A reader has contacted La Voz to report the eviction of a family along with their three children that took place on this Friday morning on Norte Street, in Arrecife. The woman has been living in this house for rent for more than 13 years in the capital but now they are on the street.
The reason, according to her testimony, is because "they want to use the house to make it a vacation rental." The family supposedly received an eviction order three months ago forcing them to leave the house within a period of three months. "They are throwing them on the street with three children and they have nowhere to go," denounces the family's friend.
The other party, according to La Provincia, who was able to speak with the property's lawyer, explained that the father of the family "has been squatting for ten years without paying rent and, in addition, he has squatted other homes in the same building and rented them to his compatriots," he says.
On Friday morning, the family, with their children aged 8, 11 and 12, had to leave the house without being able to find another house to live in due to the high housing prices in Lanzarote and the rest of Spain.
For the first time, Arrecife exceeds one thousand homes for tourist use. Thus, there are currently 1,011 houses and apartments in the capital, destined for vacation accommodation. In contrast, a month ago there were 929. That is, in the last three months, 82 vacation rentals have been registered. Currently, according to data from this same September 18, Lanzarote has 9,091 vacation homes registered; compared to the 8,573 registered last June.
Despite the fact that the evicted woman works in Arrecife and the minors go to a school in the city, "she is not looking for a rental in the capital, but she doesn't care if it is in another town as long as they can afford it, but they can't find anything and they have nowhere to go, they are going to stay on the street," says the friend worriedly.
In recent years, the rise of vacation rentals and the increase in housing prices have caused situations like these to emerge daily throughout the Spanish territory. "It is not the only family, since many others are faced with this situation of having to leave the house where they live because it is going to be converted into a vacation home," she says.
In addition, she also states that "no family member can take them into their home because the mother-in-law of the evicted woman has a very small house and cannot even receive them and I live in a tiny apartment and even if I put a mattress in the kitchen, there are five people, it is impossible, it cannot be done," she concludes.
