The phenomenon of squatting in Spain has intensified in recent years, particularly affecting major cities like Madrid and Barcelona. In 2023, according to data from the Statistical Crime Portal of the Ministry of the Interior, there were 15,289 cases of unlawful entry or occupation of properties in the country. Of these, 1,516 occurred in the Community of Madrid, making it the second province with the most cases, surpassed only by Barcelona, which accumulated 4,610 incidents of this nature.
The data shows that Madrid faces a significant issue in terms of the number of squatting incidents, with a rate of four per day, although Barcelona leads this statistic nationally. The difference between both provinces is notable, with more than triple the cases in the Catalan capital.
Regarding the resolution of these cases, 1,212 cases were clarified in Madrid, a considerable number but lower than the 3,772 cases in Barcelona. Meanwhile, at the opposite end of this statistic are Soria and Palencia (with 8 cases each), followed by Zaragoza and Ceuta (with 9 cases each) and Melilla, with 11 incidents.
A critical aspect related to squatting is the time it takes for property owners to regain their homes through legal processes. In Madrid, the average duration of judicial procedures for illegal occupation of homes reached 11.2 months in 2023, according to the General Council of the Judiciary. This figure represents more than double the time needed in 2018 when the average was 5.2 months, indicating a growing slowness in the judicial system.
However, platforms like Idealista mention times of almost two years in the case of Madrid (11.2 months for the first instance and 10.3 months for the appeal), totaling 21.5 months. This figure places Madrid in the middle range nationally, with Castilla y León being the slowest community with a waiting time of three years and Navarra (with 9 months for the first instance and 5.2 for the appeal) as the fastest.
90% of the judicialized cases in Madrid correspond to tenants who have stopped paying rent, highlighting that the issue is not limited to violent squatting for building social centers or other neighborhood projects or out of extreme necessity. A phenomenon known as 'inquiokupación', a combination of the terms tenant and squatter, which has several platforms spread throughout the national territory.
This statistic also explains two of the most repeated concerns in real estate sector surveys regarding landlords in Madrid, where squatting and fear of non-payment are the main headaches for small property owners who participate as lessors in the rental market.
The delay in justice times in returning properties has become one of the determining factors for the proliferation of eviction companies (there are already more than fifteen offering their services in the capital) that, for fees ranging from 3,000 to 6,000 euros, promise to "recover the property in 48 hours" in their advertising, without providing any guarantee.
Despite having almost a million more inhabitants than Barcelona, Madrid's numbers are three times lower than those of the province of Barcelona. In Barcelona, a combination of factors has worsened the situation. The implementation of specific housing regulations, such as Law 24/2015, has been interpreted in some cases as more favorable to squatters than to property owners. This law, which introduces mechanisms to protect people at risk of residential exclusion, has caused delays in evictions and, in some cases, their avoidance, contributing to the increase in squatting.
Likewise, according to experts consulted, in Barcelona, there is a deeply rooted "culture" of squatting linked to social and neighborhood movements since the 1980s. Additionally, it is the city where a large part of the squatting manuals are produced, explaining step by step the entire process, from investigating possible properties to usurp, how to withstand the first 48 hours, or how much money can be demanded to leave the apartment during negotiations with the owners.
While all statistics are marking the pulse of the phenomenon in the country's two main cities, the situation in El Cañaveral in recent times has also stirred up the political arena. Thus, the Minister of Housing, Tourism, and Transport of the Community, Jorge Rodrigo, questioned yesterday before the media what the Government Delegate, Francisco Martín, was doing in the face of housing squatting in this enclave. Rodrigo also took the opportunity to ask the President of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, to "unblock the Anti-Squatting Law presented by the PP" to "allow these evictions to take place in 24 hours."