Number of evictions in Spain hit record in 2011

Eviction procedures in Spanish courts for unpaid mortgages and rent hit a record of 58,241 in 2011, a 21.2 percent rise over the previous year, a court oversight body said Friday.

The most affected regions were Valencia with 13,711 evictions, followed by Andalusia with 9,864 evictions and Madrid with 9,460, the General Council of Judicial Power, the body which overseas courts, said in a statement.

“Evictions reached a historical high in 2011,” it said.

Evictions have soared in Spain since the collapse of a property bubble in 2008 that triggered the country’s economic crisis.

The growing number of evictions has sparked a wave of solidarity in Spain, which is grappling with an unemployment rate of nearly 23 percent, the highest level in the industrialised world.

When an eviction appears imminent, demonstrators often gather by the hundreds outside the property to prevent court clerks and bank officials with a locksmith in tow from ejecting residents.

Earlier this month Spain’s conservative government approved a new voluntary “code of conduct” for banks which aims to help poor homeowners settle their debts and reduce the wave of evictions.

Under the new guidelines, mortgage debts can be restructured for a period of up to 40 years and surrendering a property as payment may be permitted as a way of freeing a homeowner from their debt in some cases.

Spanish banks currently seize the homes of those who default on their mortgages and often demand further payment from those evicted if the value of the house has fallen below that of the loan.

The new rules will apply in cases where every member of a household is unemployed and mortgage payments are equal to more than 60 percent of their income.