# Cazzy has a crisis : Squatters



## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

We recently helped a 62 year old lady who was stuck in a van on a caravan site. She had no friends and was desperate. She needed somewhere else to live. We look after a rental property and part of this property is another house that is not used as it only has pedestrian access. There is another access but it is accross the patio of the rental unit. We told the lady that if she liked it she could rent it for 200 euros a month (including electric and water). The price was cheap as although the property was habitable it was scruffy. We could put her van in the yard but she would only be able to move it if the rental was unoccupied, and she would have to use the pedestrian access. She thought it was fantastic!! We made 3 return journeys of 300 km each, one to meet her, one to bring her over to see the property (she stayed with us for 2 nights) And one to take a friend over to bring her van over as she didn't want to drive it as it was late when we got here she stayed another night. We took her shopping and spent the day getting her sorted. She moved in on Monday last week after paying her rent. She asked for a reciept Not a problem. On saturday the police phoned us and called us out, she had called them and said we were holding her a prisoner. We opened the gates, but she refused to remove her vehicle (we said we would return her rent if she left) She said she could not go as she had to pack her van. The guadia said she was to leave at 10.00 on monday (yesterday) She refused to go. The police were called, but she still refused to leave. We gave her her money back in the pressence of the police. She has now been told she has to leave at 13.00 on wednesday. The police have told us that if she doesn't to cut her electric and water off, and go and denounce her, but this could take months!!!! Has anyone any advice? We know we have been stupid being taken in by her. We think she has a personality dissorder, and should be sectioned as she is completely mad!!


----------



## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Cazzy said:


> We recently helped a 62 year old lady who was stuck in a van on a caravan site. She had no friends and was desperate. She needed somewhere else to live. We look after a rental property and part of this property is another house that is not used as it only has pedestrian access. There is another access but it is accross the patio of the rental unit. We told the lady that if she liked it she could rent it for 200 euros a month (including electric and water). The price was cheap as although the property was habitable it was scruffy. We could put her van in the yard but she would only be able to move it if the rental was unoccupied, and she would have to use the pedestrian access. She thought it was fantastic!! We made 3 return journeys of 300 km each, one to meet her, one to bring her over to see the property (she stayed with us for 2 nights) And one to take a friend over to bring her van over as she didn't want to drive it as it was late when we got here she stayed another night. We took her shopping and spent the day getting her sorted. She moved in on Monday last week after paying her rent. She asked for a reciept Not a problem. On saturday the police phoned us and called us out, she had called them and said we were holding her a prisoner. We opened the gates, but she refused to remove her vehicle (we said we would return her rent if she left) She said she could not go as she had to pack her van. The guadia said she was to leave at 10.00 on monday (yesterday) She refused to go. The police were called, but she still refused to leave. We gave her her money back in the pressence of the police. She has now been told she has to leave at 13.00 on wednesday. The police have told us that if she doesn't to cut her electric and water off, and go and denounce her, but this could take months!!!! Has anyone any advice? We know we have been stupid being taken in by her. We think she has a personality dissorder, and should be sectioned as she is completely mad!!


She sounds as nutty as a fruit cake
This is such a common story. You feel sorry for someone and go out of your way to help them then they turn on you We had that happen to us last year.
I hope you get it sorted out very quickly.


----------



## Seb* (Mar 22, 2009)

I´m so sorry you got caught up with this 

Squatting is a real problem in spain and if the people don´t leave by themselves it takes months or even years to get rid of them. Cutting off water and electricity is the best thing you can do right now. If she ignores the next ultimatum as well I would get a lawyer straight away.


----------



## Calas felices (Nov 29, 2007)

Squatting is a real problem in spain and if the people don´t leave by themselves it takes months or even years to get rid of them. Cutting off water and electricity is the best thing you can do right now. If she ignores the next ultimatum as well I would get a lawyer straight away.

Get a lawyer is good advice but cutting off electricity and water is not. You could be prosecuted for doing so whatever the police said. See a lawyer!


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

A familiar tale....
She is either mad or bad, probably mainly the former with a dash of the latter. If she is British, you could contact the Consulate, perhaps? Sounds as if she needs medical help. But she is not ancient and is clearly able to function to her advantage.
Get tough. Cut off all utilities. It may be illegal but so is occupying property without the owners' consent and if any legal action were to be commenced against you (by whom, I wonder??) it would take weeks or months to be effective and she wouldn't last that long without water, light etc.If the shops are a long way away, block or disable her means of transport or if she goes for food put new locks on the doors or nail them shut.
You have been taken advantage of. It's horrible as it makes you suspicious of everyone and loathe to help those genuinely in need.


----------



## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Watching for her going out to buy food (which is essential ) and t hen changing the locks and stopping her from getting back in sounds the best idea to me.
Empty all of her possesions out of the house and leave them on the street for her to collect.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Veronica said:


> Watching for her going out to buy food (which is essential ) and t hen changing the locks and stopping her from getting back in sounds the best idea to me.
> Empty all of her possesions out of the house and leave them on the street for her to collect.


I would do that without a moment's hesitation.
To ease your conscience you could contact Age Concern.
But act swiftly or she will be a nuisance to you for a very long time.


----------



## Calas felices (Nov 29, 2007)

*Ex Renter*

I would caution you against taking the advice of people who don't know Spanish Law. This woman is not a squatter - she has paid rent on a property and has a receipt so she is not living there without the owner's consent. The only problem at the moment seems to be that she is behind with her payments or that the landlord has changed their mind. If she is aware of Spanish Law she will be aware of her rights. See a Lawyer quickly.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Calas felices said:


> I would caution you against taking the advice of people who don't know Spanish Law. This woman is not a squatter - she has paid rent on a property and has a receipt so she is not living there without the owner's consent. The only problem at the moment seems to be that she is behind with her payments or that the landlord has changed their mind. If she is aware of Spanish Law she will be aware of her rights. See a Lawyer quickly.


See a lawyer...... and nail the door. Issue a request for repossession of the property. Accept no further rent.
You and this woman are on the same footing as regards knowledge of the law, I guess.
The police are aware of the situation and are on your side.
When we were in business in the UK we were often faced with the problem of unpaid accounts amounting to £000s. I'm afraid we often resorted to unorthodox methods to get our money back - excluding violence. Yes, we technically broke the law....but in the UK at least the law is not an ass and I can't see any sympathy for this scheming woman coming from any legal quarter in Spain either.
Like Cazzy we are essentially law-abiding people but we were not prepared to be made fools of -word gets around -or see our business bankrupted by people who technically may have had the law 'on their side' but found that the law stood by and watched as we took decisive action to recover that which was lawfully owned to us.
I think the police and courts here have more than enough to occupy them without wasting time on the unfounded complaint of a nutty not-so-old woman.
And if you do get hassle we'll start a legal fund for you.
Seriously.


----------



## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

mad?? I don't think so. She asked for a receipt for the rent, ergo she knew what she was doing.


----------



## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

Calas felices said:


> I would caution you against taking the advice of people who don't know Spanish Law. This woman is not a squatter - she has paid rent on a property and has a receipt so she is not living there without the owner's consent. The only problem at the moment seems to be that she is behind with her payments or that the landlord has changed their mind. If she is aware of Spanish Law she will be aware of her rights. See a Lawyer quickly.


She did pay rent but this refunded in the presence of the police, in preparation for her leaving as she said she wouldn't leave without a refund. The Police suggested that she should pay 6.67 Euros per day (for Electric) but she has refused, saying 5 euros per month was more than enough (lives on a different planet we think)!

So now she has a full refund and has lived rent free since 12th July, but still refuses to leave.


----------



## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Cazzy said:


> She did pay rent but this refunded in the presence of the police, in preparation for her leaving as she said she wouldn't leave without a refund. The Police suggested that she should pay 6.67 Euros per day (for Electric) but she has refused, saying 5 euros per month was more than enough (lives on a different planet we think)!
> 
> So now she has a full refund and has lived rent free since 12th July, but still refuses to leave.


So she has little if any protection from the law. So get a hammer and some nails ready for when she goes for food.
If she gets away with this, what's to stop me or anyone putting up a tent in your garden and refusing to leave?
Did she leave the caravan site because of unpaid rent, do you know? It might be worth contacting them to see if she has a 'history'.


----------



## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> So she has little if any protection from the law. So get a hammer and some nails ready for when she goes for food.
> If she gets away with this, what's to stop me or anyone putting up a tent in your garden and refusing to leave?
> Did she leave the caravan site because of unpaid rent, do you know? It might be worth contacting them to see if she has a 'history'.


Did you get the receipt back?
A friend had a similar problem with a colleague who was offered temp accomodation at a small rent but after a few months stopped paying and wouldn't get out. My friend (having talked to a solicitor) waited till the person left the premises (it took about a week, working shifts with some friends, because his (ex)colleague was astute enough to have someone come in and house sit while she was out) and then called a locksmith to change all the locks. Had the person tried to break in to the house it would become a criminal offence. The strange thing was that the person was a lawyer earning wads of money.


----------



## VFR (Dec 23, 2009)

Veronica said:


> Watching for her going out to buy food (which is essential ) and t hen changing the locks and stopping her from getting back in sounds the best idea to me.
> Empty all of her possesions out of the house and leave them on the street for her to collect.


Yes exactly what I would do.

Yes officer I arrived and found the door open ?, thought the place had been burgled and found that she had left.
Funny enough Fred asked her was she leaving when he saw her in the street & she just swore at him when he asked if he could help.
Well as she had left I decided to change the locks asap in case she gave the keys to her friends.


----------



## jkchawner (Dec 21, 2008)

Cazzy said:


> She did pay rent but this refunded in the presence of the police, in preparation for her leaving as she said she wouldn't leave without a refund. The Police suggested that she should pay 6.67 Euros per day (for Electric) but she has refused, saying 5 euros per month was more than enough (lives on a different planet we think)!
> 
> So now she has a full refund and has lived rent free since 12th July, but still refuses to leave.


just make life as bad as she has yourself failing that accidently on purpose fill her caravan with rats mice etc etc 
go out of your way to help someone and this is the thanks you get


----------



## Nignoy (Jun 4, 2010)

This sort of happened to us in australia, we were selling our house on the sunshine coast through a estate agent, while this was happening we were on a 6 month tour of asia and europe, 3 months into the tour friends informed us that there were squatters living in our home, we rushed back to aus to confront the squatters, they were agroup of 4 young surfers and their partners who were claiming open vacation posession!! they had changed all the locks and moved all our posessions and furniture into a back room, the police advised us to go through the courts ,to get them removed, we had to rent a unit while they lived in our home, I am sorry to say but I broke the law in a way, I gave them 24 hours to get out or else, a day later I went back with a group of mates from the local rsl(returned soldiers league)and evicted them and their property,by the time the police arrived, I had changed the locks and clamped their cars,and locked the front gates, we told the police we would return their vehicles when they had paid for the damages they had done to our house, or we would get acourt permission order to auction off their cars, we knew this would never be allowed, but luckily for us the squatters didnt, needless to say they got a court order for the return of their vehicles, but a very sympathetic judge also made a binding condition of return ,that our home damages be paid and our court costs as well,over 3 months we got all that was owed, and we dutifully returned the cars and caravan,it seemed like a very strange coincidence that 3 weeks later the 4 young men tried to break into a vacant property in the next township, unluckily for them the owner and his 4 sons were waiting in side the house for them , and the hand of justice smote them and there was much pain and bleeding , the police were very sympathetic to the house owner, the bruised and battered squatters were advised to leave the area or be procecuted, They tried to blame me for setting this ambush up , sadly for them we were out of the country, but I know now that you only turn the other cheek, when your opponent is flat out on his arse!!!!


----------



## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

Thanks for all of your advice. SHE'S GONE!!!!!!!!!!!! She does come on these forums so I guess she has been reading your comments and it eventually sunk in that she would have to go!


----------

