Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin May 12

FEATURED ARTICLES: "How to get squatters out under the new Spanish Housing Law" and "Effects of the Animal Welfare Bill if you live in a Community of Owners"

As we finally start getting some much-needed rain in the parched south of Spain, the focus this week has been on the approaching storm of the local elections, which are just two weeks away.

The deluge of political campaigning has begun in earnest, along with the usual mudslinging, pandering and electoral promises that will definitely, 100%, without a doubt be kept this time.

Against this backdrop, and with general elections coming up in six months’ time, the central government in Spain has been putting the final touches to its flagship laws, the ones they battled hard to get passed in this legislature and of which they are very proud.

There’s the Trans Law and the Equality Law, of course, but this time round the microscope is on the Housing Law and the Animal Welfare Law, specifically on how they affect property owners and those looking to purchase property in Spain.

Strap in, because we’ve got squatters, sexism and Spanish news galore for you this week…

More Spain property news…

…the squatters

Spain drastically reformed its Housing Law (Ley de Viviendas) in April and by far one of the most contentious issues is how private landlords and the authorities are allowed to deal with squatters, a persistent problem that has grown in this country by 63% over the last five years.

It’s always been very difficult to regain control of a squatted home, with landlords often arguing that the law falls more on the side of the illegal tenants than the rightful owners. And many now argue that the new housing law will slow down the process even further.

Essentially, while the law aims to support owners regain control of their occupied properties, it also wants to protect those in a vulnerable situation. So-called large holders – landlords who own several commercial or residential buildings – will have to show the courts whether or not the squatters are considered vulnerable before filing an eviction case. These larger landlords will also need to establish if the house is the habitual residence of the unwanted tenants.

Once all the hoops are jumped through, the court will carefully assess the case. The new law allows the process to be suspended for two months in the case of private landlords and four in the case of legal persons, to allow the regional and local Public Administrations more time to present different alternatives to eviction to the court.

The Rental Negotiating Agency (ANA) has been vociferous in its complaints against the new regulations, claiming they throw homeowners into even more legal uncertainty than before.

…the first-time buyers

There’s some good news with those struggling to get a foot on the property ladder in Spain, as the government plans to guarantee 20% of the mortgage for first time buyers under the age of 35. Interested candidates must have an annual income of less than 37,800 euros and the powers that be estimate that the initiative will help some 340,000 families.

However, what on the surface seems like a positive move has been met with much derision, since similar measures applied in other European countries have wreaked havoc on the real estate sector.

England launched its ‘Help to buy’ programme back in 2013 whereby the state guaranteed mortgages of up to 95% for lower income families. And although the scheme did indeed help around 340,000 families to buy a home, it also pushed up housing prices.

Rather than offering a helping hand, in London and other in-demand areas, the value of the aid was simply tacked onto the selling price.

Here in Spain, the guarantees don’t have widespread support either, although the government has assured that it is carefully analysing the average price of houses in different regions to avoid the same pitfalls.

…and the pet-owners

Spain also recently passed its Animal Welfare Law, after seemingly endless rewrites and certain controversial omissions (*ahem* hunting dogs *ahem* bullfights *ahem*).

Believe it or not, this law – known formally as the Law 9/2022 of June 30 on the protection of domestic animals or sometimes called the Belarra Law – also has an effect on property, and especially living in a Community of Owners in Spain.

Quite a lot of people live in a Community of Owners, which could be anything from an urbanización to an apartment block which has common areas which are under the control of all the homeowners.

Human nature being what it is, it’s far from uncommon for problems to arise between neighbours, especially when pets are involved, and the Animal Welfare Law imposes certain restrictions and responsibilities on pet owners with regards to the common living areas of their Community of Owners.

The most noteworthy of these are: not letting your dog/cat/turtle/fish/canary/ferret deposit their biological mess in doorways, on the sides of buildings or similar, and if they do you must clean it up; not keeping the animal either tied up all day nor wandering around the common areas unsupervised; and making sure your pet doesn’t do any damage to the building or cause a nuisance to anyone.

Fair enough. The first two of those are basically common sense and good manners, and anyone who has ever had neighbours knows those two things exist in abundance in this world. But the third one is harder to comply with since, if someone gets annoyed at your dog barking, for example, it’s them who have become annoyed. Yes, your dog was the cause of the nuisance, and you can be held responsible for not shutting it up, but your neighbour’s mind and lack of patience was the one who perceived a barking dog as a nuisance. How are you supposed to ensure no one ever gets annoyed ever again?!

In any case, pet owners can be fined anywhere between 500 and 50,000 euros for infringement of these rules. Something to make you paws for thought, perhaps…

How machismo than enough?

Sadly, Spain hasn’t exactly shown itself in the best light this week, with the organisers of two sporting events being accused of overt sexism, while a major airline has had its wrist seriously slapped for insisting its female flight attendants wear plenty of make-up and high heels to work.

The first debacle occurred on Spanish Mother’s Day during an all-female fun run in Madrid organised to highlight the fight against gender violence. Great in theory but the whole occasion turned into a shambles when the winner was handed a blender and the runners-up were given fat-free food products.

The Secretary of State for Equality, Ángela Rodríguez, has described the prizes as “sexist” and scathingly quipped that if you win, you’re a housewife and if not, at least you get products to help you to lose weight.

Organisers of the event immediately issued a statement on Twitter and apologised if any offence had been caused, insisting that the Thermomix kitchen robot isn’t a “sexist” product as far as they are concerned but “is ideal for any sports person who wants to improve their nutritional habits”.

A good answer, but it’s hard to imagine kitchen appliances and diet products being handed out as prizes to athletes in a men’s race.

A far bigger event was also under the spotlight and scornfully accused of promoting “sexist violence”.

The Madrid Open, held in the Spanish capital between April 25 and May 7, has become embroiled in a gender-based row after the ball girls appeared on the opening day clad in high stockings, pleated miniskirts and cropped tops. Their male counterparts, on the other hand, were allowed to wear the standard T-shirt and shorts.

But there was a dramatic wardrobe change for the men’s singles final after Spain’s Association for Women in Professional Sport lodged a complaint, and the skimpy were ditched in favour of baggy, knee-length shorts.

Rather ironically, the tournament itself and its sponsor Mutua Madrilena have launched a campaign against gender violence and Spain’s Secretary of State for Equality, Soledad Murillo, slammed the choice of uniform that she said “fomented clear discrimination towards women.”

From short skirts to high heels, airline Vueling has been embarrassed into designing a new dress code for its flight attendants after a Catalonia court fined the carrier 30,000 euros for imposing unfair standards on its female cabin crew.

While no particular clothing standards were set for their male counterparts, women were urged to wear a natural-looking foundation, black eyeliner and mascara, and told they must don heels at least 3 inches high.

Following the messy court case, Vueling has vowed to develop an inclusive dress code “that adapts to current needs”.

Murcia

Those waking up in Cartagena this Tuesday morning were in for a nautical surprise when a 60-foot replica of the Isaac Peral submarine, one of the city’s icons and which it tries to milk for as much tourist potential as it can, was found ‘surfacing’ from the Plaza Juan XXIII.

Locals and visitors were stunned to see the enormous sub in the middle of the square, rising up as if it were emerging from the waves, ‘breaking apart’ the cobblestones in the square.

It was placed there by artists in the middle of the night as part of the dual celebrations of the Mucho Más Mayo arts festival and the Night of the Museums coming up next weekend.

In fact, the eagle-eyed may have noticed that this same model submarine had made its way to Cartagena from Madrid, where it had been placed in the Fuente de Apollo fountain right in the city centre as a publicity stunt to advertise Cartagena tourism.

Above the waves, and actually on the water this time, people are getting excited about a series of boat tours around Cartagena harbour that are running this May and June.

Tours of the harbour are scheduled to set sail on May 17 and 31 and on June 14 and 28, each visit lasting three hours from 10am to 1pm. This allows plenty of time to enjoy not only one of the most complete harbours in the western Mediterranean but also to visit its main defensive fortress as you delve into the 3,000-year history of Cartagena.

If the water’s not your thing and you prefer to fly, you may be pleased to know that the airline Binter has launched a line of ‘cheap’ flights from Murcia Airport to the Canary Islands.

Return flights can be purchased for as little as 64.60 euros each way for travel between November 1 and March 31, 2024.

The bargain prices are only available for purchase until May 22, and passengers must book a round trip to get the savings.

While the only Canarian destination to which Binter flies from Corvera in Gran Canaria, you can buy inter-island connecting flights at absolutely no extra cost.

And if your budget doesn’t stretch quite that far but you’d still like to try something new, how about Pickleball?

“What the hell is Pickleball?” I hear you ask. Only the fastest growing sport in the USA, and now it’s made its way to the Region of Murcia.

Club MMGR, the sports and leisure club located in the middle of the Mar Menor Golf Resort, now has a brand new Pickleball court, the only one for untold miles around.

For those who don’t know, Pickleball is basically a cross between ping-pong, tennis and badminton, and it was first created by three friends in the States in 1965 as a way of keeping their young children entertained.

Since then, one official Federation for the sport, 4.8 million players and thousands of dollars in sponsorship money for its rising stars later, it has grown into something of a phenomenon that has gone unnoticed by most people until now.

It’s actually slower and easier on the knees than tennis and Padel, which is popular in Spain, so it’s quite a good sport for those who aren’t necessarily very sporty, or who can’t keep up with the levels they once could.

Intrigued? Get down to Club MMGR between Torre Pacheco and Los Alcázares if you want to try it out.

Check out our EVENTS DIARY for more events coming up in the Region of Murcia:

Spain

Some sad news has emerged from the Balearic Islands this week as a 40-year-old British man was found dead at his home in the Son Barbasa urbanisation in Capdepera, Mallorca, on Saturday afternoon (May 6). His 38-year-old partner was pulled unconscious from the farmhouse with clear signs of carbon monoxide poisoning and is understood to be in critical condition at Manacor Hospital.

The couple had just moved into the rural home, which is owned by the victim’s father, a few days before the tragic accident that is believed to have been caused by a gas leak in an old refrigerator.

It is suspected that the man’s death occurred earlier that morning, and that the carbon monoxide would have been seeping throughout the house all night while the couple slept in the master bedroom. Medical professionals assure that the victim would have been unconscious at the time of his death.

Yet more travel chaos is on the horizon as Air Europa has just announced the call for eight new strike days on May 22, 23, 25, 26, 29 and 30 and June 1 and 2 at all bases and workplaces in Spain.

The union has criticised the airline’s lack of interest in resolving the conflict by failing to address “the legitimate labour and salary demands of the workers after the call for a four-day strike in the first week of May.”

Moreover, pilots have vowed to continue striking throughout the summer if their demands for higher pay and improved working conditions are not met.

Much of Spain is on drought alert due to a desperate lack of rainfall following the hottest and driest April ever recorded, and the Ministry of Agriculture has warned that the price of many staple food items could shoot up this summer as a result.

According to a recent report by the Coordinator of Farmers and Livestock Organisations (COAG), the drought has already scorched 60% of Spanish land and more than 3.5 million hectares of dry-land cereals have been lost.

And fresh produce is also in trouble. In the Bajo Guadalquivir and Cadiz areas of Andalucía, farmers have stopped planting tomatoes, carrots, broccoli and cauliflower due to the lack of water, and doubts have already been cast over the growing of cotton, rice and corn.

COAG also warned that livestock farming and beekeeping are also in jeopardy: there are no pastures to feed the animals and not enough wild flowers for bees, which will likely lead to a summer shortage of meat and animal products.

Alicante

Benidorm is unsurprisingly the Costa Blanca’s top tourist destination, renowned for its beautiful beaches, bustling nightlife, lively atmosphere and of course, sunshine.

However, Benidorm has another jewel in its crown, and is home to one of the top 100 hotels in the world, according to Europe’s largest tour operator, TUI.

The historic Don Pancho four-star hotel is one of 17 in Spain – and just four on the mainland – to make the prestigious list selected for TUI’s 2023 Global Hotel Awards that recognise establishments with the best satisfaction surveys of all the partnered hotels on its books.

Opened in May 1972, Don Pancho recently underwent a complete renovation and offers 256 rooms with terraces and sea views. The venue has hosted many celebrities over the years and is the official hotel of the Benidorm Fest.

The Don Pancho is located close to Levate beach, in the middle of Avenida Mediterráneo, one of Benidorm’s main arteries and the first in the country to have a General Urban Development Plan (Plan General de Ordenación Urbana).

The hotel’s first promoter was Manuel Torrubia, a local businessman who decided to build a four-star hotel, one of the first of its kind in Benidorm. His ultimate goal was to create “a prestigious hotel offering quality accommodation with sea views for all guests”.

Tragedy struck in Torrevieja this week when a three-year-old girl suffered catastrophic injuries after falling from a sixth floor balcony on a residential estate.

The child plunged to the ground, landing in an internal courtyard and after being stabilised at the scene, was rushed to Torrevieja Hospital.

Sadly, she died shortly after arrival.

The little girl was at home with her mum, who was looking after another young child when the horrific accident happened. It’s believed the toddler climbed the balcony railings, from where she fell, and while an investigation is underway, police are treating the tragic fall as an accident.

Torrevieja was also the scene of two earthquakes that hit Alicante province early on Monday morning, the second in the neighbouring town of Crevillente. Both are located in the Vega Baja region, an area of high seismic activity.

The first struck just before 2.30am in the southwest of Crevillente, measuring 1.6, and just hours later, at 9.51am, a tremor of 2.6 magnitude was recorded off the Torrevieja coast.

The province has registered 39 quakes greater than 1.5 degrees already this year, with five off the shores of Torrevieja.

Excitement is running high for the return of Elche Street Food Market next weekend, a delicious festival of cuisine, music and fun for all the family.

Fourteen food trucks will roll into town and pitch up in Paseo de la Estación for the three-day gastronomic event, serving up national and international dishes from the United States, Venezuela, Argentina, Thailand and Mexico, among many other countries.

In addition, there will be a market with 18 craft and jewellery stalls, an ‘art zone’, magic and animation shows, and live music.

Felip Sànchez, Councillor for Commerce, said: “Elche Street Food Market has become an important event for the town and is extremely well attended, exceeding 20,000 people last year after becoming the first event held since the end of pandemic restrictions.”

You can now join the Costa Blanca What’s On and Where to Go Facebook group to see more events coming up in the area!

Andalucía

Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles has signed an agreement with the United States Ambassador to Spain this week to station two new US Navy destroyers at the Rota Naval Base in Cadiz.

These two warships will be added to the other four that the United States already has stationed in Rota and will complete the NATO anti-missile shield formed between 2014 and 2015 at the naval base.

It follows on from an agreement made between US President Joe Biden and Pedro Sánchez during the NATO summit last year to strengthen the strategic relationship between the two countries.

Puppet-mania has returned to Seville with some of the best national and international puppet companies performing in the streets and at a selection of theatres across the city.

When it comes to puppets, Punch and Judy shows on Blackpool pier may be one of the first things that spring to mind.

However, the Seville International Puppet Festival promises to change people's views of the traditional art form with a two-week event until May 21, a colourful spectacle for both children and adults to enjoy.

The Feria Internacional del Títere de Sevilla is now in its 43rd year, and most of the shows are free of charge or just 4 euros a ticket.

Six international companies have travelled from Colombia, Argentina, Peru and France to join 15 national companies from Catalonia, Madrid, Aragón, Valencia, Navarra, Murcia and Andalusia.

The Puppet Fair is being held in different districts of Seville, either in halls of different civic centres or in the street. Shows will also be performed at Teatro Alameda, Alameda de Hércules, Sala La Fundición, Sala Cero, and Centro Cívico Las Sirenas.

And the best puppet theatre companies, selected both for their high artistic and pedagogical level, will showcase the different techniques of this artistic discipline: glove, muppets, rod, shadows, thread, object animation, etc.

There are also three exhibitions and a training course on Catalan glove puppetry.

An exhibition started this week at the Museo Picasso Malaga museum in Malaga capital city entitled ‘Picasso Sculptor. Matter and Body’, showcasing the lesser-known sculptures of this famous Spanish artist. Most of the time, attention is paid to Picasso’s paintings, of which he produced thousands over the course of his life, but this exhibition doesn’t contain even a single sketch, in order to allow people to better focus on his sculpting skills.

The exhibition will remain at Malaga’s Picasso museum until Sunday September 10, 2023, after which point it will go to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for the autumn.

The exhibition forms part of the international programme ‘Picasso Celebration 1973-2023’, which is carried out with the support of the Musée national Picasso-Paris and the Spanish National Commission and is part of the commemorative events for the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death this year.

Be sure to go visit the Picasso sculpture exhibition and the Picasso museum if you’re out and about in Malaga this summer!

You may have missed…

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Low Emission Zones put on hold until after Spanish elections.
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ITV centres in the Valencian Community vote to strike.
The company Sitval took over all of the ITV centres in the Valencian Community last March and their workers have already voted to begin an indefinite strike on Friday May 19.
Canadian tourist plummets to his death during robbery in Barcelona.
Police in Barcelona have arrested four young men for the violent robbery of a Canadian tourist who died when he fell off a 4.5-metre wall on the Ronda Litoral as he ran from his attackers.
Massive influx of migratory birds expected at Almeria salt lakes this summer.
Wildlife monitoring experts in Andalucía are excited for the coming summer, when migratory birds are expected to arrive at the Almeria salt lakes in their droves.

That’s all we’ve got in terms of your Bulletin for this week. Enjoy the final of the Eurovision Song Contest if you’re planning to watch this Saturday evening. And if not, enjoy that too!

See you next week!