Spain’s politicians can lecture landlords all they want about ‘social responsibility’, but the reality is more and more are terrified of renting out their homes long term – and we all know why.

We are often told how rents are too high, there aren’t enough homes available, landlords are ‘greedy’ and investors are somehow to blame for every housing problem in the country.

But very few people seem interested in asking why so many landlords actively avoid the long-term rental market in the first place.

I own a flat in Sevilla that I would happily rent out long term tomorrow if I felt protected by the system – and I know plenty of other people in the same situation.

However, the fear of ending up with squatters – or tenants who simply stop paying and refuse to leave – is enough to put me off for life.

Once that nightmare starts in Spain, you are often on your own.

I simply could not afford to spend €3,000 or more hiring a company like Desokupa to try and remove illegal occupants.

Nor could I afford years of lawyers’ fees battling through the courts while continuing to pay my own mortgage, taxes and utility bills.

Most normal people do not have the emotional bandwidth, time or energy to spend two or three years trapped in a legal war over a property.

Especially not when they have jobs, children, businesses and lives to run.

This is the key point that so many people miss in the housing debate.

The majority of landlords in Spain are not giant evil corporations sitting in skyscrapers rubbing their hands together.

Many are ordinary middle-class people who own one extra property, often inherited, bought as a pension plan or paid for through decades of hard work.

And when those people look at the current system, many simply conclude the risk is not worth it.

They, understandably, switch to seasonal rentals, use Airbnb or leave properties empty. Or they sell altogether.

Then politicians act shocked when long-term rental supply collapses.

Spain has created a situation where many landlords feel they carry almost all the risk while having very little protection.

The problem is not solved by endlessly insulting property owners or pretending okupas are an invented far-right myth.

Even if problematic cases are statistically small, the fear is very real and changes behaviour.

All it takes is a handful of horror stories spreading through WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages or local news reports for thousands of landlords to think: ‘Absolutely not.’

The irony is that many landlords would probably accept lower rents in exchange for genuine legal certainty and faster protections.

If you support stronger tenant protections, you are painted as anti-landlord. If you defend property rights, you are accused of lacking compassion – but the truth is you need both.

Tenants deserve protection from abuse and impossible rents, but landlords also deserve protection from non-payment, illegal occupation and endless court delays.

Without that balance, the long-term rental market simply stops functioning properly.