A woman and her family were evicted from a tourist flat in Santa Pola on Wednesday, June 25th, by court order after staying for more than six months without paying, despite having only booked for five days. Elche’s Investigative Court No. 2 has ordered an immediate eviction from the property as a preventive measure in response to a complaint of fraud made by lawyer Aitor Prieto Razquin, legal agent of the Rentafive agency that controls the property’s rental.
The Guardia Civil carried out the removal without incident, setting a national legal precedent. According to the lawyer, this is the first time a court in Spain has ordered the eviction of a vacation property as a direct result of fraud charges, rather than squatting or trespassing.
The events began on December 21st, 2024, when the woman reserved an apartment on Calle Tamarit in Santa Pola for €495 for a five-day stay. However, she refused to leave the property on December 26th. She declared that she would not leave under any circumstances and requested a long-term lease for €700 per month, which the company refused because the rental was for tourists rather than residents.
The renter has not made any more payments since then, living in the house for more than 98 days, resulting in a financial loss of more than €10,000, according to the lawyer’s calculations, based on a vacation cost of around €100 per day.
Furthermore, Prieto offered evidence that the suspect had been evicted from another residence in the same town days earlier, raising the assumption that her purpose was to use a holiday rental contract to occupy the property for profit with no intention of paying.
Fraud as “contemporaneous fraud”
According to the court verdict, the woman signed the contract with “contemporaneous malice,” which means she intended to deceive the landlord. The eviction measure is based on Articles 13 and 544 bis of the Criminal Procedure Law, which permit precautionary evictions in circumstances of economic injury, such as fraud.
According to the verdict: “The defendant’s purpose was none other than to obtain the use of the property through deception, causing a fundamental error in the landlord’s decision that led him to transfer possession to her.”
Prieto emphasises that this decision creates a new legal channel to combat fraudulent occupations of tourist accommodations: “From now on, whenever an occupation with a simulated contractual reservation is detected, criminal proceedings will be filed for fraud and immediate eviction will be requested.”
The tenant’s appeal was dismissed
The defendant filed an appeal against the eviction order, but Rentafive’s lawyer filed a lengthy brief that included rulings from the Supreme Court, the Barcelona Provincial Court, and even references from the European Court of Human Rights, arguing for immediate precautionary measures to prevent the spread of contractual fraud in the tourist rental sector.
The case law reviewed supports the notion that a contract executed with fraudulent purpose cannot protect the “squatter” and empowers judges to order prompt evictions without waiting for a definitive judgement.
No Comment! Be the first one.