Spain promises to spare needy from eviction after suicides

[Tony Gosling]

Spain promises to spare needy from eviction after suicides
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/12/us-spain-evictions-idUSBRE8AB0GY20121112 

By Nigel Davies - MADRID | Mon Nov 12, 2012 12:16pm EST
(Reuters) - Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos promised on 
Monday that no needy family will go homeless over mortgage arrears, 
responding to public fury at a homeowner's suicide as she was being evicted.
Facing accusations that politicians and banks are complicit in de 
facto "murder", Spain's banking association said its members would 
suspend eviction orders for two years for those borrowers worst hit 
by economic crisis and record unemployment.
Banks have repossessed close to 400,000 homes in Spain since a 
property bubble burst in 2008 and the nation subsequently sank into 
recession, throwing millions out of work and unable to keep up 
mortgage payments to the banks.
Last Friday's suicide of 53-year-old Amaia Egana has inflamed a 
public already angered by what they see as a lack of compassion among 
Spanish banks, many of which have benefited from taxpayer-funded 
bailouts organized by the political elite.
Egana, a former Socialist councilor in northern Spain, jumped to her 
death from her fourth-floor flat as bailiffs were trying to evict her 
under foreclosure laws.
Speaking in Brussels, de Guindos said action was vital to avoid 
evictions at a time when huge numbers of homes, built during a 
frenetic property boom before 2008, lie unoccupied.
"In Spain right now, we have nearly a million empty housing units. In 
this situation, the government and the economy ministry ... has to 
take steps so that no family in good faith goes without a home. This 
is our commitment," he said.
Public pressure prompted Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to call for 
officials from his conservative People's Party and the opposition 
Socialists to speed up negotiations on reforming the eviction laws 
during talks on Monday.
Fans at a Primera Liga soccer match on Saturday protested about the 
fate of Egana, who killed herself in the Basque town of Barakaldo, 
and countless others who are losing their homes.
"They're not suicides. They're murders. The banks and politicians are 
accomplices. Stop the evictions!" read a banner held up by supporters 
of Rayo Vallecano, which plays in a working class district of Madrid.
Heads of the economy departments of both main parties were expected 
to look at the possibility of granting moratoriums on mortgage 
payments for families in dire straits and to change the legal 
proceedings that lead up to an eviction.
However, the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) said its members had 
already agreed with the government last week to suspend eviction 
cases for two years for those most in need.
This showed "...the commitment of the AEB's members, for humanitarian 
reasons and because of their social responsibility, to stop evictions 
during the next two years in those cases of extreme need", it said in 
a statement on Monday.
Protesters say this will not go far enough given thousands will face 
difficulties in the next few months.

DESPERATE HOMEOWNERS
Egana's death, and another eviction-related suicide in October, have 
intensified a popular backlash with many accusing the banks - some of 
which will receive part of an up to 100 billion euro European bailout 
- of callous disregard for the effects of unemployment, which has hit 
25 percent.
However, a number of banks themselves are in dire straits because of 
the failure of many borrowers, ranging from small homeowners to major 
property developers, to repay their debts.
On Monday protesters gathered outside the People's Party headquarters 
in central Madrid before walking to parliament.
"We are due to be evicted on the 20th of this month, and we have 
nowhere to go but the street," said Angel Moran, a 59-year-old painter.
He said he had been out of work for four years, had a young daughter 
to support and the two other people living in his home to share the 
costs were now also without work.
As property prices have tumbled about 30 percent, hundreds of 
thousands of people who took on huge mortgages during the boom years 
now owe more than their home is worth.
Under Spanish law, even when borrowers turn over their homes to the 
bank, they still owe the entire amount of the mortgage.
A citizens' movement called "Stop Evictions" has organized protests 
at apartment buildings to block court workers from evicting families.
The pressure by Stop Evictions and other groups led the government to 
ask banks earlier this year to forgive mortgage debt for properties 
worth less than 200,000 euros and where all family members are unemployed.
A group of senior judges has pushed for a cross-party agreement on 
eviction reform, and a police union said it will support officers who 
refuse to take part in an eviction.
On Saturday, northern Spanish mortgage lender Kutxabank said it was 
suspending repossessions after the suicide of Egana.
Last week, European Union Advocate General Juliane Kokott issued a 
non-binding report concluding that Spanish legislation on evictions 
contradicts European norms for protecting consumer rights. Europe's 
highest court will rule on the issue.
(Additional reporting by Marco Trujillo and Ibar Aibar, and Robin 
Emmott in Brussels; Editing by Fiona Ortiz, David Stamp and Giles Elgood)
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