Apartments so cheap for Ibiza that it attracts attention. The ads have something in common there are no photographs of the interior, only of some facade or a map of their location, they cannot be visited and they are sold as “investment opportunities”. In a quick search on a single real estate portal, three appear on the island. The particularity they share is that all of them are sold squatted.
It is somewhat legal in Spain, as it protects the rights of homeowners and gives them options to deal with the situation. But, the real estate agencies that offer them have to make this clear. Some explain it as such: “the property is illegally occupied by third parties”, others manage to get possible interested parties: “occupational status of the asset” or “property from foreclosure without possession”. The truth is that in all of them there are people living inside and whoever invests in them has to take care of the whole legal process to evict the squatters. In addition, the purchase is made blindly, since it is not possible to know the real state of the interior of the properties.
Bargains in Ibiza
Apartment of 45 meters, in a residential area with swimming pool and outdoor areas, in Santa Eulària. Its price 105.000 euros. Normally, such a property on the island, exceeds 200,000 euros.
The ad shows a photo of the urbanization and the swimming pool and another one of the street where it is located. In the description, at the beginning, it is read: “The property is located in illegally squatted by third parties and without supplies duly contracted”. The rest of the announcement are all the legal issues to which the buyer abides. “The purchaser will assume the physical situation and state of conservation, the urban situation, the discrepancies between the physical reality and the registry and cadastral reality.” It also specifies that whoever buys the property must assume “the formalities involved in obtaining judicial possession” of the house.
Another of the homes in this situation on the island is being sold for 163.000 euros. It is in Sant Josep . On this occasion, the image accompanying the ad is a map. We know that it is located in Cala de Bou, on the second floor of a building, and the ad describes that it is distributed in living-dining room, kitchen. It also describes that it has “all the necessary services around it, such as supermarkets, banks, pharmacies and sports centers”.
It is not until the end of the ad when we read: “Investment opportunity: property coming from foreclosure without possession.”. In addition, it details: “the price of the property has been fixed based on the fact that the property is acquired by the buyer in a squatted state, so that this price would not apply if at the time of formalization of the public deed the property was free of squatters”.
The last of the houses located that are being sold with squatters inside is a villa in Sant Jordi. The property has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and 107 square meters and is being sold for 390,000 euros. The description does not give more detail except that the sale price of the property “has been determined based on the previous circumstances (squatting), which have led to a lower value of the property”.
For the full article, please visit Diario de Ibiza website here.