The Court of First Instance number 3 of Arrecife has agreed to suspend the eviction of a woman who lives with her three minor daughters and who was a victim of gender violence from a house owned by Banco Popular that she occupied on Nicaragua Street in Arrecife and which was scheduled to take place on May 17. According to what the affected woman told La Voz, the real estate company that initiated the eviction, which is owned by the bank, submitted a document requesting its halt "to try to reach an agreement".
However, despite the fact that the resolution issued by the Court on March 27 indicates that "the suspension of the procedure has been requested alleging that the parties are in a period of negotiations to reach an amicable solution", Virgina María Rodríguez states that, for now, the real estate company has not contacted her.
"I haven't heard anything else, whether they are going to rent it to me or not, we haven't had meetings, not a phone call or anything," said this mother of three girls aged 5, 12 and 14, who says that the only thing she has heard from the real estate company, because her lawyer called, is that "they were studying it".
Thus, although Virgina María Rodríguez hopes that her situation will be resolved, she does not completely trust it. "I hope it gets fixed, but I don't know. They have the last word and they can tell me yes, we negotiate, and in a month or two they will report me again," she said.
A trial for a crime of usurpation, of which she was acquitted
This woman, who occupied this house in Arrecife after arriving from Fuerteventura "fleeing" from the "harassment" of her previous partner, already faced a trial through criminal proceedings after Banco Popular reported her for a crime of usurpation. However, although she was sentenced in the first instance to pay a fine of 180 euros and to vacate the house, she appealed the ruling and was acquitted by the Provincial Court.
After the first sentence, both parties "initiated conversations to reach an agreement" to "inhabit the house legally". However, although as a result of these negotiations Virginia María Rodríguez states that she reached "an agreement" with the bank by which she committed to "rent" the house, she later encountered the "surprise" that Inmobiliaria Inversiones Limara had initiated her eviction through civil proceedings. And it is that, according to the affected woman, Banco Popular, now Banco Santander, "transferred" the house to this real estate company which, however, "is owned by the bank".
Therefore, although Virginia María Rodríguez celebrates that the Court has halted the eviction, also agreeing to suspend the entire judicial process "for a period of 30 days", she fears that it will be reactivated again.
