Pedro (fictitious name) counts the days left for the eviction order he received three weeks ago to take effect. Since 2021 he has lived in the same building located on Jaime I street in the San Francisco Javier neighborhood of Arrecife, in Lanzarote. The Court of First Instance number 4 of Arrecife has ordered the eviction on March 7 of the block of buildings in which he lives, also the one next to it. According to the neighbors, the Court delivered the eviction order to three families in mid-January, who live in different homes within these blocks. However, after a visit by this newspaper to the properties, the reality is that there are around 15 houses and a garage. All of them with people living inside.
This neighbor, resident in Lanzarote, is a truck driver's assistant, but a few years ago a work accident forced him to take a long medical leave. Since then, physical problems prevent him from walking and moving normally. Pedro earns 900 euros a month and lives tormented by the idea of having to go to the street on March 7. "Where am I going to go in these conditions? I'm scared, where are they going to throw me," he says during an interview with La Voz. After going to the different institutions, he has registered as a public housing applicant and is waiting to go to his appointment with the social services of Arrecife.
"It is impossible to get a rent. The best thing is to be at peace, to have a calm mind. I want to pay, I can't leave," he continues from the living room of the house. Inés (fictitious name), another of the neighbors notified by the Court, is in a wheelchair and on a surgical waiting list with "high priority" to receive a hip prosthesis. Unlike Pedro, who lives alone, she has a 19-year-old daughter in her care who is studying. "I wonder, what are they going to do with my daughter?" laments this neighbor, who plans to reach an agreement with the property to be able to pay a rent.
In the next block, also in the focus of the evictions, lives Marta (fictitious name), a mother with two children. Marta is a victim of gender violence and has a restraining order against her aggressor in force. Her current partner and she sleep on the sofa bed of a small apartment in the building, while the only room in her small house is reserved for their daughter, a five-year-old girl. In her case, she has not received notification, but the rumors of the staircase about the imminent eviction in the neighborhood have her on alert. This neighbor asks the property "to let her pay" a monthly payment. Her daughter is not the only child living in the property, in total there are up to five minors in one of the blocks of buildings.
The data from the General Directorate of Cadastre, reflect that one of the buildings that will be evicted has two floors registered, with a house on each of them and a total of 332 square meters built, while the other only has one floor registered, with a house of 180 square meters. Despite this, the reality outside the plan is totally different and there are more than a dozen small houses. One of the properties has two floors and the other, three and inside "unilateral subdivisions have been made".
The Communication Office of the Court has explained that the eviction process of these two blocks "has been delayed", because "every time the judicial body has tried to execute the eviction, third parties have appeared". In addition, it indicates that when the new occupants are not identified, the process must be stopped until they are identified in order to "not violate their rights over the constructions in case they had them".
According to this same source, over the months the Court has opened a total of ten separate pieces of third-party occupants, in all cases it assures that "no title of ownership has been accredited" that justifies that they live in those homes. The Court states that the date set for the eviction is next March 7. That day the Court will try to carry out the eviction "as long as no new third-party occupants appear". In addition, the judicial body points out that the subdivision of the property "also" makes the process difficult.
