New law to evict conflicting squatters
The Catalan Parliament has approved this Wednesday the law against the conflicting occupations that cause problems of coexistence in the neighboring communities.
The law approved in the Catalan Parliament this week against occupations that cause coexistence difficulties, has fallen short, once again. At Amat we believe that the law to evict conflicting squatters is insufficient and a lost opportunity to resolve one of the biggest conflicts that communities have.
Our vice president, Joana Amat, is on the College of Administrators board, representatives of the Property Administrators. They have fought until the last moment so that the Communities could initiate these eviction processes in case they were dealing with conflicting squats.
What was decided?
In the end, the law determined that the Town Halls will be the ones who can start the eviction process. However, only in cases where the properties are owned by a bank. This, as we said, is a missed opportunity… The Town Halls will act based on their ideology and the electoral moment. To be honest, there is a lack of political courage and good knowledge of the situations that are experienced in these cases. Which is a problem when it comes to fighting against conflicting squatters.
Coexistence in the Owners Communities can be very difficult in these cases, since the squatters usually aren’t rooted. The provisional situation affects everyone! The manipulation of electricity and water services to provide the squatters, affect the Community of Owners directly. Besides, this type of manipulation has usually a high risks of fire due to overloads.
The Communities of Owners face, every time more, more regulations by the Administrations. However, they receive very little support in cases of conflict. This law was a chance to solve one of the most exhausting and despairs situations that communities suffer. But, as we said at the beginning, the law to evict conflicting squatters has fallen short.
Although we believe that a great opportunity has been lost, we, like the Board of the College of Administrators and the Property Administrators, will continue to fight to improve or change these situations.
Joana Amat Amigó
Vice-president of Amat Immobiliaris
Board member of the Estate Administrators College
