Temporary renters in Benalmadena claim ‘vulnerability’, stop paying rent and leave mother and child without home

A single mother in Benalmadena and homeowner says she is facing homelessness after she rented out her apartment temporarily and the occupants promptly ceased paying rent. The legal eviction of tenants, who it is said have not paid rent for nine months, was postponed by the courts at the last minute.

Named only A for privacy reasons, a foreign resident and single mother, says she had expected to return to her Torrequebrada apartment on Thursday, September 24, after a court had scheduled the eviction process of the occupants for 10.30am. Instead, she says the proceedings were postponed after the defendants claimed just two days before the hearing that they did not have legal representation.

She says she now has no idea where she and her child will live, while her child has been unable to start school as planned.

Nine months without rent in Benalmadena

According to A, the tenants moved into the Benalmadena property in September 2025 and haven’t paid rent since December. She told EWN they sent an official letter in March asking her to stop “bothering them” to ask for the unpaid rent.

She believes the temporary tenants understood the legal process from the start. Months of legal proceedings followed, with A continuing to pay property-related bills for utilities used by the occupants while receiving no rental income from them whatsoever. That is her allegation, and the tenants’ account has not been provided to Euro Weekly News.

She says the financial pressure has also been increased by lawyer and other legal costs involved in trying to simply recover her own home.

Eviction delayed after legal representation claim

A court decree dated July 31, 2026 states that the defendants had been served and that an eviction had been scheduled for September 24. She says the occupants received the court order but waited until shortly before the deadline to raise their latest objection. She explains the occupants, business owners in Benalmadena, then claimed to be in a vulnerable economic situation and that the court now has to consider the new evidence. But, no one knows when that will be resolved. No new eviction date is known to A. Her life has been left dangling ever since.

Spain’s vulnerability rules

Spanish law currently allows certain vulnerable tenants facing eviction over unpaid rent to ask the court for an extraordinary suspension where they can demonstrate economic vulnerability and a lack of alternative housing.

Under Royal Decree-Law 2/2026, these measures apply until December 31, 2026, but the law also includes an important protection for landlords who own two or fewer homes. In such cases, the suspension described in the measure does not apply. The judge has to consider the new evidence and the relevant legal conditions before deciding whether a suspension is justified.

A says she is a single mother facing her own housing uncertainty. She had expected to move back into the apartment once the temporary tenants left. Her child has been staying in another house until now, but that arrangement is coming to an end.

‘I don’t know what to do with my life’ she says the dispute has gone far beyond the unpaid rent. “I don’t even know what to do with my life now, where I will be living or when and where my child will go to school,” she said.

She told Euro Weekly News that she had trusted the Spanish family who rented her apartment and believed they were honest tenants. She is not asking for the court to be bypassed. She wants attention drawn to her position as a homeowner who says she has followed the legal process while going without rental income for nine months. “I am talking about what happens to an ordinary mother and child when a property dispute leaves a family without a home, without school arrangements and under severe financial pressure — despite having gone through the legal process.”

The case is now waiting to be dealt with by the courts, which is considering the occupants’ claim and new, last-minute evidence.

Until the written decision is received, it is not known when proceedings will move forward or when A can return to her Benalmadena home.