Eivissa · Illes Balears · Licensed under Ley 5/2014
Ibiza's population turns over almost completely between May and October. That single fact — a transient season on top of a small permanent island — shapes every case that arises here.
It's --:-- in Spain — an investigator is available now.
The defining instruction on this island is villa rental fraud. Demand vastly exceeds supply for a few months a year, prices are extraordinary, and people book from abroad on the basis of photographs and a bank transfer. Properties that do not exist, are already let to somebody else, or belong to someone with no idea they are being advertised — all of these are routine here in a way they are not elsewhere in Spain.
The second cluster is people. A seasonal workforce arrives, works informally, moves between addresses and leaves. That produces welfare cases where a family abroad has lost contact with someone who came for the summer, and it produces staffing questions for villa owners and operators entrusting substantial property to people they met weeks earlier.
The third is property in the ordinary sense: verification before a purchase in a market where prices leave no margin for a defective title, and occupancy questions on houses that stand empty from November to April.
Timing matters more here than anywhere. In August the island is saturated and a subject is one of tens of thousands of transient people; in February the same person is conspicuous. Cases behave very differently depending on when they arise.
The whole island, with the areas where foreign ownership and seasonal activity concentrate:
First instance proceedings for Ibiza and Formentera are heard at the Juzgados de Ibiza, with the Audiencia Provincial de Baleares in Palma as the appeal court. Property title is recorded at the Registros de la Propiedad de Ibiza.
Holiday letting is licensed and enforced on the island, which has a practical consequence for anyone renting: whether a property holds a valid tourist licence is checkable, and a landlord unable or unwilling to produce one has told you something important before any money moves.
Whether the property exists, whether the person letting it has any right to, and whether it is licensed — before the deposit.
Locating someone who came for the season and stopped answering, discreetly and without alarming them.
What is happening at a house that stands empty for half the year, established for an owner who is elsewhere.
Checking the people trusted with a property, a business or a boat before rather than after.
Ibiza, specifically
I'm about to pay a large deposit on a villa. Can you check it first?
Yes, and this is the cheapest and most useful work we do on the island. Ownership, licensing and whether the person advertising has any connection to the property are all checkable, and it costs a fraction of what a lost deposit does.
I already paid and now nobody answers.
Preserve every message and screenshot before anything disappears, contact your bank immediately, and file a denuncia. Then the investigative question is who the counterparty actually is and whether they hold anything in Spain. Nobody can promise recovery. What to do after a scam
My son came for the season and we've heard nothing for weeks.
If you believe he may be at risk, call 112 first — there is no waiting period in Spain to report a disappearance. Where there is no emergency, a welfare check can confirm discreetly that someone is well and located, and adults keep the choice about whether to be contacted.
Does anything work in August?
Yes, but differently, and cases are harder and slower during the season. If your matter can wait until the island empties it will usually cost less; if it cannot, we will tell you what the season realistically allows.
Confidential · No obligation · No cost
Leave a number and we'll call you back within 24 hours from a discreet number. Nothing is recorded on your side and nothing happens until you say so.