Six families living in the same building in Arrecife are one step away from being left on the street, in the middle of a lawsuit between the person who rented them their houses and the real owner.
There are already eviction orders, but they still don't have a specific date. They all face the scarce rental offer on the island, as well as the high prices and the demanding job requirements requested by landlords.
Anailín, one of those affected, is eight months pregnant and about to give birth. She may soon not have a roof over her head, like the rest of the neighbors, among whom there are “elderly people, children, and a pregnant woman,” the young woman tells La Voz.
She and her partner moved into the house located in the San Francisco Javier neighborhood five years ago with a rental contract, but the landlord was not the real owner of the property, so they claim that he has already been reported for fraud by the owner.
Now they are trying to delay the eviction by presenting a letter of vulnerability, a measure implemented by the Government to suspend evictions of vulnerable families during the pandemic, which is currently extended until next September. “There is already a final judgment in court, but those from social services were telling me that they could intervene with the report,” says Anailín.
The young woman says that when they entered the apartment it was in "very bad condition, even with bugs", so they had to completely renovate it. “We have the hope of staying, because everything in this house has been done by us,” emphasizes Roannis, the young woman's partner.
A complicated judicial process
For all the tenants, the nightmare began in September 2020, when the police and a locksmith showed up at their house to evict them. “They came directly to close the apartments without prior notice, or letters, it was sudden,” explains the woman.
At that time, they managed to stop it, by proving that they had a contract and invoices that showed that they had never stopped paying the rent. “As we had all the receipts and papers for the contract and payments, they postponed the eviction until the date of the trial was set,” she adds.
However, they only managed to buy time. On August 26, the Court of First Instance Number 4 of Arrecife determined that those contracts were not valid, since the sublessor had no right to rent the homes to other people and, in addition, had been failing to pay the owner the rent for years, an amount that amounts to 62,800 euros.
“After the trial, they sent us a letter telling us that we had no right to continue living in the house, but it did not set a date," says Anailín. For now, the couple and the other five homes are waiting for a new letter with the information that marks the day of the final eviction.
“We don't want to violate the laws, we understand that the sentence is final and we don't have the right to stay legally, but we want a deadline that allows us to organize ourselves,” says the man.
The difficult task of finding another rental
On the other hand, the search for another rental home has become a complex process for the couple, especially due to the exhaustive requirements they ask for when signing a contract, demands that Roannis defines as “an atrocity.”
“We have called several real estate agencies and they ask us to have permanent employment contracts with a seniority of between 1 and 5 years, something we don't have,” says Anailín. “Others have even told us that they only want civil servants, my husband's waiter contract is not valid for them.”
In addition, finding rentals from individuals is also not an easy task, since the offer is quite low and, according to the young woman, many individuals “are afraid that their houses will be occupied”, so “they put everything through an agency”.
They also tried to apply for public housing, but the young woman points out that social workers tell them that “they don't have houses for anyone”, because “there are many people in that situation”.
The owner refuses to give them a solution
Regarding the owner of the building, both Anailín and Roannis state that on the day of the first eviction attempt he mentioned the possibility of renting the house directly to them. “When the real owner was here for the first time, he told us “let's see if we can fix it and make new contracts”, but now he says he doesn't want anyone in his apartments,” says the man.
Since that date, the couple has not spoken to the owner again, although a neighbor did have the opportunity to talk to him recently.
“The last time he was here, a neighbor mentioned to him that my wife was pregnant and he said: I can say it louder, but not clearer, that's not my problem, whatever the court decides,” says Roannis. “We are not refusing to pay, but he does not want to reach an agreement and I think there are times when you have to touch your heart a little.”
Regarding the sublessor, both point out that they did maintain contact with him at the beginning of entering the apartment, since “he went monthly to collect the amount of the rent in cash”, but since the eviction attempt in 2020 “he has completely disappeared”.
Without a lawyer and without advice
In the midst of this complex process, Roannis complains that they did not have any type of advice. “The day we arrived at court we tried to get a lawyer (assigned by the court) and they told us that we were not entitled to one, I don't know if it was because the lawsuit is against the real estate agency and we are third parties,” he clarifies.
“At the court they told me: “you have moved into a house that you know is not yours””, recalls the young woman. “We are not squatters, we always comply with the payments, it was they themselves who told us not to pay anyone since the judicial process began because we were going to lose the money.”
Now, they only have to wait for the court to set the final date of the eviction, a date that could be delayed, at least until September, in the event that Anailín's letter of vulnerability is accepted.
“All we ask for are logical and reasonable terms, a period of a few months, because you can't leave your whole life behind in just 15 or 20 days,” adds her partner, who fears that the notice will end up arriving from one day to the next.
