Property management company reaches agreement with Maricarmen’s representatives for her to return home

Urbagestión, the owner of Maricarmen Abascal’s apartment, reached an agreement on Monday with representatives of the 87-year-old woman — who was evicted five days ago, sparking protests — allowing her to return home, confirmed Ana de Miguel, CEO of the Madrid City Council’s housing company. After more than four hours of talks between the owners, Maricarmen’s lawyer, and family members, and the Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS Madrid) — which acted as mediator — the company has agreed to allow the elderly woman, who had been a tenant of the apartment in the Retiro neighborhood of the Spanish capital for seven decades, to return under a new lease. The Tenants’ Union also participated in the meeting; it had requested to be present during the negotiations and has warned that the protest camp at Puerta del Sol will continue: “This goes beyond that.” Now it remains for Maricarmen herself to agree to the terms.

Faced with social and media pressure, Urbagestión proposed “as a matter of urgency” last Friday to transfer — not sell — the apartment to the EMVS so that it could rent it to Maricarmen at an affordable price through the so-called Reviva plan. The municipal company, which oversees the program, rejected the proposal because the apartment does not meet its requirements.

One of the conditions in this and other City Council housing programs is that the apartment must be free of encumbrances, but in this case, the owners have a mortgage, explained a spokesperson for the EMVS. And Urbagestión stated in a press release that they could not cancel it “either financially or in terms of property registration at this time.” Furthermore, the Reviva plan operates through an allocation system, with a pre-established order and people already on the waiting list for affordable rent.

Following the rejection, the Madrid City Council offered to mediate between the company and Maricarmen’s representatives, which led to Monday’s meeting. The meeting began at 5:00 p.m. and lasted more than four hours at the EMVS headquarters in Madrid’s Arganzuela district. The agreement for this new rental — the details of which are not yet known — was facilitated through the Rental Mediation Service, a program coordinated by the municipal housing agency that offers certain guarantees to landlords — such as free rent default insurance and home insurance — and tenants, who will not pay more than 40% of their net income for housing.

Urbagestión purchased the apartment in Retiro in 2018 for a price that was ridiculously low for the area, precisely because Maricarmen was living there. With a pension of about €1,400 (around $1,590) per month, she has never failed to pay the rent — which is based on an old rate (renta antigua) — and the bills, totaling around €500 ($570) a month. In 2020, the company told her she had to leave the apartment because the lease had already been transferred twice. And since then, they had not accepted any of the proposals they had received — from the government, private individuals, and cultural figures — to either pay the difference in rent (they were asking for €1,600 per month) or to buy the apartment. “This is the first time in six years that the property owner has sat down to negotiate and is willing to do so,” said Maricarmen’s attorney before entering the meeting.

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