Charo, her partner, and their two children aged seven and one were evicted on Tuesday from their apartment on Avenida de Barcelona in Jaén over unpaid rent.
Local news outlet Hora Jaén reported on X that a magistrate rejected an emergency request by advocacy organization Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca to suspend the eviction. The activist group had submitted documentation proving the family's severe financial vulnerability and requested an alternative housing solution before law enforcement officers executed the order.
The tenant's sister described how a last-ditch effort to delay the eviction collapsed on Tuesday morning. She explained that a final written submission requesting a postponement had reached the court, but the judge confirmed receipt and ordered officers to proceed immediately.
She expressed distress at the timing of the court order, stating that while her sister was focused on picking up her seven-year-old son from school in two hours, the family had already been turned out onto the street.
Emergency shelter search
Isabel Mateo, spokeswoman for Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca, announced that activists were escorting the family directly to a local youth hostel. Mateo urged the Regional Government of Andalusia, which holds constitutional responsibility for housing matters, and the Jaén City Council to coordinate immediately to provide emergency housing.
Mateo emphasized that the overriding priority for public authorities was guaranteeing that the two young children had shelter that same afternoon.
Jaén is a province and provincial capital located in the southern Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca, known as PAH, is a nationwide Spanish grassroots movement established in 2009 to advocate for families facing mortgage default, rent arrears, and eviction proceedings.
Speaking through tears, the tenant's sister insisted that the family offered no resistance to court officers and merely pleaded for additional time. She stated that the family had no intention of keeping the property and only sought a few days to find another rental apartment.
She highlighted the difficulty of securing housing, stating that landlords routinely refuse to rent apartments once they learn children will be living in the home. She maintained that the family had never refused to pay rent and only wanted a decent home for their children and relatives, adding that while she could endure being homeless herself, she could not accept seeing her family left without shelter.
Financial strain and legal appeals
Mateo explained that the evicted tenant is actively searching for a replacement rental property while a legal appeal for reconsideration, known under Spanish law as a recurso de reposición, remains pending before the court. Under Spanish civil procedure rules, such an appeal lacks suspensive effect, allowing court officials to execute an eviction before judges render a final decision on the legal challenge.
According to Mateo, the tenant works seven days a week from Monday to Sunday in a bar kitchen for 800 euros a month. Her partner earns approximately 400 euros monthly through sporadic odd jobs.
The son of the property owner presented the landlord's perspective, stating that the total outstanding debt owed by the family amounted to 20,000 euros. He explained that this figure included accumulated rent arrears, unpaid water bills, and unpaid building association maintenance fees over their roughly five-year tenancy.
He stated that after the first few months of occupancy, payments became irregular before stopping completely. He noted that the eviction executed on Tuesday followed three or four previous attempts by the owner to repossess the apartment.
Landlord stance and national legislation
The owner's son stated that his mother, who is between 76 and 78 years old, does not operate the property as a commercial rental business. He explained that the apartment was rented out specifically to cover an active mortgage on the property, with rent fixed at 360 euros per month without any price increases.
He added that the owner's family now intends to sell the apartment to resolve their financial obligations.
He also criticized a proposed national housing decree that housing activists had hoped would protect vulnerable tenants, which Spain's Congress of Deputies rejected the previous Friday. He described the proposed legislation as ruinous, stating that it represented death for numerous small property owners who rely on rental income to pay property mortgages.
He concluded that while he understood the plight of individuals who cannot afford rent, public social welfare agencies must provide relief rather than expecting small property owners, who are not commercial landlords, to bear the financial burden.
