Pablo Iglesias, dissatisfied with the rule that prohibits evictions: “The decree is not the panacea”

The team of Pablo Iglesias a victory can be scored in at least one of the battles he had raised in the negotiation of the new decree to prohibit evictions. The norm will finally extend the prohibition to cut the basic supplies of electricity, water and natural gas to people in vulnerable situations until the end of the state of alarm, that is, until May 9.

As the Minister Spokesman has explained, Mari­a Jesus Montero, the norm “will not only cover vulnerable consumers” who may already have social bond contracts – some 1.2 million consumers – but will also apply to others who present a similar situation and where mediators or social services will help to prove your vulnerability to the supplier company.

The ban on supplies has been one of the most difficult points to close during the negotiations that the party representatives have held in recent weeks purple, The team of JosÃe Luis balos and the group of the vice president of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera. Ribera was precisely in charge of negotiating the part of the supplies and until almost the end it was in the air that his extension could go ahead, however, the vice president has ended up yielding to Iglesias’ request.

It is one of the few concessions that the leader of Unidas Podemos has achieved in the final version of the decree, which will prohibit evictions but in very specific and more limited situations of what the party initially demanded.

So much so, that Pablo Iglesias has made his disappointment clear in a video broadcast at the same time as the press conference of the Council of Ministers in which the rule was approved. “This decree is surely not a panacea and we will have to continue working, but I think it is very good news because it is going to help many families “, assures the vice president before the camera.

New decree

The new rule will prohibit evicting vulnerable tenants while the state of alarm lasts and as long as there is a lease agreement. When there is no such contract, the agreement introduces a distinction between the small owner -the one who has less than 10 properties- and the large holder -the one who has more than 10-. In the event that the owner is a private individual, the eviction will continue, but in the case of a large holder, they will be prohibited only if the occupants are dependents, victims of gender-based violence or dependents of other dependents or minors.

In these cases, a report will be requested from social services and the economic and social situation of the affected family will be assessed. The social services must prove the vulnerability and, in this case, the judge may order the suspension for a period of three months until an alternative housing solution is found.

If after these three months that solution does not arrive or the vulnerability report is not completed, the owners – large holders in this case – will have the right to claim compensation provided they can prove that the situation has caused them economic damage. The compensation would be established according to the reference index of rents prepared by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

Of course, if the occupant’s condition of vulnerability is not proven, the procedure will continue.

The new decree also establishes some exceptions in which the suspension of an eviction cannot be applied. Specifically, when the inhabited dwelling is the residence or second residence of the owner; when a legal person has assigned the dwelling to a natural person; when the entry has taken place with intimidation or violence; when the property is being used for illicit activities or when the entry into the property has occurred after the approval of the royal decree.