Spain Approves Eviction Ban Until 2030 After Elderly Woman's Removal

On Tuesday, Spain's coalition government approved a package of measures that would block landlords from evicting vulnerable renters through 2030, following nationwide protests sparked by the forced removal of 87-year-old Maricarmen Abascal from her Madrid apartment.¹³⁵

A forced eviction

Maricarmen Abascal, 87, was taken from her Madrid apartment on a stretcher last Wednesday after police cited an eviction order obtained by the investment firm UrbaGestion, which had bought the building in 2018. She was hospitalised following the eviction.³⁸⁹⁶

According to the Majorca Daily Bulletin, Abascal's family had rented the apartment since 1956. Her rent had reportedly been raised from around $500 to roughly $1,900 a month after the purchase, an increase of more than 200 percent; one source put her original demanded rent at €1,650.⁹⁶⁴¹

The eviction triggered demonstrations across the country. Beginning Saturday night, demonstrators pitched roughly 100 tents in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square, and the crowd there grew to about 1,000 people while similar protests broke out in Seville and Malaga. Tens of thousands of people protested across Spain, demanding stronger tenant protections and an eviction ban.²⁶⁴⁸

Government measures

In response, the coalition of Socialists and Sumar approved two decrees. The primary decree pushes back eviction restrictions for vulnerable tenants to 2030, bars vulture funds from purchasing residential property through 2028, and adds two years to rental contracts set to lapse at the close of 2028. The government said the package could bring relief to more than five million people.¹⁹

The decrees, cleared by cabinet, must still be endorsed by Congress within 30 days of publication. The coalition government lacks a majority in Congress, making the backing of smaller parties essential to passage.¹²¹⁰⁹

Junts, the Catalan party whose support is needed, said it remained far from agreeing to all the measures and wants protections for small landlords. Its spokesperson, Míriam Nogueras, said: "We all agreed that evictions — where the property is owned by a fund, a vulture fund, run by someone managing millions of euros — obviously need to be stopped," but added that "lumping together in this category those who have invested their savings in a flat, a restaurant or a property — putting them all in the same basket — is a mistake." The Independent and the Guardian both note that small-scale landlords account for the overwhelming share of Spain's property owners.⁵³¹

Abascal's return

UrbaGestion offered a preliminary agreement allowing Abascal to return to her apartment under an eight-year lease, with rent capped at about 30 percent of her pension — roughly €533, or about $570, a month. Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, said Abascal never should have had to leave her home. Duro added that she hopes the case will help spur a broader response to the housing crisis.³⁵⁴

Reaction and continuing protests

Health Minister Mónica García said the government had achieved something "unimaginable a month ago" and cast the decrees as a chance to step into the speculative housing market. Opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo criticized the proposals, arguing they would not yield results. He added that no one can fix a problem they themselves caused over eight years.⁶⁸

The Tenants' Union, which has organised the encampments, criticised the splitting of measures into two decrees and said the protests would continue until its full demands were met, including a rent freeze and automatic lease renewal without abusive increases. According to Al Jazeera, the package falls short of what protesters are seeking.⁵³⁴