, everyone has lost friends because of heroin, and we do  not want it to start again,” said Manolo Osuna, 54, a postman in Lavapies.   

In Barcelona, Carlos, a spokesman for a neighbourhood association in El  Raval who declined to give his last name because he fears the drug  traffickers, said the “streets are full of people who look like zombies”.

“The stairs are soiled by blood, faeces, urine, they leave behind  syringes,” said Carlos, who lived next to a building, which until October was  a key drug sales point in Barcelona.

Shift

Police and social workers say drug trafficking is moving from marginal  areas on the outskirts of cities where the authorities have increased  anti-drug operations, to city centres.

“Depending on where police pressure is, traffic is moving,” said Josep  Rovira, the spokesman for the Catalan Federation of Drug Addiction.   

Barcelona city hall, led by a leftist former housing activist, tries to  convince the owners of empty flats to rent them.   


Syringes left by drug users are pictured in the staircase of a building. Photo: AFP

Madrid's left-wing city hall has boosted the number of municipal police to  fight the problem and said it will install security cameras on streets with  drug flats.

Associations that work with drug addicts have called for the government to  do more to care for drug addicts and reduce the risk that they will suffer an  overdose.

“It's a reality that will always exist,” said Rovira.

By AFP's Adrien Vicente 

For members

PROPERTY

BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Though many people hang laundry, plants, and flags from their balcony, in Spain the rules on what you can and can't do on 'el balcón' are not well-known.

Published: 8 May 2024 17:13 CEST
Updated: 11 May 2024 08:31 CEST
BBQs, nudity and plants: What are the balcony rules in Spain?

Imagine the scene: you’ve just bought or signed the lease on your dream apartment. It’s bright and airy, with plenty of space, and even has a nice-sized balcony to get some fresh air on. You can do whatever you want there, right? 

Not exactly. In Spain the rules on what you can and can’t do on a balcony (even if it’s private) depend on a few factors, namely the regional and local rules, as well as getting the approval of the building’s homeowner’s association – known in Spain as la comunidad.

Some of them might just surprise you.

READ ALSO: ‘La comunidad’: What property owners in Spain need to know about homeowners’ associations

There are four main things or activities on balconies that could potentially put you on the wrong side of the local rules and even get you fined: barbecues, plants, laundry, and flags.

In all cases (even if you don’t think you’re breaking any rules) you’ll generally need to consider two things: firstly, does this affect or change the building’s façade? And secondly: will la comunidad allow it?

Barbecues

In Spain there is no national law prohibiting barbecues on private property, so in principle it is legal as long as the barbecue is lit in a private space such as your own balcony, garden or terrace, and not a shared space.

Often in Spain, the roof (usually referred to as la terrazza) is a shared space people use for storage and hanging their laundry, so be sure to check with the comunidad.

In terms of your own balcony, however, although there’s no law saying outright you can’t have a barbecue, you’ll need to take into account the rules and regulations in force in each locality or region. There may also be specific rules within the building that long-term homeowners have developed over the years.

As we will see, many of these low-level regulations are delegated to local governments and town halls in Spain, so the answer to these sorts of questions is usually: it depends where you are.

However, according to Article 7 of Spain’s Horizontal Property Law, “the owner and the occupant of the flat or premises are not allowed to carry out in it or in the rest of the property activities prohibited in bylaws, which are harmful to the property or which contravene the general provisions on annoying, unhealthy, harmful, dangerous or illegal activities.”

This basically gives your neighbours the right to complain about noise, smells, smoke and any possible fire risk in or around their building, which barbecues could plausibly fall under.

As with co-living anywhere in the world, regardless of the regional or local rules, employ some common sense: be reasonable, listen to neighbour’s concerns and take up any disputes with the President of la comunidad.

READ ALSO: What you need to know before having a barbecue in Spain

Plants

Again, with plants the responsibility falls on each local authority to set the rules. In Spain, most regions and town halls state that, as long as the architectural or structural elements of the building are not changed or weakened in any way, putting plants on your balcony is permitted.

However, note that many terraces and balconies do have maximum weight regulations that must be respected in order to guarantee their safety, which is 200kg per square metre. If this figure is exceeded (and it can be proved) you could theoretically be fined.

Laundry

Laundry lines criss-crossing the streets might be one of the more picturesque images of Spanish life, but the people doing it might actually be breaking the rules.

How do you know? You guessed it, it depends where you. You’ll need to check with your local authority on this one, though municipal regulations in Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia all regulate hanging laundry from your balcony, which is again outlined in the Horizontal Property Law.

This principally seems to be because it affects the façade of the building (a common theme when it comes to balcony rules in Spain).

In places with rules about hanging laundry from balconies, you could be fined up to 750 euros if you don’t comply with the rules.

However, according to Foto Casa, even if you live in an area where there are no bans or penalties against hanging laundry on the balcony, you’ll still likely need the permission of la comunidad.

READ MORE: Spain’s weirdest laws that foreigners should know about

What about flags?

Whether it be the Spanish flag, the Catalan, Valencian or Andalusian flags, or LGBT, trade union or football team flags, flags proudly hanging from balconies is another mainstay of Spanish life.

It’s also one of the more controversial ones too, especially within comunidad meetings. Hanging flags on the balcony, as well as allegedly altering the aesthetics and security of the building (the same concern as with laundry) often has ideological connotations that can cause conflict.

Again, as with laundry, hanging flags on the balcony will require the approval of all the owners within the community, something that must be agreed at a meeting, as per the Horizontal Property Law.

However, if the flag is placed inside the property, as it is a private property, fellow homeowners cannot oppose it, even if it is visible from the street, according to Foto Casa.

Nudity 

Article of 185 of Spain’s Penal Code only considers being naked at home to be obscene exhibitionism and sexual provocation if it affects minors, in which case it is punishable with a fine or up to a year in prison.

Therefore, you could technically sunbathe shirtless or naked on your balcony in most cases without getting into trouble, although it won’t necessarily go down well with your neighbours and/or flatmates and you be reprimanded for it.

READ ALSO: Can you go shirtless or wear a bikini in the street in Spain?

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