Is your property occupied by someone who has no right to be there?

For properties with illegal occupants, non-paying tenants who won’t leave, or anyone using the property without right.

Not every occupation is the same, and the type decides the route. A break-in squatter (okupa) who forced entry falls under usurpación, article 245.2 of the Criminal Code. Caught within roughly 48 hours of entry, police can remove them directly, no court order needed. Reported later than that, it becomes a criminal complaint: the accused appears before a judge within 72 hours, trial follows within 15 days, a ruling within 3 days of that, and eviction right after. Spain’s 2025 reform tightened this further and removed squatters’ old vulnerability-based protections.

A tenant who stopped paying, or someone occupying without ever having a contract (often a family member or acquaintance who never left), doesn’t qualify as usurpación and takes the civil route instead. That runs through the desahucio express procedure created by Ley 5/2018, a fast-tracked juicio verbal built specifically to shorten what used to be a four to six month civil eviction. We identify which of these applies first, since it decides everything after, then coordinate with lawyers, negotiate an exit where that’s faster than court, and secure the property once it’s back.

If you own an occupied property on the Costa del Sol, talk to us before taking action on your own.