On Wednesday morning, police in Madrid cleared hundreds of demonstrators from outside a residential building in the Retiro district before court officials carried out the eviction of María del Carmen Abascal, known to all as Maricarmen. At 87, she left the flat at 46 Alcalde Sainz de Baranda Street where she had lived since 1956 — the fourth attempt to remove her, and the first to succeed.
Supporters had gathered from early dawn, forming a human barrier at the entrance. Officers set up cordons, blocking access to journalists and activists, and after roughly an hour of last-minute negotiations between her lawyer and court officers, the eviction was confirmed. Protesters were then removed by force, and an ambulance pulled up outside as medics entered with a stretcher to bring the elderly woman out. Activists tried to block the operation on the street, on the stairwell, and inside the flat itself, but were pushed aside by police.
A tenancy dating back to 1956
The legal dispute stretches back almost seven decades. The original regulated tenancy was signed by Maricarmen's parents in 1956, with her father as the named tenant. After his death, the contract passed to her mother, and when she died in 2005, it was transferred a second time to Maricarmen. The property, owned for decades by a private family, was sold in 2018 to Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión S.L., a real estate firm based in Madrid and Valladolid that invests in residential and commercial properties.
Urbagestión argued that the second succession was invalid and that the contract had lapsed. The case reached Spain's Supreme Court, which in March ruled in favour of the owners, overturning an earlier first-instance decision that had backed Maricarmen. The company now demands a monthly rent of €2,500 — several times what she had been paying — while Maricarmen, who has a disability, lives on a pension far below that amount.
Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, made a final plea for a few days' grace so that Maricarmen could find alternative accommodation. The company refused. “They refused to give her a few hours to remove her belongings,” Duro told reporters.
The first eviction attempt came in October 2025 and was halted by a court the day before. A second attempt on 2 June this year was also postponed at the last minute. This time, the court officers went through with it.
UN appeal ignored
The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had formally called on the Spanish government to stop the eviction and ensure Maricarmen had access to adequate housing. That request, made in June, was not enough to prevent Wednesday's action.
In Spain's Congress, Socialist spokesperson Patxi López defended the government's position, shifting responsibility to Madrid City Council and the regional government, which hold housing powers. He noted that the owners had rejected every offer to buy the flat.
Madrid's mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, insisted that municipal services had contacted Maricarmen beforehand and had offered her various housing options during earlier attempts. He declined to give further details, citing her privacy.
The eviction has reignited debate over Spain's housing affordability crisis, which has seen rents soar in major cities. Room sharing has become more common as tenants are priced out of the market. The case also highlights the growing role of institutional investors in Spain's residential sector, with record capital flowing into rental housing even as ownership remains opaque.
Urbagestión is also seeking €10,000 in damages from the Madrid Tenants' Union, which had organised the campaign in support of Maricarmen. The union has vowed to continue its fight against what it calls "speculative evictions."
Maricarmen, who moved into the flat when she was 17 and where her parents died, now faces an uncertain future. Her case has become a symbol of the human cost of Spain's housing squeeze, and her forced departure from the home she knew for nearly seven decades has left many Spaniards asking how such a situation could be allowed to happen.
