Neighbour has rented out our property abroad without permission!

We have had squatters in our Spanish property for a year now. The police and courts are aware but despite a denuncio (type of warrant ) being issued they still live there and the local police don't give shit. Spain is a law unto itself.

What the neighbour has been apparently doing does sound shocking, but I can kind of see how one thing might have turned into another and he justified it to himself that he wasn't really doing anything much wrong.

He still should have been passing on the rent money (less his commission), though, if he hasn't been doing so.

How have the bills been managed and who has been paying them? Surely your Dad would have noticed a big increase in usage (and thus cost) when he's expecting to pay for an odd security light, heating on at 3 degrees to prevent pipes freezing in winter and maybe a freezer - and then there's suddenly ongoing full occupied house-level usage of all the utilities?

Every post seems to start with "THIS" on this thread, except they're all different 🤔

You don't even know if he's telling the whole truth about tenants, or whether he's maybe been allowing a friend or family member to stay there long-term.

That would explain why your Dad hasn't been receiving any money that would have made it obvious what was going on, if he's been letting somebody close to him stay there free.

Or alternatively, maybe, if he's been 'forgetting' to tell your Dad about renting it out on an ongoing commercial basis, he may also have been 'forgetting' to pass any rent on as well.

And it wasn't even a thread - just a post that totally won a general (long) CF thread, along with a few responses to other people's open-mouthed questions!

😨

This sounds dodgy. Your Dad has been receiving money but didn't know the property was rented out? This is one of the reasons I don't let out my French house. I just let family and friends borrow it on dates I don't want to use it. My adult DC are always telling me to rent it out and make some money on it but you never know who you might get renting it. If your Dad has received money and they have a long term rental contract until January there will be nothing you can do. It's not the renters fault. Your Dad should have known he wouldn't be getting so much rent from it being empty.

I think what has happened is that the neighbour has become used to us not using it and has been renting it out far more than we were aware.

If he has been renting it out and not paying you/your Dad the rent, that's fraud. If he has been paying, though, you should have a record of the payments. And you should also have a contract with the full names of the people living there, because the neighbour is in effect just your agent.

For example, the people who are going to be in the house until January arrived when? If they are not yet in the house then the lease can be cancelled. If they have been there since this January or earlier, then you should have been seeing some rent by now.

So either it's an open and shut case for the police, or you barely have a leg to stand on. But we are missing the level of detail we'd need to tell between the two.

Does the neighbor have a wife/ partner? Or is his property empty too?

Nobody hear can help you, you need to urgently seek expert advice in Spain.

In theory you are within your rights to expect the tenants to vacate, but in practice you cannot expect an innocent family to be made homeless when they could have been living there for 4 years!

What a mess. Agree with need to get legal advice fast.

You say it's been rented out without permission, but also that your father gets the rent, minus commission for his neighbour. Which is it? If he's getting rent he's in an arrangement to let it out, and his neighbour is acting as his agent. Sort out exactly what's been going on before you do anything or you might be acting illegally.

Why are any of you surprised if your father has been receiving rent?

This is nuts. You need a Spanish property lawyer. They aren’t squatters as they think they have a tenancy. Is there some crime the neighbour has committed? Hopefully! I’d go as planned though, yell and suggest they move into neighbours house or he finds them new accomodation, as you plan to be a royal pain in the ass until it’s fixed. Can you sell a property while ‘tenanted’ there?

Ugh. My parents ended up having to pay the electricity bill of the people renting their property in Spain. Its a minefield .

This.
My concern would be that the neighbour has done it because he knows how to get away with it.

do i have this right the neighbor who's oversight and upkeep was initially helpful, was given permission to do short term lets with your father's property.
the problem is your father did not have much of this in writing.
equally once your father had begun to feel better then he should have given the neighbor fair warning.
i can see how a neighbor in this situation rather than go through the hassle of multiple short term lets would simply do one longer let.
how long since your father's stroke?

THIS I'm afraid, a friend of mine took YEARS to remove squatters from his parent's holiday home in Spain, again it started as an informal arrangement set up by his sister, but the temporary guests decided to stay.

I have a place in Spain and this happens a lot. Friendly neighbours profiteering from absent owners. For that reason we don’t give anybody the keys. Sorry this has happened but I don’t have any specific advice.

As someone who has been and is continuing to go through an extremely stressful property situation (albeit in this country), I cannot stress enough how important it is to lawyer up and keep your head. Sometimes the law is an ass and an extremely frustrating one at that, and it sounds like Spanish squatters rights may fall in to that tbh. I would really carefully consider doing anything like changing the locks because that could backfire hugely. Good luck.

Agreed, surely from the amount of rent money coming through he’d know it was being rented out much more frequently/on going and not the odd week here and there?

So if your dad receives the rent money then he must of knew from the amount it wasn’t a odd weekend?

This. You've said that the neighbour had been a great help to your Dad so I think he thought getting a longer term tenant in would be the best thing to do.

This!

Hope the house is ok Op and your father gets possession back but I'd be wary.

This, I’m confused as to how he didn’t realise- unless you’re saying the neighbour has been stealing the money