What is inquiokupación and how does it differ from squatting?
Inquiokupación is the popular term for a tenant who moved in legally with a contract, stops paying or stays after the contract ends, and refuses to leave. It is not squatting — criminally, there is a valid title of entry — so the eviction runs via the civil route (juicio verbal de desahucio LEC 250.1.1º), slower than the eviction of okupas.
The legal difference from full okupación is fundamental: illegal squatting has no entry title (usurpación art. 245 CP or allanamiento art. 202 CP); inquiokupación did — a tenancy contract, typically under LAU 29/1994. That difference forces inquiokupación into civil, not criminal, litigation, and the timelines stretch considerably. The scenario is so common that the sector coined "inquiokupación" to mark it off from the more media-friendly okupa phenomenon.
The standard procedure is the juicio verbal de desahucio por falta de pago (LEC arts. 250.1.1º and 440). The owner files at the court of first instance of the property's location, the judge issues a decree of admission, and the tenant gets 10 days with three options: pay what is owed (enervación, only if they have not enervated before), oppose with a defence, or consent to eviction. If they do nothing, judgment is issued and an eviction date set. Realistic total time: 6-12 months in normal conditions, up to 18-24 months when there is opposition or the court is overloaded.
The Ley 12/2023 por el derecho a la vivienda added an extra layer for tenants in economic vulnerability in declared strained zones: the procedure is suspended while social services evaluate housing alternatives, with up to 4 extra months (2 if the claimant is a natural person, 4 if a legal entity or large holder). In practice this lengthens the eviction of vulnerable tenants and has been controversial in the real-estate sector.
For tourist rentals, inquiokupación takes a specific shape: the guest who books 1 month (out of VUT, into LAU temporada or vivienda) and stops paying after the first days. If the contract was drafted as seasonal rental (LAU art. 3), eviction is still civil but on breach of term rather than non-payment — and judges do not always find it obvious whether it really was seasonal or a workaround to escape the LAU residential regime. That is why it is critical to document the temporary purpose (reason, fixed duration, no padrón registration) and always sign in writing — an oral contract puts you in the worst place.
Why it matters
For a vacation-rental host inquiokupación enters the frame when someone books a long stay (3-6 months) instead of the usual 7 days. It costs the customer more, looks more profitable on the surface, but can ruin you: once it crosses 31 days, the guest exits the VUT regime and enters LAU — and if they then stop paying, it is no longer a "no-show" but a litigation that runs for months. If you rent long, always sign in writing as seasonal rental (not residential), keep documentation of the agreed term, and consult a lawyer before accepting bookings longer than one month.