Those responsible for the real estate portals warned of the growing phenomenon of ‘concern squatting’ that has become the great fear of owners when they decide to put a home on the rental market.
“Many prefer to have their property empty rather than rent it because of the strong risk that a person will stop paying,” said the director of studies at Pisos.com, Ferran Font, during his participation in the dialogue ‘The future of the rental market. housing, current problems’, organized by Servimedia.
Font, who was part of the table along with the general director of the Rental Negotiation Agency (ANA), José Ramón Zurdo, and the director of Fotocasa Studies, María Matos, lamented the difficulties that the owners have in solving this problem in a “more or less fast”.
Furthermore, he pointed out that in the event that a tenant declares himself vulnerable, the public administrations transfer to the owner a responsibility that “does not belong to him.” “In this case, we do miss that they grant some type of guarantee or protection so that if that person is vulnerable, the income is fully or partially financed.”
María Matos is of the same opinion, who added that the main concern of the owners is knowing when they will be able to recover their home. “If the owners were given the certainty that they were going to recover their homes quickly there would be no problems,” said Matos, who pointed out that the tenants “do not have to fulfill a social function” because that corresponds to the State.
José Ramón Zurdo, for his part, also highlighted that this phenomenon is clearly reducing the supply of rental homes. “The owners prefer to sell their home or move to other types of rental such as tourist or vacation rentals,” he stated.
criminal offense
Zurdo also wanted to make it clear that ‘inquiokupación’ is a criminal offense. “This is not like when a person’s contract expires and they remain in the home. Here there is a desire to deceive, to become a squatter legally by paying only the first month and the deposit,” clarified Zurdo, who pointed out that this figure It can be fought with a fraud complaint.
Likewise, he pointed out that there are two articles of the Penal Code that regulate squatting: 202 – trespassing – and 245 – usurpation of housing -. “While trespassing is punishable by prison, usurpation consists of a simple financial fine, which makes it a crime that is very likely to allow a person to enter a home without fear of anything,” he explained.
Regarding the period in which the most squats take place, he pointed out that it is the period of time in which the home is on display for rent. “We have offered free alarms to the owners during the rental period to protect the homes from malicious intentions,” he highlighted.
Finally, he proposed measures such as streamlining rental procedures or modifying article 37 of the Urban Leases Law, which allows housing rental contracts to be made verbally, so that it is mandatory that they be made in writing and They must be registered in a public rental registry so that the police can request this document in the event of squatting.
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