ACOSO U HOSTIGAMIENTO INMOBILIARIO Y RESPONSABILIDAD CIVIL: CONSECUENCIAS DE LA NUEVA TIPIFICACIÓN PENAL PROPIA Y LA ACTUAL PREVISIÓN DE DELITOS O FALTAS CONTRA LAS PERSONAS O EL PATRIMONIO.

Abstract

When the residents of a building engage in activities with the deliberate intent of expelling or forcing a person out of his or her home, they are performing acts that are punishable by law. The law has several categories into which it classifies the harassment of tenants. There is no lack of cases in which the underlying conflict is rooted in an old lease, under which the tenant pays very little rent; in other cases, landlords who entertain speculative interests but whose tenants' refuse to leave willingly fall back on methods of doubtful lawfulness, to say the least, in an attempt to force the situation. Still other proceedings have been brought in court against flat owners who have attempted to provoke the owners of other flats in the same building into leaving, so the building can be sold at a fine price. Sometimes, as we will see in the light of case-law, the victims of these acts and events belong to especially vulnerable collectives. Peace should reign in the home and in one's relations with one's neighbours. Peace is disturbed, however, when aggressive action is taken against a tenant's assets, such as cutting off a tenant's power or water or insulting and offending one's neighbours. Since 2010 the Spanish Penal Code has defined «harassment of tenants» as a punishable deed, so there is an ad-hoc regulation aimed at providing a specific, particular channel for prosecuting and trying the persons responsible for such behaviour, so that their victims can receive recompense through claims for civil liability in criminal court.