Following the legal system can be frustrating as there is no guarantee that you will win your case and after 18 or 24 months to get a hearing, the squatter may get possession for a longer term.

Another scam is to change the locks of empty apartments, then sell the keys for 1,000s of  euros to impoverished people who struggle to pay a market rent - a group that has grown in size since the start of the pandemic.

"Most people buying the keys do so, knowing that the seller is not the owner of the property," They buy the keys knowing the law is soft, the legal system is collapsed, and they're going to be able to stay at least one or two years and some courts have given squatters protection up to 21 years with very young children.

But genuine people looking to rent, can be conned into paying monthly or weekly rent to crooks who have taken possession of the property.