We have rented a small house on the edge of a town, about 5/10 minutes walk from the centre. We’ve lived here a couple of months. Last Thursday we went for a walk to the town and the sea, we were out for about 2 hours maybe a bit less, when we came back the patio light had been smashed. The door had been forced open and drawers and cupboards had been ransacked. I think we disturbed them as luckily nothing had been taken. We’ve found out since, that serveral houses were broken into and robbed that night and on two previous nights. The police were called and did absolutely nothing.

I don’t feel safe, we have just under 5 months to run on the contract and I really don’t want to stay here. I used to love walkling to the sea and walking the dog with a view of the hills around, now i can’t enjoy any of it!

larrie - 08 November 2010 11:48 PM

We have rented a small house on the edge of a town, about 5/10 minutes walk from the centre. We’ve lived here a couple of months. Last Thursday we went for a walk to the town and the sea, we were out for about 2 hours maybe a bit less, when we came back the patio light had been smashed. The door had been forced open and drawers and cupboards had been ransacked. I think we disturbed them as luckily nothing had been taken. We’ve found out since, that serveral houses were broken into and robbed that night and on two previous nights. The police were called and did absolutely nothing.

I don’t feel safe, we have just under 5 months to run on the contract and I really don’t want to stay here. I used to love walkling to the sea and walking the dog with a view of the hills around, now i can’t enjoy any of it!

what area of Spain?
Stuff can happen anywhere…even in UK.

I know stuff can happen in the Uk, but I’ve never had my house broken into before, and it seems like it was an organised gang. I’ve heard so many bad things since these robberies.

I wish there was something I could say to make you feel more comfortable but unfortunately these things happen.  All I can tell you is that while I have never been to Spain, I have travelled often in Italy and I too have experienced such situations.  What I can offer is that majority of the time these are people who do these things often and are not targeting you personally.  Chances of anything happening like that you and your family again are very slim.

The best thing for you to do is to just try to carry on and try not listen to all of the gossip that may be going around the area about the robberies as this may just worry you more and make you paranoid about things you wouldn’t otherwise worry about.

Anyhow, I am sorry to hear that you had to experience this.  Try to enjoy the rest of your time in Spain and don’t fret too much.

Have to agree with qwerty on this.

Unfortunately this kind of s*it happens all over the world and you were just unfortunate,

We have suffered a break-in at our former UK home so I know what you are going through.

I just hope that the offenders are caught and dealt with.

When it happened to us the police actually told us who was responsible because they knew that the young offenders would just be given a slapped wrist by the courts and told not to do it again. They told us of their frustration and hinted that they wouldn’t be too concerned if something untoward happened to the offenders (within reason!)...my son who was the main victim of personal property losses was currently undergoing training with UK Special Forces at the time…
Big mistake on the part of the burglars…

Hope it all works out for you.

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Sorry to hear of your experience Larrie.
If you are on the Costa del Sol, this thing usually happens a lot in the summer.
It is usually gangs operating during the summer when they know there are easy pickings from the tourists.
Sad to say.

We live a bit further inland and in a very low key finca, so hoping we will never be a target, but you never know!

Just hope it hasn’t put you totally off living here.

I work for a rental co and we have had tennants ask to end their contracts early when such a robbery has happened to them.
It is however, down to the property owner if they can break their contact early (and not forefeit their depsoit), as we just act
as an intermediatary.

Good luck with your decision making.

I feel so bad that you had this experience. But bad guys are anywhere. It just happened that you caught by this in Spain.
Sometimes it is still the best to get in a hotel rather than rent a house though, much safer.