Spanish locksmiths say "No hay más"

[truman]

All the haciendas I visit have oak doors-glass doors are on time-shares in top resorts.

 

Must be dark inside without windows....

[Cyclone]

The locksmiths are basically refusing to participate in something they consider wrong.

 

If more people did that, there would be less wrong things done.

 

If everyone (including bailiffs) refused to participate in processes that are wrong, those things could no longer be done.

 

That won't happen of course, but, there is a certain critical mass, at which point the reposessions become impractical.

 

I doubt that everyone agrees that the repossessions are wrong though. The home owners owe money which is secured on the property and are failing to pay, there's no real moral argument against repossession in those circumstances is there.

 

---------- Post added 04-01-2013 at 13:57 ----------

 

It's a story about people ripped off by bankers, who are being supported by locksmiths refusing to participate in the unjust reposession of their homes.

 

In what way have the banks ripped them off? They loaned them money at an agreed rate for an agreement repayment schedule all secured on the house in question.

[Cavegirl]

I doubt that everyone agrees that the repossessions are wrong though. The home owners owe money which is secured on the property and are failing to pay, there's no real moral argument against repossession in those circumstances is there.

 

---------- Post added 04-01-2013 at 13:57 ----------

 

 

In what way have the banks ripped them off? They loaned them money at an agreed rate for an agreement repayment schedule all secured on the house in question.

 

The problem is much worse in Spain than you seem to appreciate Cyclone. When the 2007 crash first happened it was the poorer immigrants who were losing their homes, but in the early days the state still had the capacity to rehome them and of course, whilst there's a safety net for people, you can argue that there's no moral argument to be made, those people can pick themselves up and start again as the economy improves.

 

But 5 years on things aren't like that anymore. 60% of the people losing their homes in Spain today were considered amongst the wealthy middle classes back in 2007. Some were business owners who refinanced their properties to expand their businesses, others were parents of young people who agreed to act as guarantors for their first mortgages.

 

When a home is repossessed in Spain the banks lose money, they're forced to write-off 50% of the valuation on their books if the house doesn't sell at auction. The real problem is that under Spanish law the banks can continue to pursue the mortgage borrower for the outstanding value of the loan if the house sells for less than its mortgaged value.

 

So these people are being made homeless, are losing their greatest asset to the banks and are still being aggressively pursued by the bank even if the house is sold on. These people will never be able to regain what they've lost, they can't afford to build up businesses again, these people are completely hopeless.

 

So you can talk about the rationality of individual cases- yes they took on a debt they can no longer pay and repossession is the consequence of that. But you can't argue that it is rational on a national scale. Everyone is losing here, but institutions are notoriously slow to react to social pressures and only by putting the brakes on the situation will people stop what's going on and start thinking outside the box for a more rational solution.

[rudds1]

The problem is much worse in Spain than you seem to appreciate Cyclone. When the 2007 crash first happened it was the poorer immigrants who were losing their homes, but in the early days the state still had the capacity to rehome them and of course, whilst there's a safety net for people, you can argue that there's no moral argument to be made, those people can pick themselves up and start again as the economy improves.

 

But 5 years on things aren't like that anymore. 60% of the people losing their homes in Spain today were considered amongst the wealthy middle classes back in 2007. Some were business owners who refinanced their properties to expand their businesses, others were parents of young people who agreed to act as guarantors for their first mortgages.

 

When a home is repossessed in Spain the banks lose money, they're forced to write-off 50% of the valuation on their books if the house doesn't sell at auction. The real problem is that under Spanish law the banks can continue to pursue the mortgage borrower for the outstanding value of the loan if the house sells for less than its mortgaged value.

 

So these people are being made homeless, are losing their greatest asset to the banks and are still being aggressively pursued by the bank even if the house is sold on. These people will never be able to regain what they've lost, they can't afford to build up businesses again, these people are completely hopeless.

 

So you can talk about the rationality of individual cases- yes they took on a debt they can no longer pay and repossession is the consequence of that. But you can't argue that it is rational on a national scale. Everyone is losing here, but institutions are notoriously slow to react to social pressures and only by putting the brakes on the situation will people stop what's going on and start thinking outside the box for a more rational solution.

 

any idea how i can buy a repossed house in spain

[onewheeldave]

I doubt that everyone agrees that the repossessions are wrong though. The home owners owe money which is secured on the property and are failing to pay, there's no real moral argument against repossession in those circumstances is there.

 

I'm absolutely sure that not everyone agrees that repossessions are wrong! Not sure how that's relevant though? A bit of a strawman if you don't use it to make some kind of point.

 

However, the locksmiths clearly agree they are wrong, as do the victims, and, I believe, a huge portion of the nations population there also agree.

 

The key is, when people do believe it is wrong, they act acordingly, which is what the locksmiths have done.

 

 

In what way have the banks ripped them off? They loaned them money at an agreed rate for an agreement repayment schedule all secured on the house in question.

 

That's been very well documented and argued for/against in great detail- google it and you'll have access to far better explantions than I can give.

[WeX]

In what way have the banks ripped them off? They loaned them money at an agreed rate for an agreement repayment schedule all secured on the house in question.

 

When the banks got into trouble they got help, much of it interest free and the terms were favorable to them. When an individual gets into trouble, the banks take their house and throw them onto the street.

[gnvqsos]

Must be dark inside without windows....

 

It is but it is also cool and precludes the use of air-conditioning.The haciendas can open their shutters to admit light.I ought to charge for lessons in Spanish life in Andalucia:).

 

---------- Post added 05-01-2013 at 13:53 ----------

 

When the banks got into trouble they got help, much of it interest free and the terms were favorable to them. When an individual gets into trouble, the banks take their house and throw them onto the street.

 

Do you mean the bank's house?Your last sentence is a little ambiguous.

[quisquose]

Its no laughing matter my wife is Spanish and we have just come back from there and they are having a bad time at the moment,when we go on holidays we don't see what is really happening to the country Valencia is nearly bankrupt with most of the people unemployed houses boarded up and shops closed we think we have had it rough here one of her brothers is a plumber hes not worked for two years or more there is just nothing no money no work.

 

When we visited Valencia a few years ago, a walk around the City of Arts and Sciences and the underlying message was clear. "This place is bust or soon will be!"

 

Nice photos of the architecture though.

[Anna B]

The Spanish locksmiths of Pamplona will no longer help banks evict people form their homes.

 

Well done to the locksmiths. Out of any section of the economy of the EU, banks played the largest part in causing the financial problems we still see today. Locksmiths standing up for fellow working class people.

 

http://www.pri.org/stories/business/spanish-city-s-locksmiths-say-they-ll-no-longer-assist-with-evictions-12548.html

 

At last folk are waking up to people power.

[tinfoilhat]

At last folk are waking up to people power.

 

And achieving what ?

 

There have been a few posts recently cheering the Greeks and the Spanish protests (that often end in violence ) but nobody can tell me what it's got them ? A few a have hurt or banged up but houses are still repossessed, harsh austerity measures haven't been dropped and everyone's skint.

 

Apart from all the coppers on overtime, paid for by increasingly broke governments.