Your Local Community Magazine
Page 8 Express Evictions
When the law to promote rental property, known popularly as the “express eviction” law (law 19/2009) came into force in Spain on 24th December 2009 it was heralded as providing a streamlined eviction process to get rid of bad tenants. It was hoped that this would encourage more property owners to rent out their property.
The new rules apply to both urban and rustic property, and to residential and commercial tenancies of any length. Under the 2009 rules a Landlord can apply for eviction on the grounds of only one month’s arrears of rent. The first stage in the process, which is not obligatory but advisable, is to send a “Burofax” or registered letter, to the defaulting Tenant demanding payment of the arrears of rent within 7 days. This should contain a full statement of how the arrears have accrued. This is particularly important where the Tenant has made occasional payments while the arrears have been building up. If the Tenant does not pay the full amount, or agree a payment plan which is acceptable to the Landlord, the next step is to issue a Court Summons to evict the Tenant and recover the money due.
The proceedings must be supported by the following documents, all in Spanish: - A copy of the rental contract. - A copy of the Landlord’s ‘escritura’ or ‘Nota Simple’ to prove that they are in fact the owner of the property. - A written statement of the amount of rent owed together with the amount of any outstanding bills for electricity, water, etc.
- Copies of all previous written demands for the money owed. The Court Summons is then delivered to the Tenant. Crucially the Tenant does not have to accept service of the Summons in person, it need only be delivered to the property. Once the proceedings have been sent to the Tenant the Tenant then has 20 days in which he has his one and only chance to either pay up, or formally come to terms with the Landlord. The Tenant can make an offer to pay the arrears through the Court which the Landlord may accept or reject. If the Landlord accepts the offer but the Tenant breaks the arrangement, the Landlord may apply to evict the Tenant without going back to Court. If the Landlord rejects the Tenant’s offer the Landlord can apply immediately to the Court to evict the Tenant. When the Court makes an order for eviction it also fixes the date when it is to be executed by the police which is not less than 15 days after the date of the hearing. All this sounds great, but in practice the Courts and the police and Guardia Civil who actually have to carry out the evictions, are so under-resourced and under such pressure that the much- vaunted streamlined procedure has become a lumbering behemoth. We are finding in the Valencian Community and Alicante Province that even when a defaulting Tenant ignores the proceedings, that it is taking 8 to 12 weeks for evictions to be carried out.
Please contact Link Point Legal on 966 260 500 or email
anagay@linkpointlegal.com for any further information.
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