A British woman has issued a stark warning to others considering buying property in Spain after her £138,000 villa was taken over by squatters — and she’s now being forced to sell it for less than a fifth of its value. Louise Bawn, 53, from Bristol, has spent more than a year battling to reclaim the two-bedroom property in Cartama, near Malaga, after it was illegally occupied in February 2023.
But after spending around €20,000 (£17,000) on legal fees, flights and security costs — and receiving no meaningful help from Spanish authorities — she has decided to walk away. She said: “I stand to lose over €100,000 (£86,000), not to mention the amount I’ve already lost by them stealing two cars plus the entire contents of both the house and garage.”
The home, left to her by her late father, was being renovated when it was broken into. Despite clear CCTV evidence showing men breaking and entering, she claims local police refused to act — and even sided with the squatters when they returned.
She told MailOnline: “We secured the house and within five hours it was broken into again. The Guardia Civil arrived but believed them over us and our estate agent.”
The squatters claimed to have lived there for two years. Ms Bawn said the police asked if they were sleeping there and when they said no “they just shrugged their shoulders.”
After police finally removed one group of squatters in September 2024 — when it emerged they were dealing drugs — the property was ransacked. Solar panels worth £43,000, her father’s tools, two cars, and even a newly installed kitchen had all vanished.
She said her father had thousands of pounds worth of tools which are all gone.
Within hours another group moved in, she explained, adding she believes “there is a network in the area”.
Ms Bawn is now selling the villa for just €30,000 (£26,000) — and must advertise it as “okupado”, meaning it comes with squatters.
She said her advice is “don’t even consider buying there…”.
British estate agent Paul Stuart, 44, who works on the Costa del Sol, said squatting is “progressively getting worse” and accused some squatters of operating like organised criminals.
He said: “There is a squatter’s bible online that gives them all the advice on how to manipulate the law. They are trained and make their own contracts. As soon as cops show up they say, ‘yep, we are renters here’.”
He warned that in inland areas like Cartama, court backlogs make evictions even more difficult.