Squatters and okupacion in Spain in 2026: what property owners need to know about unauthorised occupation

Unauthorised occupation of property, known in Spain as okupacion, is a criminal offence, not a civil dispute. It falls under two distinct offences in the Codigo Penal: allanamiento de morada (art. 202) when the property is a dwelling, and usurpacion (art. 245) when it is not. Spain recorded 14,875 okupacion-related offences in 2025, down 9.4 per cent from 2024, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The Ley Organica 1/2025, de 2 de enero, in force since 3 April 2025, added both offences to the fast-track criminal procedure with a trial target of approximately 15 days from denuncia, materially shortening the path from complaint to resolution for non-resident owners. The CGPJ recorded 460 civil demandas for okupacion in the first quarter of 2026, down 22.3 per cent year on year, though experts caution the fall reflects the new mandatory negotiation step and out-of-court settlements rather than a genuine decline in the phenomenon. Andalusia now leads the quarterly demanda ranking and its new Ley de Vivienda, in force since 24 January 2026, has created a coordinating commission and tightened sanctions.

What is okupacion and is it a crime in Spain?

Okupacion is the Spanish term for the unauthorised occupation of a property by people who have no legal right to be there. It is a criminal offence, not a tenant dispute, and it is prosecuted under two articles of the Codigo Penal depending on the nature of the property occupied.

The distinction matters because the penalty and the procedure differ. Article 202.1 of the Codigo Penal defines allanamiento de morada: entering or remaining in another person’s dwelling against their will, punishable by six months to two years in prison. Article 245.2 defines usurpacion pacifica: occupying a property that does not constitute a morada without authorisation, punishable by a fine of three to six months.

The key question is whether the property qualifies as a morada, which Spanish courts interpret broadly. The Fiscalia General del Estado, in its Instrucion 1/2020, confirmed that second residences count as morada even when not continuously inhabited, provided they retain the character of a private living space (STS 852/2014). A holiday apartment in Marbella that the owner visits several times a year is a morada. An empty commercial premises is not.

How does allanamiento de morada differ from usurpacion?

The two offences protect different legal interests. Allanamiento de morada protects the intimacy and privacy linked to a dwelling. Usurpacion protects the patrimonial right to peaceful possession of a property. The practical consequence for an owner is which procedure applies and how quickly they can act.

Feature	Allanamiento de morada (art. 202 CP)	Usurpacion pacifica (art. 245 CP)
Protected interest	Privacy of the dwelling	Patrimonial possession
Property type	Dwelling (morada), including second residences	Non-dwelling property, empty buildings, commercial premises
Penalty	6 months to 2 years prison	Fine of 3 to 6 months
Court	Tribunal del Jurado (or Audiencia Provincial)	Juzgado de delitos leves
Fast-track (post-2025)	Yes, under art. 795 LECrim	Yes, under art. 795 LECrim
Trial target	~15 days from denuncia	~15 days from denuncia

The Fiscalia’s Instrucion 1/2020 notes a qualitative shift: part of the occupation phenomenon is now driven by organised criminal groups with a profit motive, creating what the Fiscalia called unlawful and very lucrative real estate businesses using other people’s property. The Plataforma de Afectados por la Okupacion e Inquiokupacion (PAO) estimates that approximately 90 per cent of usurpaciones are now in the hands of organised mafias occupas, a finding that frames the 2025 reform as a response to organised crime, not individual necessity.

What did the Ley Organica 1/2025 change?

Ley Organica 1/2025, de 2 de enero, de medidas en materia de eficiencia del Servicio Publico de Justicia, entered into force on 3 April 2025. Its key change for property owners is the amendment of art. 795 LECrim to include both allanamiento de morada and usurpacion within the fast-track criminal procedure (juicio rapido). The fast-track procedure sets a target of approximately 15 days from the filing of the denuncia to the trial, a significant reduction from the previous framework, where the average eviction timeline could stretch to two years under the ordinary procedure.

Before this reform, usurpacion was processed as a delito leve through the slow standard procedure, and allanamiento went to the Tribunal del Jurado. The Fiscalia General del Estado confirmed in Circular 1/2025 (26 June 2025) that both offences can now be channelled through the fast-track procedure, which is a complete and differentiated process, not merely an accelerated version of the ordinary one. The reform also introduced conformidad sin limite penologico, allowing occupants to accept a plea agreement and eviction without a full trial.

A second procedural change the reform introduced is the requirement that owners attempt Medios Adecuados de Solucion de Controversias (MASC), a negotiation or mediation step, before filing a civil demanda for okupacion. Lawyers consulted by idealista/news in July 2026 report that this step is dilating the plazos of many procedimientos because each juzgado interprets the requirement differently, leading to numerous inadmisiones. However, the MASC requirement does not apply to okupaciones of less than one year of antiguedad where the interdictal procedure is used, a distinction the practitioner Arantxa Goenaga of AF Legis draws.

The practical effect: a non-resident owner who files a denuncia for allanamiento can expect the case to move from denuncia to trial in approximately 15 days, rather than the months or years the pre-2025 framework could take. The Fiscalia’s Circular binds all prosecutors to pursue these cases actively. Judges can also order the immediate eviction of occupants as a precautionary measure before the trial, if the property owner requests it.

How many okupacion cases are there in Spain in 2026?

The Ministry of the Interior published 2025 data in April 2026 showing 14,875 okupacion-related offences (allanamiento and usurpacion combined) registered across Spain, a 9.4 per cent decline from 2024. The 2024 figure was 16,426, itself a 7.4 per cent rise from 2023’s 15,289, so the 2025 number represents a return toward the 2023 baseline after a one-year spike.

Separately, the Consejo General del Poder Judicial records court demandas (formal civil lawsuits) rather than police offences. The CGPJ’s most recent release, covering the first quarter of 2026, shows 460 new civil demandas for okupacion ilegal de viviendas, a 22.3 per cent year-on-year decline and the lowest first-quarter figure since the series began in 2018. The historical quarterly average is approximately 720 demandas. Andalusia led the Q1 2026 ranking with 94 demandas (20.43 per cent of the national total), followed by Catalonia (88), the Valencian Community (64) and Canarias (53).

However, legal experts caution that the falling demanda count does not reflect a genuine decline in the phenomenon. The CGPJ statistics capture only civil proceedings under the LEC and exclude the criminal route (allanamiento and usurpacion under the LECrim), which is where the 2025 reform channels most new cases. The MASC negotiation requirement has also pushed many disputes into out-of-court settlements, where owners pay occupants to leave voluntarily. Jose Ramon Zurdo, director general of the Agencia Negociadora del Alquiler, states that okupaciones continue as a constant drip and the official figures do not reflect the lived reality.

Data point	Value	Source
Okupacion offences (allanamiento + usurpacion), 2025	14,875 (down 9.4 per cent from 2024)	Ministry of the Interior, via EFE
Okupacion offences, 2024	16,426 (up 7.4 per cent from 2023)	Ministry of the Interior
CGPJ civil demandas, Q1 2026	460 (down 22.3 per cent YoY, lowest first quarter on record)	CGPJ
Andalusia civil demandas, Q1 2026	94 (20.43 per cent of national total)	CGPJ
Catalonia civil demandas, Q1 2026	88	CGPJ
Average time to firm sentence	~23.3 months	CGPJ
Post-reform fast-track trial target	~15 days from denuncia	Art. 795 LECrim (LO 1/2025)

The European Parliament issued a warning to Spain in 2025, demanding stronger legal measures to expedite evictions and reaffirming that the right to private property is a fundamental right of the European Union. The 2025 reform is the Spanish government’s legislative response.

How does Andalusia’s anti-okupacion programme work?

Andalusia led the CGPJ’s quarterly court demanda ranking for the first quarter of 2026 with 94 demandas, 20.43 per cent of the national total, ahead of Catalonia (88), the Valencian Community (64) and Canarias (53). For the full year 2025, however, Catalonia retained the overall lead with 6,290 demandas against Andalusia’s 2,610.

The Junta de Andalucía operates the Sistema Andaluz de Lucha contra la Ocupacion Ilegal, run by the Consejeria de Fomento, Articulacion del Territorio y Vivienda. The system provides personalised legal advice to victims of illegal occupation, informs them of the available criminal and civil routes for recovery, and coordinates with the Agencia de Vivienda y Rehabilitacion de Andalucía (AVRA) on the public housing stock. Since 2019, AVRA has processed more than 2,800 procedimientos for illegal occupation of public housing and over 1,300 eviction expedientes, conducting more than 141,000 verifications and recovering 4,538 publicly owned homes. The occupancy rate of public housing has fallen from 13 per cent in 2022 to 9.4 per cent.

The new Ley 5/2025, de 16 de diciembre, de Vivienda de Andalucía (BOE-A-2026-423), in force since 24 January 2026, strengthens this framework. It creates the Comision de Coordinacion en Materia de Desahucios y Lucha contra la Ocupacion Ilegal, a cross-administration body that sets directrices for coordinating information, advice and action to prevent illegal occupation and offer joint housing solutions in desahucio and vulnerability situations. The law also excludes people convicted of illegal occupation from access to protected housing (vivienda de promocion publica o social) for five years and introduces a sobreocupacion enforcement mechanism: municipalities can inspect and fine properties where more people reside than the habitable space legally permits, with sanctions of 6,000 to 20,000 EUR for a grave infringement.

For non-resident owners on the Costa del Sol, the Andalusian system is a free advisory resource: access requires only being over 18 and empadronado (registered on the padron) in an Andalusian municipality. It complements, but does not replace, the private lawyer and criminal denuncia route.

Is the 48-hour rule real?

No statute in Spanish law sets a 48-hour deadline. The figure comes from the doctrine of flagrancia: if police discover the occupation while it is happening, they can act immediately because the offence is being committed in their presence. Legal practitioners commonly cite 48 hours as the practical window within which flagrancia is most likely to be established, but it is a guideline, not a fixed rule.

Once the flagrante window passes, the police will not remove the occupants without a judicial order. The owner must then file a denuncia (criminal route) or an interdicto (civil route). The 2025 reform does not change this. What it does change is the speed of the criminal route once the case enters the system. Property owners who discover occupation should contact the police immediately, have their land registry certification ready (obtainable online in approximately seven hours, per the Fiscalia’s Instrucion 1/2020), and instruct a lawyer the same day.

Two proposiciones de ley that would mandate desalojos within 48 hours and harden penalties, one tabled by the PP and one by Junts, remain stalled in the Mesa del Congreso de los Diputados. The PAO reported in July 2026 that the two bills have accumulated 139 prorrogas to their amendment deadlines and there is no indication they will be voted on imminently. The 48-hour desalojo therefore remains a policy proposal, not enacted law.

What is the difference between okupacion and precario?

A common source of confusion for non-resident owners is the distinction between okupacion (a criminal offence) and precario (a civil possession status). The two situations look similar from the outside, a non-paying occupant in your property, but the legal route to recovery is entirely different.

Precario is the possession of another person’s property by mere tolerance of the owner, without a contract, without rent and without a fixed term. The classical definition comes from STS 532/2000 and the doctrine built on art. 1750 of the Codigo Civil. A family member or friend you allowed to stay in your Marbella apartment rent-free, with no written agreement and no end date, is in precario. They are not an okupa, and the criminal fast-track procedure does not apply.

Recovery from precario is through the civil desahucio por precario under art. 250.1.2 LEC, a verbal proceeding in which the owner demands the return of the property. No criminal denuncia is involved because no crime has been committed: the occupant entered with permission, even if informal. The comodato and precario guide covers this route in detail, including the critical difference between precario (no title at all) and comodato (a loan-for-use contract under arts. 1740-1741 CC that has expired).

The practical consequence: if you let someone stay in your property without a written agreement, you cannot file a criminal denuncia for allanamiento when you later want them to leave. You must use the civil desahucio por precario, which has its own timeline and procedural rules. The criminal fast-track introduced by LO 1/2025 is reserved for true okupacion, where the occupant entered without any permission at all.

How can a non-resident owner recover possession?

There are two legal routes, and they can run in parallel.

The civil route is the interdicto de recobrar la posesion under art. 250.1.4 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Civil. Ley 5/2018, de 11 de junio, reformed this provision specifically for cases of illegal occupation of a dwelling. The key change: if the occupants do not answer the demand within the legal period, the court proceeds to sentence immediately. This closed a loophole where occupants could stall proceedings by failing to appear.

The criminal route is a denuncia for allanamiento or usurpacion. Since April 2025, this is processed through the fast-track procedure with a trial target of approximately 15 days. The owner must present a land registry certification proving title, and the police atestado should document the circumstances of the occupation, the identity of the occupants, and the owner’s express objection.

A non-resident owner should not attempt to remove occupants personally. Spanish law treats self-help eviction cautiously, and an owner who uses force may themselves face criminal charges. The independent lawyer is the necessary intermediary for either route.

What is inquiokupacion and why does the 2025 law not address it?

Inquiokupacion is the phenomenon where a tenant enters a property legally through a rental contract, then stops paying rent and exploits civil procedure to delay eviction. It is not the same as okupacion: the tenant had a legitimate right to enter, and the dispute is about the non-payment of rent, not the illegal occupation of an empty property.

The 2025 reform does not address inquiokupacion because it is a civil landlord-tenant matter governed by the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (LAU), not a criminal okupa case. In Catalonia alone, over 5,000 eviction lawsuits for rent arrears were filed in 2025, far exceeding the 377 civil okupacion demandas in the same region. These cases account for approximately 80 per cent of all housing-related court cases in Catalonia.

For non-resident landlords facing inquiokupacion, the recovery route is the civil eviction process under the LAU, which has its own timeline and procedural rules distinct from the criminal fast-track procedure introduced by LO 1/2025. Rent default insurance can cushion the financial blow of a non-paying tenant while the legal process runs.

How can owners prevent okupacion?

Prevention is more effective and far cheaper than recovery. The measures that work for non-resident owners on the Costa del Sol are straightforward:

• Occupancy signals: lights on timers, a car in the driveway, regular visits by a neighbour or property management service. A property that looks lived in is less likely to be targeted.
• Alarm systems with monitoring and police response: a monitored alarm is the single most effective deterrent for an absent owner. The alarm must be connected to a central receiving station (central receptora de alarmas) authorised by the Ministry of the Interior under Orden INT/316/2011, so that a trigger generates a police dispatch, not just a silent log. An alarm that triggers a police visit during the flagrante window can result in immediate removal. Perimeter sensors, door contacts and a visible external siren cover the most common entry points (doors, windows, garden access). Monthly monitoring costs in Spain typically range from EUR 25 to EUR 60, a fraction of the cost of an eviction.
• Remote monitoring and smart locks: Wi-Fi cameras and video doorbells let a non-resident owner check a property from abroad in real time. Smart locks with temporary codes allow a trusted local contact to inspect without handing over a physical key that can be copied. These systems do not replace a monitored alarm, but they add a layer of early warning.
• Community vigilance: in urbanisations and apartment blocks, the comunidad de propietarios can agree a protocol for reporting suspicious activity at empty units. The community president or administrator can act as a first responder.
• Insurance: standard property insurance typically does not cover okupa damage. Some Spanish insurers now offer specific okupa coverage as an add-on, which may include legal costs for eviction. Legal protection insurance (defensa juridica) can sometimes cover the legal costs of an eviction proceeding, so check your policy.
• Registry certification: keep an electronic land registry certification accessible. The Fiscalia’s Instrucion 1/2020 identifies this as the primary document police need to act, and it can be obtained online.
• Periodic inspections: for owners absent for months at a time, a local property manager or neighbour conducting weekly checks is the cheapest early-warning system. The cost of a break-in repair and an eviction far exceeds the cost of a management fee.
• Short-let compliance: if you let the property to tourists, ensure your VFT registration and community approvals are current, because a lapsed or unauthorised let can blur the line between a tenant and an occupant. See the Costa del Sol short-let rules.

What should you do if you find your property occupied?

Act immediately. The first 48 hours are the window in which police intervention is most likely to succeed without a court order. Call the police, present your land registry certification, and file a denuncia the same day. Do not attempt to enter the property or confront the occupants. Instruct a Spanish lawyer immediately to file either the criminal denuncia or the civil interdicto under art. 250 LEC.

If the property is your dwelling, the crime is allanamiento de morada and carries the higher penalty. If it is a non-dwelling property, the crime is usurpacion. In either case, the 2025 reform channels the case through the fast-track procedure, with a trial target of approximately 15 days. The common mistakes buyers make in Spain include failing to insure against this risk and leaving a property visibly empty for months. Owners should also be aware that prolonged occupation can, in extreme circumstances, raise adverse possession (usucapion) questions, though the statutory periods are long (10 to 20 years) and rarely succeed against a registered owner who objects.