The coalition Government of PSOE and United We Can, through the future state housing law, intends to make the current anti-eviction mechanism structural, which limits the launches derived from non-payment of rent and also to expand the protection umbrella to the procedures related to the mortgage loans, as confirmed by sources familiar with the negotiations between the two partners of the Executive.
In this way, the two types of eviction would have for the first time after the pandemic a protection instrument that would be launched when the affected person was in a situation of economic vulnerability, these sources detail. From there, and if the social services corroborate it, the autonomous communities would be obliged to find a decent housing solution that, predictably, would always have to be a home.
Currently, and as a result of Covid-19, the two types of evictions have different exceptions designed to lessen their effects on the vulnerable population. In the case of mortgages, there is a moratorium until 2024 that certain vulnerable groups such as single-parent families with children or large families can take advantage of, as well as households with minors, those over 60 years of age or with a member with a disability , with dependency or victim of gender violence.
The launches derived from non-payment of rent, on the other hand, can be temporarily suspended by decision of the judge in the case of tenants with a current contract that prove their situation of vulnerability through official documents presented through social services. In the case of people without qualifying title (who are squatting), the court may paralyze the process if the affected person is a victim of gender violence, a dependent or has minors in charge, again if the vulnerability is proven.
The idea of the Government is to make this last regulation structural and that, both in the procedures motivated by the non-payment of the rent and in those derived from the mortgage, the judges have to request a report from the social services to analyze the situation of the affected person before the launch occurs. In case of vulnerability, and while the administrations look for an alternative, the eviction process may be extended for two or four months, depending on whether the home belongs to a natural person or a company, these sources advance.
This regulation, which is still being designed and which implies modifications to the Civil Procedure Law, would be complemented by other proposals and measures that traditionally include state housing plans with the aim of reducing the impact of evictions, such as collaborations with the Sareb or with the social fund of credit institutions.
Despite all the measures deployed by the Government in the well-known social shield, Spain continues to add several thousand evictions every quarter, mostly derived from non-payment of rent. Between April and June 2021, launches related to leases totaled about 8,000, while evictions derived from foreclosures touched 3,000, a figure that continues to grow quarter after quarter.
Embalmed cases
The latest data released by the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) put on the table the formation of a kind of bag of launches related to the non-payment of the mortgage that would only grow over the months. Thus, immediately before the outbreak of Covid-19, between 70% and 98% of all foreclosures that were registered reached the launch. For example, in the second quarter of 2019, of the 3,857 confirmed foreclosures, a total of 3,812 were evicted. A quarter later, 3,500 of the 4,900 registered executions were formalized.
The CGPJ figures show, on the one hand, that in the last three quarters (from October 2020 to June 2021) the percentage of launches has fallen by more than half, moving between 35% and 37%. On the other, they warn of the increase in foreclosures, the previous step to eviction. If in the quarters prior to the pandemic Spain moved between 3,000 and 5,000 executions, from October 2020 to June 2021 the periods close with more than 7,000 open processes.
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