The Spanish Senate is to vote this Wednesday on whether or not to reform the Penal Code so that cutting off utilities to occupied properties is no longer considered a crime of coercion.
The initiative was brought forward by the opposition Partido Popular (PP), whose main objective is to ensure that owners of occupied properties are not forced to continue paying for water, electricity, or gas without committing a crime.
This measure comes after the anti-squatting law, promoted by the PP, was blocked in the Congress of Deputies.
According to the PP, in 2024 alone, 16,400 cases of squatting and breaking and entering were reported in Spain, the third highest figure since the Ministry of the Interior began collecting records.
READ ALSO – Okupas: The tricks squatters in Spain use to occupy homes
“We are facing a 7.4 percent increase in squatting compared to the previous year,” the PP stated.
“To clarify criteria and ensure its legal application throughout Spain, it must be included as an exception to the crime of coercion regulated in the Penal Code,” they added.
With this proposal, the PP intends to reduce the time a squatter spends illegally in a home, as it will lack basic supplies and prevent them from settling in the property long term.
They believe this initiative will force the other parties to “re-establish a position on the problem of illegal squatting”.
READ ALSO: Why is Spain making it harder to evict squatters?
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When it comes to the number of squatted properties per region, Catalonia comes out on top with a total of 7,009 reported cases. This is followed by Andalusia with 2,207, Valencia with 1,767 and then Madrid with 1,451 occupied properties.
Spain’s anti-squatting law only came into force in April 2025, its aim was to speed up the legal process and allow for ‘express evictions’, of squatters, (known as okupas in Spanish).
Before then, evicting okupas had been a notoriously slow process bogged down by bureaucratic procedure. In some cases, it has taken months or even years for homeowners to recover their property.
The law promised to be able to throw out squatters within 15 days of the complaint being filed, but the PP denounced that the Congress of Deputies is “holding the anti-squatting law hostage” and it’s not working as it was intended to.
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The rule change only covered okupas and not so-called Inquiokupas. This is when a legal tenant stops paying the rent then refuses to leave the property. Under the anti-squatters law back in April, landlords weren’t able to evict this type of squatter.
The PP want to encourage landlords to put their empty homes on the rental market and give them assurances that if their tenants stop paying the monthly rent and the corresponding expenses, owners will not have to take charge of the cost of the utilities.
If this measure is approved in the Senate, final approval will still have to take place in Congress at a later date before it comes into force.
