The neighbors of a building on Muntaner Street at the height of Mallorca Street are asking the Barcelona City Council to facilitate the eviction of a home taken over by people with serious drug problems who are making their lives miserable as soon as possible. If the City Council takes action, the recovery of this property could easily be delayed by a year and a half. If the local administration does not take the initiative and the possible heirs of this apartment do not assume any responsibility, the eviction could become even more complicated.
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La Vanguardia explained this Thursday that the owner of this apartment recently died after somehow handing it over to very problematic people, who for more than a year the neighbors of this building have increasingly encountered drugged individuals, some of these addicts remain lying in the lobby and others insult and threaten them daily. This community has already installed cameras in the common areas and hired a guard who patrols the landings during the early mornings.
The Urban Guard and the Mossos increase their presence in the surroundings
“We have already filed the corresponding complaints with the Mossos d’Esquadra and the truth is that we call 112 continuously – these Muntaner neighbors detail –. We also have two lawsuits filed for non-payment of fees and for the proliferation of disturbing activities. We also submitted three complaints to the City Council for unsanitary conditions and the continuous flow of people. But since we are not the owners of this apartment, we cannot report its occupation and request its eviction, despite everything that is happening. What we can do according to the law is urge the City Council to do so. We hope they take measures as soon as possible.”
In fact, this Friday representatives of this community met with a City Council lawyer to study this request. In any case, the mayor’s government will not comment until it can study in detail the petition that these neighbors finally submit. “Meanwhile – point out sources from Mayor Jaume Collboni’s government – following the neighbors’ complaints, the neighborhood police teams of the Urban Guard have reinforced, together with the Mossos d’Esquadra, surveillance in the area.”
On Wednesday night, an undercover Urban Guard couple reported one of the people who appear to live in this apartment. He was accused of theft after showing up at the building carrying a bicycle from one of the rental companies. The man was unable to prove that the bicycle had been legally rented and also failed to explain why he intended to take it up to the fourth floor. Police sources emphasize that, although drug use is constant in the apartment in question, the property cannot be considered a drug dealing point.
This circumstance, says Lorenzo Viñas, president of the College of Property Administrators of Barcelona and Lleida, also makes the recovery of this property difficult. “In this regard – he adds – for the police to act, a proven offense is needed. In principle, drug use or insults are not enough to trigger an eviction. The right to be an owner must be accompanied by the responsibility to guarantee the safety and coexistence of the building. When this responsibility is not exercised, communities must have the power, with judicial control and guarantees, to act to protect neighbors, prevent the degradation of the property, and nip in the bud situations that endanger the health and safety of people. This Muntaner community only has left to submit a petition to the City Council to ask it to intervene and through a civil procedure urge the eviction.”
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PP councilor Daniel Sirera intervenes saying that the City Council “must locate the heirs of the owner and if necessary report the occupation. The administrations must get involved in these cases before they make life impossible for the community.”
A long wait in the Raval
The case on Muntaner Street is not exceptional. Other abandonments by owners have already unleashed serious disturbances in coexistence. In the Raval, in the passage of Sant Climent Street, a couple of investment funds ignored for years that their property became a drug den. This drug sale attracted many addicts. Nowadays many use drugs, sleep, and relieve themselves in this dead-end L-shaped passage. This neighborhood pressure recently managed to get the fund owning the drug den involved in this matter. However, coexistence here is already broken, and many neighbors hope that the City Council acts decisively once and for all.
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