Squatters in the Canary Islands: what the law says

A lived-in home or an empty property: two different offences

We tend to say «squatting» and lump everything together. The Spanish Criminal Code draws a distinction, and that distinction decides everything else: who steps in, how urgently, with what penalties. It's the first thing I ask: was the property lived in, or had it been shut up for months?

• Allanamiento de morada, art. 202: entering someone else's morada, or staying there against the wishes of the person who lives there, carries «prisión de seis meses a dos años» — a prison sentence of between six months and two years; with violence or intimidation, between one and four years plus a fine.
• Usurpación, art. 245.2: occupying without authorisation a property, home or building belonging to someone else «que no constituyan morada» — that does not constitute a morada — or staying there against the owner's wishes, carries «multa de tres a seis meses», a fine of between three and six months. A fine, not prison.
• Usurpación with violence or intimidation, art. 245.1: here it's back to prison, one to two years, on top of the penalties for the violence itself.

Morada doesn't mean «a property you own»: it's the place where a person actually lives, and whether a given property counts is for a judge to decide case by case. That's why two owners with what looks like the same problem get told different things: the home you live in and the apartment that's been shut up for a year don't sit in the same box.

What changed on 3 April 2025

The Ley Orgánica 1/2025, de 2 de enero, de medidas en materia de eficiencia del Servicio Público de Justicia added both offences to the list of those that can go through the juicio rápido, the «procedimiento para el enjuiciamiento rápido de determinados delitos» of Spain's criminal procedure law: the fast-track route for trying certain offences. The change affects art. 795 of the Ley de Enjuiciamiento Criminal, which now lists, at letter i), the «delitos de allanamiento de morada del artículo 202 del Código Penal», and at letter j), the «delitos de usurpación del artículo 245». The BOE's consolidated text gives the date: effective from 3 April 2025, three months after publication.

I've read a lot of wrong headlines about this. The juicio rápido isn't an eviction within forty-eight hours: it's a faster procedural track, and getting onto it requires the conditions set out in that same art. 795. The case has to start from an atestado policial, a police report, and the judicial police must have either arrested someone and brought them before the duty judge, or cited them to appear as a formally accused person. Without a complaint and without someone identified, that track stays closed.

These are national laws: they apply identically in Tenerife and in Madrid. There's no separate Canarian law on the subject.

The civil route: getting possession back

Alongside the criminal route there's the civil one, which matters to anyone who wants the property back. The Ley 5/2018, de 11 de junio amended the civil procedure law specifically for the illegal occupation of homes, in force since 2 July 2018. It's the desahucio exprés, the fast-track eviction.

1. Who can use it Art. 250.1.4º reserves it for the «persona física que sea propietaria o poseedora legítima por otro título» — an individual who owns the property or holds it legitimately under some other title — for non-profit organisations with a right to possess it, and for public bodies that own social housing. A company that has bought the property doesn't qualify.
2. Who the claim is brought against Art. 437.3 bis allows the claim to be brought «genéricamente contra los desconocidos ocupantes», generically against the unknown occupants: names aren't needed. But the title on which the right to possess is based has to be attached to the claim.
3. The five-day deadline Once immediate handover has been requested, art. 441.1 bis provides that the order admitting the claim requires the occupants to produce, «en el plazo de cinco días desde la notificación» — within five days of being notified — a title justifying their occupation.
4. If they produce nothing The court orders the eviction and the immediate handover of possession, provided the title attached is enough to prove the right. Against that order, «no cabrá recurso alguno»: there is no appeal at all.
5. What the occupant can argue Art. 444.1 bis limits it to two things: having a sufficient title to possess the home, or arguing that the claimant has no title at all.

Five days is the legal deadline, not the length of the whole process: before that, the claim has to be filed, admitted and served. I won't write an average duration, because I haven't read one in an official statistic: anyone who promises you one over the phone is selling you something.

When the eviction gets put on hold

There's a part the headlines skip. When the property in dispute is the defendant's habitual residence, the court automatically notifies the proceedings to the authorities responsible for housing and social assistance, so they can check for possible vulnerability; if they confirm it, they have to tell the judge «en el plazo máximo de diez días», within a maximum of ten days.

The judge then decides, by order, whether to suspend proceedings so that the measures proposed by the public authorities can be put in place, «durante un plazo máximo de suspensión de dos meses si el demandante es una persona física o de cuatro meses si se trata de una persona jurídica»: a maximum suspension of two months if the claimant is an individual, or four months if it's a legal entity. These come from the Ley 12/2023, de 24 de mayo, por el derecho a la vivienda. Once that period runs out, the suspension is lifted automatically.

The first 48 hours

1. Call the police, straight away The fast-track criminal route starts from an atestado policial: without a complaint and without identification, it doesn't get going. And the sooner, the better, because the law also treats an offence that has just been committed as flagrant.
2. Gather proof of possession The escritura, the title deed; an up-to-date nota simple, the land registry extract; IBI receipts, utility bills, community fees, dated photos. The title has to be attached to the civil claim: having it ready saves days.
3. Write everything down When I saw what, who reported it to me, which neighbours can act as witnesses. The chair of the community and the property manager usually know first.
4. Don't take the law into your own hands This is practical advice, not a legal rule: don't go in, don't change the lock, don't cut the power or the water. It weakens your position, and risks putting you on the wrong side of the law.
5. Call a lawyer the same day The criminal and civil routes have different requirements and can be pursued together: deciding which is for whoever answers for the decision.

How to prevent it, as I see it

None of this is law: it's what I tell anyone buying a second home they'll use for only a few weeks a year. Occupation targets the property that looks abandoned, not the nicest one.

• Take away the empty-house look: an emptied letterbox, shutters not always closed, a tended garden.
• Someone who drops by now and then: a neighbour, the property manager, an agency. A watched property is a difficult one.
• A secure door and lock, attention to ground-floor openings, an alarm linked to a monitoring centre.
• Talk to the community: in a building, things get known early, and a neighbour who raises the alarm is worth more than a camera.
• If the property would stand empty for months, consider using it regularly: a proper rental agreement is another matter entirely.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. I read the rules on 15 September 2026 in the BOE's consolidated texts, and they can change; the outcome always depends on the facts and the evidence. If this affects you, speak to a lawyer qualified in Spain straight away.