An 84-year-old man from Birmingham says he is “exhausted” after a five-year fight to remove an English couple squatting in his Spanish home. Kenneth Jobe bought the £337,466 (€400,000) property in the Costa del Sol with a vision of retiring there in later life – and decided to make some cash in the meantime by renting it out to an expat named as K.B. But the squatter and his partner have reportedly failed to pay over £42,183 (€50,000) worth of rent for the three-bedroom house since 2020, leaving Mr Jobe “exhausted” by his efforts to have them evicted.
The pair have also moved their two grown-up sons into the Spanish residence, the Olive Press reported, a fact they haven’t disclosed in an ongoing legal saga between the two parties. A ruling to have the couple evicted from the property and the locks changed was overruled on appeal in February after the couple were judged to be vulnerable and at risk of homelessness – but Mr Jobe said “pleading poverty” is straight out of the handbook for “okupas” – a Spanish term for squatters who illegally occupy properties.
Mr Jobe, whose son died of cancer last year, has been “exhausted” by the difficult situation. “I just want to get into my home,” the retiree said. “When I try [to] negotiate, [the squatter] outright refuses… he’s a really nasty person.”
He added that he initially filed an eviction notice in 2020 after the family stopped paying rent for the property, which sits in the pretty village of Mijas, between Marbella and Fuengirola.
“It’s tiring me out. I can’t believe the courts have sided with him. I haven’t got much time left,” Mr Jobe said.
“I’m just getting desperate. It’s dragged me down and [I have spent] a fortune on legal fees.”
Estate agent Paul Stuart from Palm Estates, based in Mr Jobe’s hometown of Birmingham, said the family were following a “squatter’s bible” which was instructing them how to “get around [all the laws]”.
“The eviction was cancelled because they claimed vulnerability,” he said. “They are British and receiving their pensions and are taking advantage of the legal system. It’s a terrible situation.”
“Poor Ken has spent decades visiting Mijas and it had been his dream to spend his latter years there,” a neighbour told the English-language newspaper.
The added: “[He] lost one of his two sons in April and it took such a toll on him, and now he is dealing with this on top. It’s vile.”