Police and social services carried out a court-ordered eviction at Maricarmen Abascal's Madrid home on 23 September 2026, information from Reuters and DW. Abascal, 87, uses a wheelchair and had only 30 minutes to collect impressive belongings. She had lived in the apartment for 71 years.
The removal followed a seven-year legal battle. The Tribunal Supremo sided with the property company Urbagestión. Its ruling relied on a legal threshold tied to disability: Abascal's recognised disability was 50%, while the level that could have protected her tenancy for life was 65%.
The case has become a test of what Spain's housing protections can offer an elderly tenant facing a sharp rent increase. Abascal had paid less than €500 a month under the old regulated-rent system. Urbagestión wanted to raise that payment to €2,650. Her pension was €1,000 a month.
The apartment is in Madrid's Retiro district, one of the capital's most sought-after areas. The district is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage site that includes Retiro park. That setting has put a personal eviction inside a property market shaped by limited supply and rising rents, as short-term tourist contracts grow more popular.
Hundreds of supporters gathered outside the building during the eviction. They carried banners and demanded that Abascal be allowed to stay after years of court proceedings and public campaigning. Reports by The Guardian described clashes between police and demonstrators.
Several attempts to stop the removal failed. The Ministry of Housing offered to buy the property through the public company Casa 47. Urbagestión rejected the offer. An anonymous writer also offered to pay the difference between Abascal's rent and the amount sought by the company, but the offer did not lead to an agreement.
The government response showed a split between institutions. Pedro Sánchez spoke from New York and said that preventing such evictions through legislation was a shared responsibility between his minority left-wing coalition and the rest of Parliament. Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said the government had proposed legal measures several times but had not won enough support.
Madrid's regional government gave a different account. Its spokesman, Miguel Ángel García Martín, said Isabel Díaz Ayuso had twice offered Abascal a place in an elderly care home. He said she refused both offers.
That statement did not end the protests. Demonstrators linked the eviction to a dispute over a luxury apartment valued at €6.3 million. The property was reportedly acquired through a public real-estate agency for personal use. Protesters demanded that it be made available to Abascal.
The pressure is not limited to Madrid. Madrid, Catalonia, Andalusia and the Valencian Community account for most evictions in Spain. In Barcelona, a 78-year-old woman was removed over an €88 debt despite a moratorium for people considered vulnerable.
Information from AFP and Reuters, as well as local media, more than 4,000 evictions linked to the end of the old-rent system have taken place this year. Most involved non-payment. The figure is already below the 6,960 evictions recorded in the second quarter of 2025 alone. The comparison covers only one period, but it shows how large the problem remains.
Amnesty International's local chapter said Abascal's experience was not isolated. It described her case as part of the hardship faced by thousands of households.
The numbers explain the problem. A pension of €1,000 cannot cover a demanded rent of €2,650. Legal protection depended on a disability threshold that Abascal did not meet.
Spain's divided Parliament has blocked stronger tenant protections and broader rent controls proposed by Pedro Sánchez's government. In Madrid, the conservative regional administration has favoured a more market-oriented approach as housing costs rise.
Abascal's eviction was a personal loss, and it exposed the limits of Spain's current safeguards. An elderly disabled tenant had lived in the same home for 71 years. She had public support and institutional efforts on her side. None of them allowed her to keep it.
