We have 30 seconds.

30 seconds.

Cairn Segura switches the newly installed.

Carren Segura switches off the newly installed house alarm as we enter the holiday home belonging to her English friend.

The properties in stitches, a seaside town south of Barcelona.

So we've come into the south room.

I mean it looks perfect.

And pretty much this was how you found it when you got back in after you paid off the squatters.

Yes, it was just about like this.

Outside there's the terrace and they had a game, they were playing a table game.

That's where they got in.

The young men who occupied Michael Reagan's flat didn't damage it,

and they wouldn't leave empty-handed.

Historically it's economic crises and poverty that have driven Spanish people to move

into properties that don't belong to them. Last year, Catalonia had over 6,000 squatting cases, more than any other region.

Most of those were likely families in need of a roof over their heads, but a darker side to the housing crisis is emerging.

I'm Linda Presley and in this week's assignment on the World Service. I'm joining forces

with a BBC's producer in Spain, Esperanza Escribano, to explore a complex picture.

It's a story of homelessness and speculation, but we also uncover the pernicious influence of organized crime and extortion.

That's what happened to Michael Regan. He was in London in lockdown when he got a message from one of his neighbours in stitches asking,

Have you got guests saying?

And of course I hadn't.

...