Reporting a crime in Spain from the UK

Hi

To cut a very long story short a family relative has had money taken from her bank account by a Spanish company without her authorisation. They claimed at first that they were right to do so which we disagreed with . We decided to get further advice and  were advised to ask the company for the contract signed by my relative. They have since sent us no paperwork and are even ignoring our requests, we cant even get to speak with anyone about the matter.

We have spoken with the bank in the UK and they are going to open a dispute case for us but we have been told, not by the bank but by citizens advice, to report the matter to the police in Spain at theft. However my relative is old and will not be going back to Spain and my understanding was that she would have to go to the police station in Spain to sign the crime report.

Is there anyway she can do this without having to go to Spain, or without having to pay out alot of money for someone to do it for her?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks

Hi there, I was wondering if you got any answers to reporting a crime in spain from the UK ? I understand your frustration as my tennant has lived in my property with out paying me rent for 3 years and then left with all my furniture. Im at least trying to report the furniture but dont want to loose any more money by flying to spain to make the denuncia.

Any advice very very welcome.

How did it go on for so long with no rent? after 2 months no rent didn't you smell a rat? 3 years loss of rent, what, about 15.000€,  furniture, another about 10.000€..... and your worried about the cost of a budget flight to Spain.

Sounds like you wont have to many problems getting another tenant at these rates.

I've not tried to report a crime in Spain while not in the country but my experiance of reporting one while there leads me to beleive it will be very difficult to do it without going to Spain.

Crimes have to be reported to the National Police. The normal routine is you go to the National Police Station and wait your turn. When called a Police Officer wil take your statement and give you a print out of your crime report. The National Police do not normally speak Engish so ,if you are in Spain and you can't speak Spanish and you want to report a crime they have a premium rate telephone number you can ring. The call centre staff can cope with most languagues and e-mail a statement (in Spanish) to your local National Police Station. They give you a reference number. You go to the National Police Station, give them the reference number, They retreive your statement, which is now in Spanish, and give it to you to sign. Only then does it become a reported crime.

To go back to the original issue Direct Debits work differently in Spain. DDs can be collected without proof of authorisation. Notification is sent to the account holder's registered address by the bank that a payment has been made by Direct Debit. If you don't object within 14 days you cannot reclaim the money from the bank.

The moral of this story is we all need to watch our Spanish bank accounts carefully and query any unrecognised payments as soon as they appear.
 

 Thanks for the reply, obviously my story is much much longer and believe me I didnt just sit and do nothing for 3 years, infact getting arrested for entering my own property wasnt a very nice experience........................

There will not be any other tennants as my home has just been repossed by the bank   !

 I have tried SO many avenues, hence me now desperate on here to try and get any constructive advice . I will never regain the 27,000 euros lost in rent or the money in constant flights back and forth, nor the hours spent with legals ............... What I would like to do now to help me sleep at night is to at least get the tennant arrested for stealing my furniture which she is using in her  new    ' Drug rehabilitation centre '

PLEASE.... any constructive advice on simply making a denuncia from the UK                

Thank you

Carol,

You need to talk to a lawyer in the area where your property is. Most will have an initial telephone conversation with you FOC. If you let us know the area I am sure sure the good folk of EOS will help put you in contact with someone local.

David, thank you very much for taking the time to answer.

The area is Estepona 29680, Malaga , Andalucia

I understand I can speak with a lawyer in my area but also know how expensive that can be having tried to evict the tennant through a lawyer.

I have obviously given up trying to regain my property now with it being repossed but the theft of my furniture is a criminal offence , I have photos of my furniture IN my property and now have photos of my furniture on the tennants web site................ I really think the police can act on this evidence but I just dont want to loose more money having to fly to spain or pay a lawyer.......

Help help    : )

and thanks

Carol