Campos City Council is proposing tough new measures to deal with the illegal occupation of houses in villages all over Majorca.
The motion was presented by the Municipal Group of the PP and will be extended to all City Councils in the Part Forana. It's expected to be approved on Wednesday.
Municipal sources say squatters are currently occupying ten privately owned properties in Campos; 7 in the town centre, one in Sa Ràpita and two in Fora Vila.
At least 20 people are also living in the old Ca'n Cos Restaurant, but the Council says it's difficult to know exactly how many are inside because people are constantly entering and leaving.
The proposal states that Local Police can evict squatters within 24 hours and can also charge them with usurpation, which escalates the penalty from a fine to a prison sentence of 1-3 years.
Local residents are constantly complaining to the Council about the “alarming increase in illegally occupied homes in Campos" and claim some of the squatters actually have jobs and own properties.
In the last few months, property owners who’ve been targeted by squatters or thieves have blocked up the entrance doors to the homes which were mostly inherited from relatives.