72% of arrests and investigations for squatting are concentrated in Catalonia. In 2024, state security forces arrested a total of 8,039 people for trespassing or breach of property, ten times more than in the nearest municipality, Madrid, where only 847 cases were registered in the same year.
Across Spain, a total of 11,133 people were identified as suspected burglars or usurpers during the same period, according to the Ministry of the Interior’s annual report. These figures show a 15% increase in squatting attempts compared to the previous year.
The majority (58%) of those targeted by agents for breaking into other people’s homes – a task primarily carried out by the Mossos d’Esquadra and the National Police (CNP) in Catalonia – are foreign nationals. In 2024, 3,352 Spanish citizens, 428 EU citizens, 79 non-EU Europeans, and 4,180 people from other countries were arrested or investigated.
Official data also shows that the number of foreign squatters in Spain has increased 13-fold since 2018, a significant proportion, although not as high as in Catalonia. Last year, 6,014 of those arrested and investigated (54%) were foreign nationals, including 5,274 (47%) non-EU citizens. This situation has raised concerns about a possible international domino effect, as the Spanish legal system is considered lax compared to other European countries that take stricter action against squatters.
The “Pull Effect” Abroad
“In the absence of a law, an appeal has been made to the international mafia,” explains Ricardo Bravo, spokesperson for the National Platform of Squatters. Criminal organizations exploit “word of mouth” by telling foreign citizens arriving in Spain that it’s easy, which spreads quickly.” He highlights the “macro-occupation of Carabanchel, carried out exclusively by Peruvians,” and reports that “international immigration mafias are providing GPS locations of houses in the Balearic and Canary Islands to certain cayucos.”
“It is precisely this pull effect that causes this lack of legislation,” Bravo criticizes. “We are concerned that squatting continues because there is no legislation that respects the rights of property owners,” adds the platform’s spokesperson, pointing out that “the high percentage of foreigners is striking, but when word gets around that nothing is happening in Spain, it’s not surprising that the proportion of foreigners increases.” Furthermore, according to his calculations, 30% of cases are resolved out of court, i.e., through private agencies.
“Many people resort to other means, such as squatting, when they see how slow the justice system is and how obstacles are placed in the way of property owners,” says Arantxa Goenaga, lawyer and partner at AF Legis. It is important to note that the Ministry of the Interior’s data, based on police information, allows for trends to be observed but cannot quantify the exact extent of the problem; They rule out both the expulsion of trespassers outside of courts and inquisitions, assuming that these are merely non-payments with civil rather than criminal consequences.
The year of the pandemic marked a turning point in government statistics regarding raids and usurpations, which increased significantly. This is particularly due to the fact that 2020 was the first year that the Ministry of the Interior had access to figures from the Regional Police of Catalonia, which leads the field in squatting. While there are also arrests by the CNP in this area, these are a minority compared to those by the Mossos.
However, Bravo sees another decisive factor: “In 2020, the Royal Decree against forced evictions was passed, which for the first time takes into account the vulnerability of individuals.” “This is the moment when the phenomenon of squatting is spreading and an inquisition is taking place,” he laments, recalling that “this vulnerability is the responsibility of public administrations, which, however, neither assume responsibility nor provide resources to municipalities to protect these vulnerable people.” This is happening, while the responsibility for guaranteeing the constitutional right to decent housing, which the Constitution confers on public institutions, cannot lie with the owners.
Pablo de Palacio, a lawyer practicing in Barcelona, recounts the “surreal” case of his client.
Ten were arrested by the Catalan police after two squatting attempts, during which they were threatened “with knife cutters.” Other property owners he represented took two years to legally reclaim their property, while “that same night, another squatter kicked in the door and entered.” The defendant even admitted to the lawyer that “the social worker told her, ‘If you leave here, find another place.'”**
The lawyer and criminologist emphasizes the “very dangerous way” in which “municipalities act” by registering trespassers on properties to which they have no right of ownership or use. This practice by municipal authorities is supported by some judges. De Palacio notes that he’s recently seen a large number of foreign squatters—two locals compared to fifteen foreigners—and that there’s a “violent mafia” that squats and illegally rents apartments to “swindled squatters.” In contrast, in the justice system, “almost everyone is given precautions,” he adds.
“When one house is squatted, another is also squatted; they aren’t rented,” explains Toni Miranda, president of the National Organization of Squatters. He makes it clear that “the problem won’t be solved if the administrations don’t build social housing,” and that the criminal route of raids and usurpations is currently “used to a lesser extent” because “almost everyone has changed their method of entering homes; now they’re all on a contract basis and are no longer usurpers, but inquiokupas, tenants who don’t pay.”
Miranda notes that squatter organizations can be classified according to their modus operandi and geographical origin. “Except for the Gypsies, they’re all foreign mafias… When we talk to the person in question, we determine what type of squatter they have, and we already know how long it will take to evict them,” he explains. He points out that Moroccan or Roma squatters tend to rent and not pay under the pretext of their children’s vulnerability, while a growing practice among squatters in Latin America is to use priests as collateral to secure a contract they don’t intend to honor. Not all of them belong to gangs, nor are the gangs exclusively focused on appropriating other people’s property, but groups dedicated to drug trafficking or prostitution sometimes illegally take over premises or apartments as their main base of operations.
Goenaga adds that the increase in numbers in Catalonia may be due to the fact that “the legal reform that has been implemented aims to resolve cases through a fast-track procedure, which means that they must go through criminal proceedings. Therefore, cases that were previously handled in civil proceedings, for which there was no charge or arrest, are now being transferred to criminal proceedings.” However, she suspects that “there could also be an increase in squatting due to the sense of impunity felt by squatters,” and that this will continue to increase, as they are aware of the obstacles they can use to delay proceedings unless “evictions are carried out quickly and effectively.”
The lawyer, who specializes in real estate law, warns that “it seems as if squatters are aware of all the legal loopholes and know how to exploit any loophole to delay the proceedings.” In his opinion, “change must come through the effective application of the regulations by judges and public authorities. If squats have just occurred, they should be evicted immediately and not wait until they end up in court proceedings. The solution is to apply the regulations and act quickly so that both the police and the courts do not delay in time. Once that happens, it will no longer be of interest to them, and cases will decline,” he concludes.
