squatters and Burglaries

[PatMac]

Hello, I am thinking of moving to the Puerto Pollensa area but have been told there is a problem with squatters in unoccupied properties and there can be a burglary problem as well. can somebody tell me if there is any truth in this? Thank you in advance.

 

[Sparky]

The area is not crime free but then nowhere is these days, i still feel safer here than anywhere else.

I have not heard of any specific problems for a while.

 

[Nick]

PP is mainly a holiday resort so yes, there will be lots of empty properties at varying times of the year that in turn lends itself to squatters and burglaries. The area is also relatively affluent so that also makes it more of a target.

I don't know if the local police publish crime figures or have a website you can check?

However, I never understand phrases such as, "We've been told", or "I've heard" etc. I'd like to know who's told you and from what experience?

Never a lover of hearsay. Please advise us all.

 

[PatMac]

there are lots of affluent holiday resorts in the world that don't have squatters and burglaries, I am looking to live in the Puerto Pollensa area that is why I chose this forum to ask the question.
if there is anyone out there who actually knows anything about this subject it will be good to hear from you.

 

[Nick]

Oops, I only asked a simple question as to what, and where, you'd heard this information. An answer might be able to help those that read this give more advice.

Your comment is unhelpful, and unnecessary, and does nothing to put the minds at rest of those who read this excellent forum for advice.

 

[Molt de Renou]

Hello, I am thinking of moving to the Puerto Pollensa area but have been told there is a problem with squatters in unoccupied properties and there can be a burglary problem as well. can somebody tell me if there is any truth in this? Thank you in advance.

Pat,

To be concise, it would be truthful to say that yes of course the odd burglary and squatting (very infrequently) do occur.

But it would be also true to say that the police and the Guardia Civil are extremely efficient in pursuing and catching anyone who is reckless enough to try and get away with it on an island that you can only leave by sea or by air.

So, and in my opinion, you are as safe here as anywhere else, not only in Spain but in the rest of the Mediterranean.

Molt

 

[PatMac]

Molt
thank you for your help.

 

[Tiggy]

I agree with Molt de Renou when he says

To be concise, it would be truthful to say that yes of course the odd burglary and squatting (very infrequently) do occur.

I did a check to satisfy my self and a two second search using the keyword burglary and then squatters brought up only two or three stories in the last couple of years on the Mallorca Daily Bulletin site.
Such as a legal dispute between a English woman and Gypsies occuping a ranch.

When I did the same again using the German newspaper Mallorca Zeitung there were a few more stories including an absolute fascinating story about the disused Power station near the golf course in Alcudia and the ex employee houses ,the history then and now - they are or were occuppied by squatters - the article is from 2015.

I am sure if one were to do the same in England it would throw up the same type of stories one springs to mind of a building in Manchester owned by some ex -footballers.

So if its going to happen then it is going to happen no matter where.

On the burglary stories I can personally say that a spate of break ins happened last year in the Spring- along the coast of the North of the Island mostly in Hotels and with the assistance of the chambermaids in one Hotel complex (friends lost all their valuables ,cc ,phones etc I know as I had to help them out ).It was such a problem that one Hotel in PP had discreet security guards walking the grounds which I personally witnessed .It never made the papers till the band had been caught later in the year.

 

[kate1]

We have been burgled in our villa but not for a few years - on the first occasion I was actually there but in the garden, though foolishly I had left the front door unlocked and my handbag in full view of the road; the second occasion happened while the villa was empty over the winter and involved the theft of garden equipment from an unlocked outbuilding and also our barbecue shelves (for their scrap metal value, in case you were wondering!) These burglaries taught us a valuable lesson about the need to be security-conscious, just as you would be in the UK - we have since installed lockable front gates, and are much more careful to ensure that the property is secure at all times. Back then there were gangs operating in the island but this problem appears to have been resolved to some extent - although there are still pickpockets, especially in crowded places - as there are in any resort where tourists are found. I can't believe there are any holiday resorts which are crime free in the twenty-first century - unless you want to live in the kind of gated community which has security guards and never set foot outside your property. Puerto Pollensa is safer and much less violent than most places and provided that you take the proper precautions hopefully you will be fine. Molt is right when he says that the Guardia Civil do a fantastic job at catching the criminals - a couple of years ago there was a burglary at a villa a few kilometres away and the police actually set up road blocks to try and trap the people involved - that wouldn't happen in the UK!

 

[PatMac]

Thank you all for your help, it sounds like it is a vey safe environment.