Gràcia Neighbors Halt Eviction of Couple Until Dec. 3
Hundreds gathered on Carrer Fraternitat in Gràcia on general strike day and the eviction of a couple was postponed to Dec. 3. What the union argues.
Neighbors in Barcelona’s Gràcia district stopped, at least for now, the eviction of a couple from their home on Carrer Fraternitat on the day of the general strike, the newspaper Ara reported. The eviction has been postponed and now has a new date: Dec. 3.
A banner at the protest read “Jani and Loli are staying in the neighborhood.” Several hundred people turned up, and the Gràcia Housing Union, which backs the couple, counted more than five hundred.
A lease that never changed hands on paper
Jani and Loli are around 60 years old. They have lived in the apartment for almost 20 years under an old rental contract, in a home where several generations of Loli’s family have lived.
The contract was in the name of Loli’s great-grandfather. When he died, nobody signed a subrogation, the legal step that moves a lease to another person. According to the union, the couple simply went on paying rent to the owner, who knew who was living there. The rent was handed over in cash, so no document records the arrangement.
The owner’s daughters inherited the property a few years ago. The union says the eviction order began at that point.
What the union argues
The union says it is easy to prove that the couple lived in the apartment throughout those years and paid on time. It regrets that they relied on a relationship of trust with the owner instead of a signed document.
It also says the couple meet the conditions to benefit from the new housing decrees: the apartment belongs to a large landlord, they have documented their vulnerable situation, and they have no other housing. Mariona Gallardo of the union said it was very harsh that this was refused, and that a final attempt the day before the protest was turned down by the court.
The union has filed an appeal for nullity. Its argument is that the eviction is being handled as an ordinary process, the kind used for unpaid rent or an expired contract. In the union’s view the case belongs in the so-called “precarious” process, which covers people who stay in a home without any legal title. It says the couple fit that description because the property does not recognize the subrogation.
What this means for the couple
For now Jani and Loli stay in the apartment. The postponement came after pressure from neighbors on the day the eviction was scheduled, which was also the day of the general strike.
The delay is provisional. The union’s appeal for nullity is its legal route against the way the eviction was set up, and its case that the housing decrees should apply to the couple rests on the three conditions it listed: a large landlord, documented vulnerability and no alternative housing.
What happens next
The new date for the eviction is Dec. 3. The union has not said whether it will call another gathering on that day.
Source: Ara
