Homeowners, consumer groups say Spain´s eviction reform insufficient

Consumer groups and homeowners affected by repossessions in Spain are demanding a moratorium to all evictions.

Spain approved measures on Thursday to help the most needy families facing eviction, a growing problem in the recession-bound nation highlighted by the suicide of a woman whose home bailiffs came to seize.

That eviction moratorium applies only to families with household income of less than 19,200 euros a year.

But consumer groups, judges and the opposition Socialists have criticized the reforms as discriminatory.

A petition carrying more than 600,000 signatures across Spain is also demanding that homeowners who return the house to a bank no longer remain liable for what they owe on their loan and that homes owned by banks be turned into social housing.

"Debt for life sentence"

Such groups say Spain´s mortgage law is a "debt for life sentence" and that evictions have continued despite an announcement last week by the Spanish Federation of Savings Banks (CECA) that it would suspend evictions.

Spanish banks, many of which are about to receive the first funds from a 100 billion euro ($127 billion) credit line from a European bailout, have repossessed 400,000 properties since 2008, though not all of those are residential.

The trend is growing, with 50,000 repossessions in the first half of this year, compared with 77,000 for the whole of 2011.

Mortgage law in Spain is among the toughest in Europe. Homeowners remain liable for what they owe on their loan, even after returning the house to the bank, if the value of the house does not cance