Think squatters are bad? Try getting fined for how they use your home as an illegal holiday let—welcome to the surreal world of Spanish property law.
If you thought Spanish property law couldn’t get any more Kafkaesque, think again. In a recent story reported in the Spanish press that practically turns the idea of ownership inside out, a homeowner in Reus, Tarragona found himself not only denied access to his own home by squatters—but fined for how those same squatters used the house as a (very illegal) holiday rental.
A “holiday rental” nightmare
Joaquín, the actual owner of a property now occupied by so-called inquiokupas—a delightfully hybrid term in Spain for tenants who simply stop paying rent but don’t leave—first started noticing issues when he stopped receiving rent one year after the tenants moved in.
Then came a more bizarre twist: his property appeared on popular holiday rental platforms, advertised by the very people refusing to vacate or pay for it. The cherry on top? Because the property lacked a tourist rental licence—in other words, because the squatters didn’t register their unauthorised rental activity—Joaquín was fined €5,000 and had portions of his salary embargoed by the Catalan tax authorities.
His response? “For us, this has been a horror film.”
Multiplied losses and bureaucratic whiplash
Joaquín is currently living with a friend, unable to return to his home. Meanwhile, his mortgage has jumped from €800 to €1,260, and with additional community and property taxes, he’s hemorrhaging a jaw-dropping €1,900 a month—all for a property he neither lives in nor earns a cent from.
And while he endures financial ruin, the occupants who’ve claimed “vulnerability” status are reportedly renting the house out at €50–60 a night. According to Joaquín and the neighbours, these aren’t distressed squatters. They’ve been spotted enjoying golf lessons and fine dining, not exactly the profile of desperate hardship.
The bureaucracy eats itself
What truly elevates this tale from tragedy to satire is how bureaucracy penalises the law-abiding owners rather than the offenders. The squatters reportedly signed for certified letters from the tax authorities informing Joaquín of the fine—letters he obviously never received.
When Joaquín finally explained the situation in person at the same agency, officials responded that more documentation would be needed to prove what’s visibly obvious to half the neighbourhood: the home is being used illegally, and it isn’t by him.
And why haven’t the squatters been evicted? Because of Spain’s baffling blend of slow-moving judicial processes and tenant protection laws. If someone claims they’re vulnerable—even if that claim eventually proves hollow—it can freeze proceedings for months or even years.
A legal system in need of urgent renovation
The implications are stark. In Spain, a homeowner may lose effective control of their own asset, continue to carry all its financial burdens, be fined over someone else’s unlawful activity, and still be expected to wait patiently for a judicial resolution that may take years—if it comes at all.
It’s no wonder the story has prompted outrage and ridicule online. But beyond the absurdity lies a deeply broken system that has real financial and emotional consequences for property owners. As Spain struggles with housing affordability and tenancy reforms, cases like Joaquín’s highlight just how dangerously unbalanced current squatter laws have become.
This is not about vulnerable tenants in temporary distress. This is about a legal and political framework that, in trying to protect the few, ends up punishing the many—especially everyday homeowners caught in a widening loophole between tenant protections and property rights.
Spain’s squatter laws urgently need dose of reality—and a reform worthy of the chaos they’ve helped create.
