Illegal private property occupation
Crimes of usurpation and home invasion
The main difference between usurpation and home invasion (breaking and entering), is framed in the fact that usurpation is carried out concerning uninhabited homes, and on the contrary, home invasion regarding to inhabited homes. These crimes have in common that their execution is carried out without the authorization of its owner or resident.
Usurpation is regulated in the article 245 of Spanish penal code and contains aggravating circumstances in the event that the punishment is carried out with violence or intimidation, where its penalties will be set depending the utility obtained and the damage caused, in addition to the penalties that may be incurred due to the violence exerted, that is, if there are minor or more serious injuries. However, in cases without violence the sanction consists in a financial penalty due to an empty private property are not considered a residence by the spanish law.
On the opposite side, home invasion or breaking and entering is regulated in the article 202 of the penal code and contains more higher penalties, due to as we saw previously, the property constitutes the habitual residence. While in usurpation the basic penalty is a financial penalty between 3 to 6 months (minor crime), and the aggravated by violence is 1 to 2 years, in home invasion crime the basic penalty is 6 months to 2 years, and if violence are involved, from 1 to 4 years and a financial penalty of 6 to 12 months.
Many times, when a property is illegally occupied, its owners are not clear about what action must take, due to the illegal occupation of homes are not contemplated in the Spanish Penal Code. Therefore, it is important to be clear about the differences between usurpation and home invasion or breaking and entering.
Specialized Lawyers in home invasion
One of the most high-profile cases of Mercury Lawyers where it had to defend an alleged home invasion, was in the case of a British citizen who, being in urgent need of using a bathroom, asked an owner home about authorization to enter, understanding that the owner had given him authorization. But nothing could be further from the truth, due to the owner and resident did not understand anything about the British man told her due to the language barrier.
Being inside the house without consent, the owner called the National Police to denounce that she had been victim of a home invasion crime. The Prosecutor's Office then requested the imposition of a sentence of 1 year in prison and compensation of 500 euros due to a moral damage. Our director of the Criminal Law Department Cecilio Sánchez, who represented the accused at trial, argued that the accused acted under his intimate conviction that he was accessing on the property with consent of the owner, being non-existent criminal responsibility, but not the same with civil liability.
It is important that we remember that fraud presupposes the entirety existence of knowledge and volition to carry out the elements of the type of crime, therefore, the objective non-existence of the charged crime, the British citizen was acquitted and everything was an unfortunate misunderstanding.
If you are a victim of illegal occupation of your home, contact with the best criminal lawyers in Marbella as soon as possible and we will assist you to recover your property.
Telephone: +34 951 052 811
Whatsapp: +34 643 89 04 96
Organic Law Proposal 124/000003: against illegal occupation and for neighborhood coexistence and the protection of the safety of people and things in communities of owners.
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