A judge in Badalona has suspended the eviction of Kalita Fernández and her six children, applying Spain’s latest housing decree after their lawyer challenged an attempt by investment fund Divarian to recover their home. The court said the rules recognise important rights for the vulnerable family, according to reporting by elDiario.es Catalunya.

The decision gives Fernández and her children more time in the flat, where she has lived for almost a decade. The family has not been allocated emergency social housing by Badalona City Council.

The ruling follows an earlier intervention by the European Court of Human Rights, which suspended the family’s eviction for several weeks. Fernández’s lawyer, Ton Mansilla, returned to the Badalona court after a further eviction was scheduled, arguing that the housing decree applied.

Why the court suspended the eviction

The judge gave three reasons for halting Divarian’s request:

  • Divarian’s status as a large property owner.
  • The existence of a separate civil eviction case.
  • The family’s vulnerable situation and lack of alternative housing.

Municipal social workers have acknowledged the family’s roots in the neighbourhood. A social services report also warned of serious harm if they were left without a home, particularly for one child, who suffers from respiratory apnoea and needs a machine connected at night.

In its ruling, the Badalona court said:

“The very likely application of the royal decree on housing and especially the possibilities of suspending the eviction are evident.”

The court said carrying out the criminal sentence would undermine the substantive and procedural guarantees available to Fernández. It described that outcome as unacceptable and a breach of the principle of proportionality.

For other Badalona residents facing eviction, the ruling illustrates how the decree’s protections can be raised in court when a family is vulnerable and has no housing alternative. The judge’s decision rests on the circumstances of Fernández’s case, including the owner’s status and the parallel civil proceedings.

Spain’s government approved the anti-eviction decree in October. Congress initially rejected it with votes against from the People’s Party, Vox and Junts, but its Permanent Deputation, a parliamentary body that maintains essential functions when the chambers are not meeting or have been dissolved, validated it on Thursday.

Earlier proceedings and the search for housing

The same outlet, elDiario.es Catalunya, first reported Fernández’s case in June, when a court delegation suspended an eviction at the last minute because it would have left children on the street. One was barely a year old and needed the respiratory equipment at night.

Mansilla, Fernández’s public defender, then obtained a temporary suspension from the European Court of Human Rights. The court considers such provisional measures only when applicants face a serious danger to their life or health.

Divarian sought the latest eviction through criminal proceedings after Fernández was convicted of occupying the flat following the fund’s complaint. Mansilla criticised the company for pursuing that route after the civil eviction had been suspended through the European court’s intervention.

Divarian is the property subsidiary of the Cerberus group. In 2025, it sold part of its housing portfolio to the Generalitat, Catalonia’s regional government, for social housing. The programme added 34 flats in Badalona, but Fernández’s home was not among them.

Fernández says she has repeatedly tried to agree a rental contract with the owner without success. She spent five years on Badalona’s emergency housing register but was removed after divorcing her husband a year ago.

The separate civil eviction case remains before the civil judge who ordered that eviction, despite the social services report warning of the harm the family would face if left on the street.

Sources: elDiario.es, elconstitucional.es, es.ibtimes.com.