What is neighbor harassment?

1.- Introduction

One of the areas of our society where verbal and physical violence is most prevalent is within homeowners’ associations. This gives rise to neighbor harassment, also known as blocking.

Although the term stalking may be better known to refer to insistent and repeated harassment that causes a serious alteration in the development of a person’s daily life, the term blocking is closer to what neighbor harassment encompasses. This is created from the English word “block”, which according to the Oxford Dictionary means: “a group of buildings bounded by four streets.” And, although in English this term is used with another meaning, in Spanish we do use it to refer to neighbor harassment.

2.- Concept and Regulation

The neighbor harassment or blocking, as it is currently called, is a crime regulated in Article 172 ter of the Penal Code, which establishes that:

“Anyone who harasses a person by carrying out any of the following behaviors in an insistent and repeated manner, and without being legitimately authorized, and in this way alters the normal development of their daily life, shall be punished with a prison sentence of three months to two years or a fine of six to twenty-four months:

1st. Watches them, pursues them […]

2nd. Establishes or attempts to establish contact […]

3rd. […] undue use of their personal data […]

4th. Attacks their freedom or their assets […]”.

This refers to the harassment exercised by one neighbor over another repeatedly, through threats, insults, and other mechanisms aimed at destabilizing and disturbing the other person, causing an alteration in their daily life.

Some of the typical behaviors that we may have seen or heard about regarding this crime include, for example: causing annoying noises, insulting, watching, stalking, acts of vandalism, constant calls, messages, and even physical violence.

However, despite being a crime that we can apparently identify easily if it happens to a neighbor or family member, it will only be prosecutable if the aggrieved person or their legal representative files a complaint.

In the event that the affected person is in the following situations, the penalty will be increased, specifically:

1st. Vulnerability due to age, suffering from an illness or disability: imprisonment from six months to two years.

2nd. When the offended party is a spouse, ascendant, descendant, sibling, etc.: prison sentence of one to two years, or community service from sixty to one hundred and twenty days. In this case, it will not be necessary for the complaint to be filed by the harassed person or their representative.

3rd. Uses a person’s image without their consent: imprisonment from three months to one year or a fine of six to twelve months.

3.- Protected legal interest

These behaviors affect a specific sphere of freedom, such that case law has established that the protected legal interest is individual freedom and the right to live peacefully and without distress.

Nevertheless, in the modality consisting of identity theft on social networks or public media, the protected legal interest is also the civil status and the integrity of the victim.

It is a crime of result, insofar as it is required that the behaviors directly cause a significant limitation in some of the aspects comprising the passive subject’s freedom of action, whether in the capacity to decide or the capacity to act.

Case law has determined that it is necessary to analyze the actions carried out by the agent, with insistence and repetition, and their suitability to seriously alter the life and peace of the victim (STS 554/2017, of July 12).

4.- Types of harassment and Phases of Blocking

The harasser generally finds various ways to attack their victim, the most common being:

• Verbal threats (insults, contempt, etc.)
• Covert threats through notes, letters in the mailbox, graffiti, etc.
• Physical threats (assaults, pushing, etc.)
• Spreading lies and rumors about the victim within the community.
• Publicly ridiculing the person for their physical appearance, race, qualities, work, or personality traits.
• Publicly criticizing the victim.
• Isolating and ignoring the victim within the community environment.
• Damage to property: mailbox, car, front door, etc.
• Reporting the victim with constant false testimonies.

This phenomenon consists of several distinct phases. These include:

1st. Conflict phase. It usually begins with a coexistence problem that has not been resolved correctly.

2nd. Start of harassment. Harassment strategies begin to be carried out by the neighbor or neighbors involved in the conflict. Normally, at this point, both the victim and the harasser deny such facts to avoid a larger problem.

3rd. External intervention. This occurs when the situation becomes known and external organizations intervene to try to provide a solution to the problem.

4th. Marginalization, flight, or exclusion. There are cases in which the victim is forced to leave their home or even move to a more distant location to avoid encountering the harasser.

5.- Requirements and means of proof

In the case of homeowners’ associations, these must not be isolated acts, but CONSTANT and REPEATED acts of harassment that lead to a situation of serious impact on the life of a person, whether it be a neighbor, the president of the association, or the registered property manager.

To prove harassment, one can use, among other means of proof, emails or WhatsApp, also known as electronic evidence. If not contested by the defendant, the verification of the content of the messages sent by the Clerk of the Court would suffice; if the content is contested, an expert computer report proposed in court would be necessary so that a court-appointed expert can examine the messages and issue an authenticity report.

It can also be proven by witnesses who attest to the harassment situations and testify about the repeated behaviors they have witnessed that constitute “persistent harassment,” “hostigamiento”…

Regarding whether a psychological expert report is needed to prove the requirement of “serious alteration of daily life,” it should be noted that it is not necessary, as it is not a crime of “psychological abuse” that requires a psychological expert report, but rather a state caused by acts of harassment that affect the state of the passive subject, who are the harassed neighbors, the president, or the registered property manager. And that serious alteration of the passive subject’s daily life required by the provision will be inferred by the judge from the evidence presented for that purpose, especially from the victim’s and witnesses’ statements and their persistence in the testimony, in order to prove that impact on their life deduced from the way the repeated harassment behaviors were executed.

Regarding neighbor harassment, for the harasser to be classified under the blocking modality, the Supreme Court points out that it is very common to require a certain period of time. Some specialists have set a period of no less than one month (in addition to at least ten intrusions) as a guideline. Others speak of six months.

From our point of view, we could speak of an average term of two months of repetition before being able to file a complaint with the evidence collected.

6.- How do I know if I am suffering from neighbor harassment and how to proceed?

What distinguishes neighbor harassment from any other form of harassment is the subject of the crime, which will be one or more members of the homeowners’ association where the victim lives.

In the Penal Code itself, in Article 172 ter, it already establishes the behaviors that can indicate a situation of neighbor harassment. However, as also established in the same article, it must occur in an INSISTENT and REPEATED manner, a fact that must be proven.

Regarding how to proceed, the important thing before starting legal action is to compile and

gather all possible evidence (witnesses, documentation, medical reports, previous complaints, …) to demonstrate that there is deliberate harassment.

Once all the necessary and sufficient evidence has been collected, a complaint should be filed with the police or, if applicable, with the Duty Court to urge the neighbor to cease their behavior, which we at IN DIEM Abogados, as experts in the field, would handle drafting.

Author: Rocío Moreno Toro

Criminal lawyers. Experts in Neighbor Harassment: blocking | In Diem: Malaga, Marbella, Seville, Madrid, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Almeria, Huelva…

IN DIEM Abogados has extensive experience and a high degree of specialization in the area of Criminal Law related to neighbor harassment, offering its clients the necessary advice at all times.

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