Martorell City Council, in court to "obstruct" registration

BarcelonaA court has accepted an appeal in which six residents of Martorell are asking the council to process their census after months of administrative silence. An inactivity that, they claim, deprives them of their rights as residents. All of them had already requested registration through administrative means without having received a response from the municipal government. "The census law says that after three months administrative silence is positive, but if the Council does not carry out the procedures, in practice, they cannot exercise their rights," explains the lawyer representing those affected, Esther Sancho, in conversation with the ARA about this case that has advanced Digital Nation. Those affected are in a "legal limbo", as the judicial appeal consulted by the ARA explains.

Among the complainants there are people of different profiles, adds Sancho. People with and without children, of foreign or Spanish nationality, and some with a disabled person in the family. One of those affected is KO. He submitted the application to register more than two years ago and has still not succeeded. He explains that with this judicial procedure they hope that the council complies with the legislation and affirms that, despite having tried to speak with it, they have always found "the door closed".

In fact, KO complains that the mayor, Xavier Fonollosa, often stated that his town hall will not register squatters, whom he equates with "criminals." Those affected complain that the refusal to register pushes them to "go to the mafias," because they are forced to look for alternatives for being registered as residents. For example, paying the tenant to allow them to register them in the case of those sublet or paying only to register in a home where they do not live.

In addition to the six affected, the legal procedure has also been promoted by the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages (PAH) of Baix Llobregat and the platform Papers for All. On behalf of this entity, Enrique Mosquera explains to ARA that the lack of access to the register due to administrative silence is a widespread problem in Martorell, beyond the six affected who resorted to legal action.

"We have presented different collective applications and we have had around 200 applications in total," explains Mosquera, who stresses the obstacles that those affected may encounter in getting the procedure to go ahead and the persistence that has been necessary among those who have activated it. "There is one person who has been dealing with this issue for three or four years, not everyone gets to the end," he adds, and recalls that many of those affected live in sublet rooms. Mosquera criticises the fact that the council also did not respond to requests for registration after the complaint from the Ombudsman.

Access to fundamental rights

Sancho filed the appeal that has now been admitted in a Barcelona court in January. In this way, a procedure is opened for the protection of fundamental rights because registration, which gives the status of resident, is essential to access rights such as voting or being a candidate in municipal elections, in education, in public health and in social services. "Obstructing the registration of residents of the municipality is inhibiting them from assuming their obligations and rights with respect to the local administration. It obstructs their access to fundamental universal rights, such as health and education, and exposes them to situations of high vulnerability," warns Sancho in the document that he has presented to the court.

Following the admission, the court has requested that the City Council deliver the administrative file on the case. According to municipal sources, the council has already provided these documents. The procedure will continue with the presentation of the claim by those affected, which the Council will be able to respond to. For Sancho, who has already defended similar cases in Pineda de Mar and Lleida, "the distinguishing feature this time is that it is the affected parties who are appealing against the refusal to register them." Until now, he recalls, instructions or decisions of the council that limited access to the register had always been challenged, but they were not direct claims by those affected. If the case is successful, he adds, it could be a precedent not only for the residents of Martorell, but also for many other municipalities.