When squatting turns into neighbor harassment: an entrenched case in Barcelona

In a building in the Sagrada Familia neighborhood, residents have been living for over a year with an extreme situation: problematic squatting, assaults, harassment, and institutional inaction have turned the community into a zone of constant stress. The main character? A woman who has been squatting in an apartment since March 2024 and who has accumulated complaints, altercations, and documented evidence. Despite this, the City Council hasn't acted in any way, and the case remains unsolved.

from an illegal tourist apartment to a violent squatting

Everything began in July 2023, when the apartment in question became an illegal tourist apartment managed by an undocumented Korean citizen. The activity was frenetic: Korean tourists coming and going constantly, noise at all hours, damage (such as broken elevator doors), and exhausted neighbors.

This tenant even hired the occupant of a social apartment — managed by Hàbitat 3 — to cook and check in visitors. All this while she was officially on medical leave. When the neighbors complained about the situation, he fired the occupant of the apartment managed by Hàbitat 3 and brought in a compatriot to do the job.

a false victim, an eviction, and a new threat

With the business ruined by neighborhood pressure, the person in charge expelled his collaborator. She replied by calling the Mossos d'Esquadra, reporting death threats and sexual harassment. The officers took the tenant away in handcuffs and forced him to give the space to the complainant, who has lived there as a squatter ever since.

The new squatter acted quickly: she changed the lock with the help of a locksmith, who didn't ask for any explanation; then she put the utilities in her name and took control of the apartment. All this while the owner continued a complex and slow legal battle with the previous tenant.

psychological, physical, and institutional violence

Since that moment, the building has experienced an ordeal. Shouting, banging, insults, threats, mistreatment of other sublet tenants, and a particularly serious case in the fall of 2024: For several nights, the woman walked through the building in pajamas, banging on doors with a hammer. Several witnesses saw the scene, and there are images of her altered state of consciousness.

Despite the complaints and testimonies, the police showed up two of those nights, but nothing came of it. The institutional response has been uneven: Mossos and the Guardia Urbana have helped with individual procedures and complaints, but Barcelona City Council hasn't intervened with any effective measures. The Generalitat, when consulted, referred the case to the city council.

scams, subletting, and more intimidation

The squatter continued doing business from the apartment: illegal subletting, to whom she never returned the deposits, always with excuses related to supposed "sexual harassment" that were implausible. When the neighbors tried to alert others about the situation with posters, she tore them down arrogantly, knowing she was being recorded by cameras and even boasting about it to the property management.

She has also tried to access the building's rooftops illegally, tampering with locks, intimidating workers, and lying to the police to get keys. The building has had to change the locks and report the situation to the authorities.

assault and judicial conviction

In January 2025, during a second round of neighborhood posters, the woman assaulted a neighbor (the author of this article). The case went to court and a conviction was handed down, but she has appealed, trying to twist the facts with a victim narrative.

"If I'm a bully for verbally defending myself from an assault, what is she? She has shouted, threatened, banged on doors, cut off water, frightened entire families... She's still here, as if nothing happened.".

a question without an answer: what else has to happen?

After more than a year of unsustainable coexistence, with evidence, complaints, photos, testimonies, and court rulings, the neighbors are still waiting for decisive action.

What are they waiting for? For someone to get hurt. For one day, in another altered state, this woman to kill someone.

The authorities have all the information. But the response hasn't come. Time, fear, and accumulated anger keep growing silently inside this building, which only wants to be a peaceful home again.

Institutional silence can't continue to be complicit in this violence. The city needs answers. They need them now.

This article is written by one of the affected neighbors, who has personally experienced the described situation and has tried, through all legal channels, to defend coexistence in her building.