The Court of First Instance (Civil Division) number 4 of Arrecife has ordered the suspension of the eviction of at least two families settled in the unfinished homes of the Pechiguera Lighthouse, in Playa Blanca, scheduled for next November 19. In total, according to figures provided by the residents, around 250 working families already live in this abandoned construction site in the south of Lanzarote.
The legal administrator of justice has thus notified Elizabeth Estrada's family and the occupants of another home that the eviction of their house, located in the abandoned complex on Austria street in the municipality of Yaiza, will be suspended. This suspension comes after one of the family members requested legal advice from a public defender.
The Court understands that there will not be enough time to grant them a public defender before next November 19, at 10:00 AM, when the eviction was initially scheduled. In this way, the two families will be able to remain for the time being in these substandard housing in the south of the island.
Although the judicial procedure is progressing at a certain pace, the families have denounced the harassment they are suffering. Specifically, they have stated that eviction companies have blocked the entrances to the property with stones, preventing the tanker truck from which they order drinking water for home delivery from accessing it.
Estrada has also filed a legal complaint against a company for the alleged threats she has received for leading the neighborhood movement against the eviction.
A construction site abandoned 20 years ago
This construction, located between Austria, Denmark, and Greece streets, was abandoned by the real estate company Inversur Lanzarote SL two decades ago. The construction of these homes was halted in 2006 due to its impact on the 19th-century lighthouse. Although the developer tried to remove the protection measures for this element, they did not succeed, so they decided to abandon the property and left the homes unfinished.
Later, it was the group Coral Homes SL, a real estate company owned by the fund Lone Star and the entity CaixaBank and owner of more than 35,000 properties throughout the country, according to its own website, who acquired the land and initiated the eviction procedure against the residents.
The lack of housing alternatives, with rising housing prices in Lanzarote, has caused hundreds of families to crowd into these unfinished constructions, many without roofs, doors, or windows.
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