Evictions for non-payment of rent grow twice as fast as those for mortgages in Granada

by time news

Eviction in a building on Lepanto street in the capital of Granada on January 26. / Ramon L. Perez

85% of foreclosures that took place in the past year had a family as a victim

Juanjo Cerero

Evictions due to non-payment of mortgages rebounded last year in the province, an expected trend given a judicial break of almost half a year during 2020 due to covid-19. Despite this, the data is still far from pre-pandemic levels, which indicates that the measures that the Executive describes as a “social shield” are doing their job at least partially in a complicated economic context. Releases for not meeting rental payments show an upward trend and their numbers already exceed those associated with mortgage contracts. The number of people who denounced the illegal occupation of their home also rose last year.

According to the provincial data published by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on foreclosures, which already cover the whole of 2021, up to 474 homes began a process of these characteristics last year. There are 70 more than during the first year of the pandemic, which in percentage terms represents an increase of 17 points, which despite everything is the second lowest differential in Andalusia, only behind that of Almería.

However, the level is still far from reaching the levels prior to the outbreak of the virus. In 2019, for example, there were 906 properties affected by this situation, so last year’s figure is practically half of that (-48%). Granada is one of the three Andalusian provinces, along with Almería and Jaén, whose figures are lower than those prior to the pandemic.

It must be taken into account, however, that not all of them are finally carried out, and even among those that are, the deadlines may end up being extended. According to the most recent data from the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the releases (that is, the evictions actually carried out) in 2021 in the province were 218. Despite representing 24% more than in the twelve months above, the level is still 40 points below the 2019 level.

In addition, up to 85% of the execution processes initiated in Granada had a family as a victim, according to the INE, while only 15% of the affected homes were owned by a company. This percentage is the highest in a historical series that covers up to 2014.

More evictions for rent

Executions for non-payment of the rent fee, protected by the Urban Leasing Law, were in 2021 the most common cause of a family being evicted from their home. Always according to the CGPJ, if there were 218 evictions covered by the mortgage law, in the case of rentals the figure rose to 521, more than double (+139%).

Furthermore, the number of them is also increasing at a higher rate than the others. Specifically, twice as fast. The year-on-year increase in launches actually executed by mortgage law stood at 24% in relation to the first year of the pandemic, while in the case of leases the level increased by 48 points in twelve months and is almost close to the level recorded before the pandemic, as 651 were produced in 2019.

Rent is, therefore, the biggest structural problem at the moment and the most important symptom of the economic difficulties that many families are going through after two years of activity marked by the virus. Two out of every three families that were evicted from their home in Granada in 2021 lived for rent (67%).

In addition, the judicial statistics also indicate that up to 1,725 ​​Granadans filed a lawsuit last year regarding the conditions of their mortgage in relation to those known as floor clauses. Throughout this period, up to 3,740 cases were also resolved in this same sense, which represents a daily average of more than ten cases.

home occupancy

The official statistics of the CGPJ also include figures of verbal possessory judgments resolved as a result of the illegal occupation of a home. A total of 150 cases entered the province of Granada for this reason, which represents an increase of 23 percentage points over the level of the previous year to reach a figure that already exceeds that prior to the pandemic.

In the regional environment, Granada turned out to be the second province with the highest judicial activity for this reason, with a rate of 16.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, only behind the case of Huelva (21.1).

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