Until relatively long ago, squatting mafias tracked Ivima properties on the Internet, sold to vulture funds; and those of Sareb, offered on real estate portals, to support their lucrative business. After that, they forced the door, bursting the bowler hat, and placed a metal chain with a padlock to take over the assaulted property. A job, that of usurping apartments to hand them over to third parties in exchange for certain amounts of money, that did not take into account something essential: the substantial advantage of trying to go unnoticed.
At least, for the time necessary to complete the disembarkation of the squatters, without the neighbors of the affected property realizing it. Something that, according to two recent cases of massive usurpations registered in the capital, has changed. The latest, without going any further, is known this week in the district of Carabanchel, where 28 Peruvian families have settled in a modern urbanization with a swimming pool, gym, children’s area and outdoor gastro area after paying up to 3,000 euros for a false contract.
The key here, according to the sources consulted, lies precisely in the ease of entering and spreading out among the empty houses, taking advantage of the particularities of the building. This belongs entirely to the Vivenio real estate company, and its 170 one- and two-bedroom apartments are intended for rent. The usurpers, who claim to have been scammed in line at a soup kitchen by members of a clan, entered with a key on the December long weekend. And they did so to the astonishment of locals and strangers, aware that such a landing did not respond to a normal situation.
In fact, one of the residents then wrote the following: «I live in the Carabanchel building and on this bridge they have squatted at least 28 homes, and the company has done nothing more than send a measly email. The squatters entering with mattresses, sofas, refrigerators and the doorman letting them in. We have been reporting doors that do not close properly for months, with janitors who do not make rounds and fall asleep at night. They have rushed to set alarms in the apartments that are still empty, but those of us who are paying have not been given anything, not even an extra measure. How is it possible that 28 homes are squatted in four days and no one notices? “It’s not my job to check who lives on each floor.”
As ABC has learned, such a macro-squatter is the first time it has occurred in Carabanchel. “These are usually specific cases,” district agents emphasize. Although the truth is that there was a similar situation months ago in another part of the capital. In August, residents of a property recently put on the market in El Cañaveral (Vicálvaro district) left en masse after realizing that their new neighbors were actually squatters. As now, the homes belonged to the same owner (also intended for rental), and the first tenants had just arrived.
The mafia then took the opportunity to break into the empty apartments and bring in the squatters camouflaged as residents. But one of the legal residents, upon returning from vacation, noticed that there was a new lock on his door. They had tried to access their house, but when they realized that there were people living there, they left. That set off all the alarms in the neighborhood and after several days of protests, they finally managed to get the usurpers, deployed in up to twelve houses, to leave voluntarily. An outcome that in Carabanchel they are already waiting like May rain.
#mafia #strategy #hunting #newly #finished #block #fill #camouflaged #squatters
