My tenant is not paying the rent, what can I do? I have been advised that now the eviction process is faster in Spain and I can get back the property in weeks, is this correct?

Yes, as per the Laws 19/2009 and 13/2009, the last one applicable from the 4th of May 2010 there have been important changes of the Spanish Civil Jurisdiction Law, (1/2000- LEC) that affects the Eviction Process and claims for the rents due for the letting contracts.

Some of the most relevant changes are:

1.- The creation of OSI Office ( Oficina de Señalamiento Inmediato) has been approved. This office will set at the moment of the presentation of the claim a date for the court hearing, for these kind of cases should be within 20 days. It is true that at the moment the OSI has not yet been implemented, but it is expected to be within the next months, and then, the evictions will be incredibly faster than now.

2.- The verbal process, which on of the fastest court process, will be applicable for these kind of cases; claim for the rents ( independently of the amount claimed for), termination of the letting contract, etc.

3.-Following some other systems, like the one in UK, where solicitors serve the claim to the respondent, as per the new wording of the article 152 of the LEC, it would be possible in Spain to serve the claim to the respondent directly by the procurador of the applicant.

This could save quite a lot of time in the process, as the procurador will be able to serve the claim just one day after its admission, faster than it is done now by the courts.

4.-The new wording of the law also foresees the possibility of the execution of the Court order directly without the need to present a new execution claim, and without having to wait for 20 days from the date of the notification of the Order to the respondent.

Again this would save quite a lot of time to the applicant-Landlord.

To sum up the new changes in the Law already in place will make the eviction and claim for rent processes faster and more efficient. Once the OSI is implemented and working it would reduce the length of these processes from months/years to weeks.

Should this be your case, or the case of someone you know, we will be more than pleased to assist you.

*The information provided on this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.