“Lock Up and Run” the New Craze on Spain’s Costa del Sol as Recession Looms

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Landlords on Spain’s Costa del Sol are now keeping an eye out on their tenants more now than ever as they witness “lock-ups and runs” by ex-pat bar and restaurant owners.

With the summer economy crippled on the Costa del Sol as it is, and the forecast of tourists not arriving on the normally busy Costa del Sol until at least 2021, tenants who have been operating establishments are getting on their toes and flying home tells Landlord Javier Gomez.

Gomez, a landlord with his Father, in Spain’s Fuengirola tells Global247news of his and other landlords predicament:

“We all are having to be extra vigilant, tenants plan ahead, all of a sudden, the shutters come down and the tenants disappear overnight with no warning at all”

“Its mainly British bar owners, they just shut and go, with no warning, they lose the monies that they have paid out for leases in the past, and just fly home leaving no forwarding details, take a look at Fuengirola port area where 7 there have disappeared recently all following the same plan, I think they feel safe, if they get back to Britain especially as the UK is leaving the EU”

“The issue is we have to go through so much legal work to take repossession before hopefully re leasing out, now we are going to charge rents 6 months in front, rather than a month to any new clients in an attempt to combat runners”

“Once they get on that plane, its nearly impossible to track them down, the cost involved is high too, they know we won’t win”

A bar owner. who didn’t wish to be named admitted its taking place and explained the reasons why:

” Yes it’s taking place, we all know each other around here, quite simply it’s the easiest way out if you have run out of cash, landlords may be blaming bar owners, but it’s the landlords who are being unreasonable, not working with tenants, there’s a crisis going on right now but Spanish landlords don’t see that, they just want their money every month, they are too stubborn to see if they work through the economic crisis, they keep a filled property,all they say though is “customers are coming for you again” when in reality they are not, summer trading is not happening and is not going to happen, no chance of anyone making a profit”

“Those locking and running, I know are running from Spanish bank overdrafts and loans too, they have run out of funds and have no choice but to do as they do”

“Down come the shutters and they are away” said the bar owner.

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