Tourist apartments are not the problem that is changing the real estate market, which is affected by the fact that there is a “real concern about the possible occupation” of the house, to the point that it prompts the owner to “choose to withdraw from the property.” rental market the limited supply available. And this despite the fact that the data repeatedly repeats that squatter problems are minimal in Andalusia (in 2023 the lowest number of complaints in the last five years was recorded) because there is growing citizen unrest due to the impact of tourist properties. However, the new Andalusian Housing Law, already being drafted, tiptoes around the real estate impact of tourists, but it includes many measures against occupation and even provides for the creation of three bodies for this purpose, mainly to provide advice, since regional powers are limited.
Asked about this issue, the Andalusian Government emphasizes that one of the priority objectives of the new standard is to facilitate access to first homes, a framework in which “one of the main factors is the fight against the occupation of first homes.” Hence the importance given to this issue in a draft law that is on display to the public until the end of this month, with the intention – highlighted by the President of the Council himself, Juan Manuel Moreno – of approve it in the first half of 2025. In addition to regulating squatting for the first time and giving legal status to the fact that a squatter cannot be allocated a public apartment, which has been applied for almost three years, the text raises a question cascade of initiatives promote construction and access to housing.
Previously, the document makes an analysis of the current situation in its preamble in which it includes as one of the factors that harm the market the “real concern about possible occupation”. At the same time, it underlines that “the problem of the lack of supply of rental housing persists independently of housing for tourist use”.
In fact, he downplays the impact of this last phenomenon, pointing out that in Andalusia they represent between 3 and 4% of the main stock of households. In any case, the law excludes introducing measures to regulate this situation caused by “the boom in the tourist industry”, since “it has been regulated as an economic activity through the appropriate sectoral legislation”.
Lots of measures, but no numbers
Unlike what it does with tourist apartments, although it does not respond to them, no figures are provided regarding illegal occupation. But official data affirm that this issue is not really an urgent problem, since the latest data from the Ministry of the Interior (referring to 2023) indicate that 2,331 cases of this type were registered that year, the lowest figure in the last five years. . The Minister of Housing, Isabel Rodríguez, recently gave the national figure to Congress: “it is less than 0.06%”, she quantified, based on the 16,765 known acts of burglary and usurpation of properties, out of a total stock of 20.9. million homes.
The Seville City Council, governed by the PP, has recently proposed a very low figure. When assessing the situation of the 2,870 properties owned by Emvisesa, the municipal housing company, it was found that illegal occupation is only 0.55%. In any case, we are talking about percentages that are always significantly lower than the percentages of housing intended for tourist use.
The Ministry of Development, Territorial Articulation and Housing states in this regard that the main objective of the law, and as stated in the draft law, is “the habitual and permanent use of housing, that is, access to the first home, whether for rent or for sale.” In this sense, sources from this department point out that “in this framework, one of the main factors is the fight against the occupation of housing in the first place.” At the same time, it is emphasized that the use given to a second home, as is the case of tourist apartments, “is already developed and worked on by the Ministry of Tourism, which has already approved a decree that regulates housing for tourist use in Andalusia.”
State law ‘favors’ illegal occupation
The Andalusian administration’s point of view on this issue was expressed by the Minister of Public Works, Rocío Díaz, in a recent interview with Europa Press, in which she contrasted the Andalusian project with the state standard, approved a year and a half ago. and which is accused of “favoring” illegal occupation by “not providing legal security” to owners. “If the law does not protect the owner, he will withdraw his homes from the market for fear of being occupied illegally”, which contrasts with an Andalusian proposal that would favor a “completely different” scenario.
The market – underlines the text of the future law – is particularly weak in the rental sector, which is 95% in the hands of private owners who manage an offer “in many cases unprofessionalized and totally autonomous in their decisions”. This means that they are strongly affected by “insecurity or uncertainty”, which, according to the standard, is caused mainly by two factors: “situations of insecurity or uncertainty in the application of the regulations on urban leases”, on the one hand, and on the other hand, illegal occupation.
On the other hand, and regarding tourist apartments, he insists that this phenomenon “is not the subject” of the future law. In fact, as a councilor of the sector, her main concern is that officially protected housing is not used for this purpose.
Similar approach for evictions and occupations
The new Andalusian regulation establishes similar protection measures for the person subject to eviction and for the owner who suffers the occupation of the housing he rents; in fact, it obliges municipalities to create a Municipal Advisory Cell on Evictions. This includes “owners of occupied properties and those in a vulnerable situation.”
In any case, and as with the rest of the organizations that it plans to create, its function is advisory, since the occupation falls under the Penal Code and the autonomous communities have limited powers. In fact, there are no specific sanctions for occupation or non-occupation, which cannot legally be applied.
In addition to this municipal unit, the Andalusian Government itself will have a Commission for the Coordination of Evictions and the Fight against Illegal Occupation and Unrest, an interministerial body that involves several ministries. The Development portfolio, for its part, also reserves its role with the implementation of the Andalusian System of Information and Advice on Evictions and the Fight against Occupation, essentially focused on serving people in a particular situation of weakness or social and economic emergency. due to eviction or being owners and suffering from occupation.
No social housing for squatters
The future standard also gives force of law to an initiative already applied, such as the ban on access to social housing to any person convicted of squatting, who will also not be able to benefit from rental assistance, a measure that was approved by the Government Council in January 2022. The situation is considered to be people convicted by a final judgment for breaking and entering or usurpation of housing, or for having received a final administrative resolution in any recovery and/or eviction file for occupation without title in the last five years.
One of the main novelties of the bill is that it regulates for the first time and provides a legislative framework for the inquisitio, which it defines as “the intermediate state between the indebted tenant and the illegal occupant”. Likewise, it addresses the issue of over-occupation with the aim of regulating the so-called “patera apartments”, inviting municipalities to initiate the corresponding administrative procedures when they become aware of a circumstance that the law considers serious and that may give rise to sanctions. between 6,001 and 20,000 euros.
