On 10 September 2026 the Congress of Deputies approved a motion from the Partido Popular asking the government to make it possible to evict illegal occupants, okupas, within 24 to 48 hours. The PSOE abstained and Sumar voted against; Vox voted in favour, and Junts and the PNV voted in favour or abstained depending on the point. It is a moción, a political instruction to the executive. It is not a law, it has no date of entry into force, and it does not change what a police officer or a judge can do tomorrow morning.
For a foreign buyer the vote matters for a different reason: it shows where the parliamentary majority sits on the issue, and it keeps the pressure on a separate bill that would actually change the law. Below is what was voted, what already applies, and what to do about it as an owner.
What the motion asks for
- Eviction of illegal occupants within 24 to 48 hours at most.
- Repeal of the 2023 Housing Law (Ley de Vivienda), citing its "negative effects" on supply.
- Reform of the Land Law (Ley del Suelo) to speed up the release of building land.
- Cutting VAT on new-build homes from 10% to 4%.
- State mortgage guarantees extended to terms of up to 40 years.
- Simpler planning procedures for new housing.
The government backed none of these points. Each of them still obtained a majority in the chamber. Source: Congress of Deputies plenary of 10 September 2026, as reported by idealista/news and Forbes España.
Motion versus law. A moción approved in Congress instructs the government to act. It does not oblige it to. Only a law passed by both chambers of parliament and published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) changes what happens at a property. Read the 24-hour figure as a target the current majority wants, not as a deadline that exists.
What already applies today
The rule that governs an occupation in 2026 is Organic Law 1/2025, in force since 3 April 2025. It moved break-ins and unlawful occupation into fast-track criminal trials, with a hearing targeted at around 15 days, and it shifted the burden of proof: the owner shows title, and the occupant must then prove a right to be there. Courts remain busy and a judge can still suspend an eviction where the occupants are genuinely vulnerable, so 15 days is a target rather than a promise. But the process is measured in weeks now, not the two years that used to be common.
The full picture, including the 48-hour myth, the registration (empadronamiento) myth and how occupations actually happen, is in our guide Okupas in Spain: myths and facts.
The bill that could change the law
Separately from the motion, the Partido Popular's anti-squatting bill was admitted for debate by Congress on 19 May 2026, with the PNV and Junts abstaining. It is now going through committee. That text, if it passes both chambers, is the vehicle that would turn "24 hours" into a legal procedure; the 10 September motion is political support for it, not a substitute. There is no timetable, and the government has not said it will support the bill.
How real the risk is on the coast
Spain registered 16,426 occupation complaints in 2024, about 45 a day, against a housing stock of roughly 26 million dwellings. That is in the order of 0.06% of homes in a year. More than 40% of the cases are in Catalonia, and the great majority nationwide involve empty or bank-owned properties in specific urban districts. A gated development on the Costa Blanca or the Costa del Sol, with neighbours, a community and an alarm, sits at the low-risk end of that distribution. It is not zero, which is why the steps below are worth doing.
What an owner can do now
- Make it visibly a home. Alarm with a monitoring contract, community with a concierge or neighbours who know you, and someone who checks the property between visits.
- Keep the paperwork close. Title deed, IBI receipts and utility bills prove ownership in the fast-track procedure. The occupant's burden starts where your paperwork ends.
- Act inside the first 48 hours. While the "48-hour rule" is a myth in law, reporting an entry immediately matters in practice: the police treat a fresh break-in (allanamiento) very differently from a settled occupation.
- Use a lawyer, not a locksmith. Changing the locks on occupants or cutting their utilities can turn the owner into the defendant. A Spanish abogado files the complaint that starts the fast-track clock.
- If you let the property, use a written contract and identity checks; many of the disputes owners call "okupas" are in fact tenants who stopped paying, which is a different and slower procedure. Our guide on renting out property in Spain covers the contract side.
What this means for a buyer
Nothing in the 10 September vote should change a purchase decision. The legal framework a buyer relies on is the one from April 2025, and it already favours the owner. What the vote does show is that the political direction is towards faster evictions, not slower ones, whichever party carries the next reform. If you are weighing a purchase on the coast and okupas are the worry holding you back, the honest answer is that the risk is small, concentrated elsewhere, and manageable with the steps above.
We will update this article if the anti-squatting bill moves to a vote.
