by Nacho García (Entrepatios)
“To explain it in two sentences, the right to occupy would consist of all of the advantages of renting and all of the advantages of the property, without the disadvantages of renting and without the disadvantages of the property. In a way, you’re not tied down for life to one place. In a way, the weight or the obligation that you carry is that for a determined space that is not only yours but is shared. And what would be, in my eyes, the disadvantage of renting? Well precisely the fact that it’s not you who gets to decide how long you can stay, rather it’s your landlord’s decision. That’s not what happens here. Here, you decide if you’ll stay until you die. And your children can decide if they’ll stay too because they inherit the right to occupy. In respect to property, the advantages and disadvantages overlap because in respect to property, the great advantages is that you decide absolutely everything in relation to your home. It’s the same with the right to occupy, it’s you who decides everything that happens with your home. But you can’t sell your home, that is to say, it’s not yours in the sense that you can’t sell it and you can’t speculate, because it’s not yours, it’s of the commons.” -(Nacho García, Entrepatios)
Useful References
“Qué es el derecho de uso.” Entrepatios, https://www.entrepatios.org/derecho-de-uso/. “Entrepatios, cooperativa de vivienda en derecho de uso de Madrid.” EcoHabitar, 21 mar. 2018, http://www.ecohabitar.org/entrepatios-cooperativa-vivienda-en-derecho-de-uso-de-madrid.