Police at a squatter eviction in Palma, Mallorca

Police at a squatter eviction in Cala Major. | Julio Bastida

Andrew EdePalma20/03/2023 12:33
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The number of cases of squatting in the Balearics that ended up in court last year was 20% lower than in 2021 - there were 405 compared with 509.

Figures from the national ministry of the interior show that there was a three per cent decrease in Spain as a whole but that only two other regions experienced a drop as great as in the Balearics - Aragon and Cantabria, where the actual numbers of cases of illegal entry into homes were much lower than in the Balearics.

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Between 2019 and 2021, criminal proceedings for squatting in the Balearics increased significantly - from 285 to 509. This can be attributed to criteria established by the prosecution service in the Balearics (and adopted by the courts) for expediting evictions.

The fall in the number of cases in 2022 could be interpreted as an indication of the success in the application of these criteria in that cases are being resolved without going to court in order to avoid criminal records for illegal entry. But there could be other reasons, e.g. owners paying squatters to get out. Or there was less squatting.