The first clause worth reading when you discover squatters is not in any statute. It is in the particular conditions of your home insurance policy, under the «legal defence» cover. In almost every policy that cover applies to the insured property and up to a limit of costs per claim, and illegal occupation appears, where it appears at all, as a separate guarantee with its own cap and sometimes a waiting period. If the occupied house is the one in the village and the policy is the one on your city flat, the insurer is not going to pay for the lawyer, and it is better to know that before losing two days on the phone. What actually determines how you recover the house is the Spanish Criminal Code, specifically whether the occupied property is a dwelling (Article 202) or a property that is not one (Article 245.2). That classification decides whether the police can remove them the same day or whether proceedings will be needed.
What a squatter is and what a squatter is not
A squatter is someone who enters another person’s property with no authorisation from the owner, or who entered with permission and stays inside against the owner’s will once that permission has been withdrawn. The word is often misused, and the mistake changes the legal route.
A tenant who has stopped paying rent is not a squatter. He has a contract, even if he is breaching it, and the correct route is an eviction for non-payment or for expiry of the term (Article 250.1.1 of the Civil Procedure Act, LEC). Reporting him for usurpation wastes time and also gives the criminal court a reason to close the file.
The relative, former partner or acquaintance you allowed to live in the house rent-free and who now refuses to leave is not a squatter either. In Spanish law that person is a «precarista», and their removal is obtained through the eviction for precario (Article 250.1.2 LEC), which is a civil action.
There is a third group that is squatting even though the occupants show a piece of paper. I mean those who produce a «contract» signed with someone who is not the owner, often a fraudster who collected a deposit and disappeared, in the same pattern as fake accommodation lettings. That document is no title against you, even if the person who signed it is in turn the victim of a fraud.
Burglary of a dwelling or usurpation, the article that decides everything
Article 202 of the Criminal Code punishes a private individual who enters another person’s dwelling or remains there against the will of its occupant with imprisonment of six months to two years. Where there is violence or intimidation, the penalty rises to imprisonment of one to four years and a fine of six to twelve months. A dwelling is the space in which a person conducts their private life, and the Supreme Court has consistently held that a second home is also a dwelling, even if it is only used at holidays or weekends, provided it is furnished and ready to be lived in. The village house with the kitchen set up, the beds made and clothes in the wardrobes is a dwelling. The inherited house that has been shut and unfurnished for ten years, in all likelihood, is not.
Article 245.2 punishes the unauthorised occupation of another person’s property, house or building that does not constitute a dwelling, or remaining there against the owner’s will, with a fine of three to six months. It is a minor offence, and that has practical consequences I explain below. If the occupation is carried out with violence or intimidation against persons, Article 245.1 applies, which provides for imprisonment of one to two years in addition to the penalties for the violence used.
In burglary of a dwelling there is a less serious offence caught in the act, carrying a prison sentence, and the police can arrest and intervene. In usurpation under 245.2 there is a minor offence, with no possible prison sentence, and police action is far more limited. That is why the first legal battle in any occupation is to prove that the property was your dwelling.
The first hours and what the police can do
What happens in the first forty-eight hours shapes the rest of the case. If the squatters have just entered and you can show that the house was inhabited by you, the National Police or the Civil Guard have grounds to act on a flagrant offence of burglary of a dwelling. The more time passes and the more settled they become, with their furniture, their locks and their post, the more the place will look like the occupants’ dwelling and the less like yours.
You should go to the police with what proves your connection with the house and the fact that you lived there or spent time there. The title deed or a simple note from the Land Registry, the electricity, water and gas bills in your name with recent consumption, the municipal registration certificate if you are registered there, earlier photos of the interior with your belongings, and the names of neighbours who can say they saw you coming and going. If you have photographs or videos on your phone of the moment you discovered the occupation, do not delete them and do not post them on any social network.
Since Organic Law 1/2025 on measures to improve the efficiency of the Public Justice Service, Article 795.1.2 of the Criminal Procedure Act (LECrim) includes the offences under Articles 202 and 245 among those dealt with by speedy trial. This means that, once the police draw up their report and there is an identified offender, the case goes before the duty court without the delay of an ordinary investigation. Article 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act allows the judge to adopt, as a first measure, steps to protect the victim, and in these cases that translates into the possibility of ordering the eviction of the property as a precautionary measure without waiting for judgment. Whether it is ordered depends on what has been proven, which is why a well-documented initial complaint can save weeks.
What the owner cannot do
Three common reactions turn the owner into the accused. Changing the lock while the squatters are inside or have left their belongings there, cutting off the electricity, water or gas to force them out, and hiring a group of people to «persuade» them to leave. All three fit the offence of coercion under Article 172 of the Criminal Code, punishable by imprisonment of six months to three years or a fine of twelve to twenty-four months, and in its minor form by a fine of one to three months. Cross-complaints are common, and the owner who tried to recover on their own what was theirs ends up with criminal proceedings open against them.
Entering the house yourself with the squatters inside is not neutral either. If the court comes to consider that the property has become the occupants’ dwelling, your entry may be examined under Article 202 itself, however absurd that sounds. Threats or intimidation to make them leave, all the more so.
Paying them to leave is legal, but it creates a market, and there are second-home occupations in which the demand for money is the aim from the outset. If you decide to negotiate, do it in writing and with a lawyer, pay nothing by transfer or Bizum to someone you cannot identify, and hand over nothing before the house is empty and the keys are in your hand.
The owner’s routes and how long each takes
The law offers several tools, and they are not mutually exclusive. The usual approach is to combine a criminal complaint with a civil claim, because the criminal case may be closed if the occupants are not identified or the court does not accept that the property is a dwelling, while the civil claim proceeds even if nobody knows who is living inside.
| Route | Provision | Who it serves | What it achieves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminal, burglary of a dwelling | Art. 202 Criminal Code and art. 795.1.2 LECrim | Owner or occupant of a main home or an inhabited second home | Speedy trial, possible precautionary eviction and imprisonment of six months to two years |
| Criminal, usurpation | Art. 245.2 Criminal Code | Owner of a property that is not a dwelling (shop, empty house, warehouse) | Minor offence with a fine of three to six months and an eviction order in the judgment |
| Verbal proceedings for recovery of possession | Arts. 250.1.4 and 441.1 bis LEC | Private individual who owns or lawfully possesses a home, even without knowing who is inside | Occupants ordered to produce title within five days and, if they fail, immediate delivery of possession with no appeal |
| Eviction for precario | Art. 250.1.2 LEC | Anyone who granted free use and has revoked it, and also shops and any other property | Judgment ordering eviction and subsequent removal |
| Action of the registered owner | Art. 250.1.7 LEC and art. 41 Mortgage Act | Owner whose property is registered in their name at the Land Registry | Summary proceedings in which the occupant can only object on limited grounds and with security |
The route under Article 250.1.4 is the one introduced by Law 5/2018 and the one the press calls fast-track eviction. It is designed for private individuals, non-profit entities and public bodies holding social housing, and only for homes, not for commercial premises or warehouses. Its advantage is twofold. It can be brought against the «unknown occupants» without identifying them, and Article 441.1 bis allows you to ask the court to order them to produce, within five days, the title that justifies their possession. If they fail to do so, immediate delivery to the claimant is ordered and there is no appeal against that decision. In practice what determines the duration is the court’s workload, not the law, and it can range from a few weeks in the less busy judicial districts to several months in the most congested ones.
The precario action and the action under Article 41 of the Mortgage Act are ordinary verbal proceedings, with a hearing and judgment, and their timescale is measured in months. Before bringing either claim you must also attempt a negotiation with the occupants, which can be a simple written offer, because Organic Law 1/2025 expressly exempts only the possession action under Article 250.1.4 from that prior step. They cover what fast-track eviction leaves out, in particular commercial premises, warehouses and rural land, and the precario action is also the only way out against a relative who will not leave.
As for cost, private individuals have been exempt from court fees since 2015. What you pay is the lawyer and the court agent, and in civil proceedings the losing occupant is ordered to pay costs, although collecting those costs from someone with no assets is another matter. In the criminal route for the minor offence of usurpation a lawyer is not compulsory, but those who attend without one usually leave the hearing with a fine for the squatter and no clear eviction order, which was what they really wanted.
Our firm acts for the prosecution and for the defence in criminal cases of this kind and at the same time conducts whichever civil action applies, so that the complaint and the claim support each other rather than get in each other’s way. You can see how we work in criminal law and in civil law.
Main home, second home or commercial premises, which route suits each case
If they have occupied the home you live in, the answer is criminal and urgent. A complaint for burglary of a dwelling with all the evidence that it is your home, a request for precautionary eviction and, in parallel, a claim under 250.1.4 in case the criminal case stumbles.
If they have occupied the village house or the beach apartment, the argument will be whether it is a dwelling. In your favour, that it was furnished and in use, that there is utility consumption in season and that the neighbours know you. Against you, that it had been shut up for years. With proof of real use, the route is the same as for the main home. Without it, the complaint will be for usurpation under 245.2 and the weight of recovery falls on the verbal proceedings under 250.1.4, which do not require the property to be a dwelling, only that it be a home and that you be a private individual who owns or possesses it.
If what has been occupied is a shop, a warehouse, a garage or rural land, fast-track eviction is not available. What remains is the complaint for usurpation, the precario action and, if the property is registered in your name, the action under Article 41 of the Mortgage Act, which is quick because it greatly restricts what the occupant may argue.
A separate case is that of homes owned by a company or by an estate that has not yet been distributed among the heirs. Standing to bring the 250.1.4 action is reserved to private individuals, non-profit entities and public bodies, so a property-holding company will have to proceed by precario or under Article 41. And in an undistributed estate the first decision is who sues and on whose behalf.
Who pays for the damage, the utilities and what was taken
Damage caused during the occupation is the offence of criminal damage under Article 263 of the Criminal Code, a minor offence if it does not exceed four hundred euros, and anything missing from the house is theft. In both cases, in addition to the penalty, the criminal court fixes civil liability arising from the offence under Articles 109 and following of the Code, so the same judgment that convicts can order compensation. The problem is that occupants rarely have anything to pay with, which is why the main objective of the case remains recovering the house as soon as possible, not compensation.
Utilities deserve a warning. If the contracts are in your name, the supplier will bill you for what is consumed inside until you can cancel the service. Cancelling or cutting them off yourself with the squatters inside is the conduct under Article 172 I have just described, so the solution is to notify the occupation in writing to the supplier and to the court and later claim the consumption as part of civil liability. If the occupants connect the electricity irregularly, that is their problem with the distribution company, and it should be placed on the court record.
If the squatters claim vulnerability
Law 5/2018 provided that, when eviction is ordered, the court notifies social services of the occupants’ situation so that, if there are vulnerable people, the administration can act. That notification does not make the occupation lawful or prevent the eviction, but it can mean a delay. For a private owner recovering their home the rule is that it is recovered all the same. The suspension of removals for vulnerable occupants that has been in force in recent years only covered homes owned by companies and other legal persons or by owners of more than ten homes, and it expressly excluded the main home and the second home of a private individual. If a vulnerability report appears in your case, the right response is to answer it in court with evidence that you are a private individual and that the house is your dwelling or your only available home.
Galicia, the village house and seasonal occupations
In Lugo, Ourense and along the Mariña coast, with Viveiro as the usual example, the typical occupation is not of a city flat but of a family house used in summer or at Christmas and shut for the rest of the year. Many belong to emigrants or to families living in A Coruña, Vigo or Madrid, and the occupation is discovered weeks after it happened, through a neighbour. That makes catching the offence in the act harder and makes proof that the house was inhabited seasonally and furnished even more important, because that is where the classification as a dwelling and access to the speedy trial come from. If the house belongs to an undistributed estate, which is very common in rural Galicia, the lawyer’s first job is to sort out who has standing to complain and to sue, because a mistake there costs months.
What you can do today without waiting for anyone
Gather the title deed or request a simple note from the Land Registry, collect the latest utility bills and the municipal registration certificate if you have one. Keep every photo and video you have of the house before and after the occupation. Write down the names and phone numbers of the neighbours who know you. Notify the occupation to your insurer in writing, even if you suspect it is not covered, because the notice records the date. And do not enter the house, do not change the lock, do not cut anything off, do not pay and do not sign any document with the occupants or with anyone claiming to represent them.
What you risk if you do it on your own
The owner who acts without a lawyer risks two things. On one side, filing the complaint badly, for usurpation when it was burglary of a dwelling or against the wrong person, and watching the case closed while the occupants settle in and what was your dwelling gradually becomes theirs. On the other, going too far and ending up with a coercion complaint against yourself. Our firm prepares the complaint with the evidence of dwelling organised from day one, requests precautionary eviction where it applies and files in parallel the civil claim suited to the type of property and owner, so that neither route is left waiting for the other.
If you have squatters in your home, in the village house or in commercial premises, call +34 677 841 007 or write through the contact page. When you call, have to hand the title deed or simple note, the electricity and water bills, the date on which you discovered the occupation and who told you, any photos or videos you have, and, if you have already spoken to the police, the report or proceedings number.
Frequently asked questions
Can I enter my house or change the lock if the squatters are inside?
I do not advise it. Changing the lock, cutting off utilities or forcing entry with the occupants inside may constitute coercion under Article 172 of the Criminal Code, and criminal proceedings would be opened against you. What you can do, and should do the same day, is file a complaint and gather the evidence that the house is your dwelling.
Is it the same if they squat the village house as the flat where I live?
Legally it can be. A furnished second home in use is considered a dwelling, and its occupation is burglary of a dwelling under Article 202 of the Criminal Code, with a speedy trial and possible precautionary eviction. If the house had been shut and unfurnished for years, it will normally be classified as usurpation under Article 245.2, which is a minor offence, and the weight of recovery shifts to the civil route.
How long does it take to evict squatters?
It depends on the route and the court. In the criminal route for burglary of a dwelling, the speedy trial and precautionary eviction can be resolved in days or weeks if the evidence of dwelling is solid. In verbal proceedings under Article 250.1.4 of the Civil Procedure Act the occupants have five days to produce title, and if they fail, immediate delivery is ordered, although the real timescale is set by the court’s workload. The precario action and the action under Article 41 of the Mortgage Act are counted in months.
Do I need a lawyer to evict squatters?
For the civil claim, yes, because it requires a lawyer and a court agent and because choosing the wrong route or the wrong claimant costs months. For the criminal complaint a lawyer is not compulsory, but a complaint without properly presented evidence of dwelling usually ends in a minor offence with a fine and no eviction. Where paying a lawyer is not worthwhile is the occupation of a property of no use value to you, with identified occupants willing to leave under a written agreement, and the case of the non-paying tenant, which is not squatting and has its own procedure.