Police held demonstrators outside Alquiler Seguro’s Madrid headquarters on Tuesday after a protest inside the offices ended. On 10 November, the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid organised the action at 18 Avenida de América, the company’s headquarters, ahead of the nationwide 24-hour housing strike scheduled for 11 November, from 00:00 to 23:59.
The group’s spokeswoman, Alicia del Río, called the company “una de las empresas responsables de nuestra miseria” and said: “Vamos a acabar con todas las inmobiliarias, una a una”. She also singled out Alquiler Seguro as “la portavoz de la CEOE en materia de vivienda”. The remarks were made in Spanish. The union also described the company’s practices as “mafiosas”, as reported by El País and ABC.
Dozens entered the premises shortly after 19:00, while a larger crowd gathered outside. ABC put the number who entered at around 40. Demonstrators chanted “Alquiler Seguro nos roba el futuro” and “huelga general ya”, handed out leaflets urging people to support the strike and put up posters outside. The organisation said it had kept the action secret so it could go ahead. The protest followed demonstrations linked to the eviction of a tenant identified in reports as Maricarmen, which the tenants’ movement cited as a catalyst for the strike.
No special security measures were in place at the office, according to the account provided. A small number of office employees were inside when the protesters arrived, including a receptionist and a cleaner. The union said it avoided confrontation and caused no material damage at the site.
Del Río called for the protest to end minutes after it began. National Police officers had already arrived and initially prevented those inside from leaving. Demonstrators later came out after handing over their identity documents. Officers then kept them on a nearby pavement for about half an hour, returning the documents one by one.
Alquiler Seguro told the publication it was concerned about what it described as psychological harm to staff, saying employees feared going to work the following day. In an account reported by Europa Press, the company said 27 of its 63 offices had been vandalised in connection with the strike, naming Madrid and five other locations: Barcelona, A Coruña, Vitoria, Bilbao and Oviedo. It counted its central Madrid office as a separate 28th incident. The company reported graffiti on façades and posters attached to offices, and alleged that some employees had been intimidated. It supplied images showing graffiti at other branches. According to the source account, the Avenida de América office was not marked.
The dispute comes amid scrutiny of the company’s rental practices. Spain’s Ministry of Consumer Affairs fined Alquiler Seguro €3.6 million over contract terms it considered abusive. The company said it would maintain its practices. In April, chief executive David Caraballo and president Antonio Carroza announced they would challenge the penalty in court, arguing that the practices were legal.
The ministry’s case concerned charges for tenant services and contract formalisation, a requirement to take out home insurance for the owner’s benefit, and other disputed clauses. These included payment demands even when the tenant was not responsible, costs linked to court claims without a costs order, and the possibility of listing tenants as debtors over unpaid sums that were not yet due and enforceable. The contract also barred tenants from withdrawing from the tenant-service arrangement. The union is separately pursuing legal action against the company over some of these issues.
Del Río argued that the fine was too small in relation to the 28,000 homes managed by the company and said the union wanted tenants to recover their money. The housing strike was backed by the Confederación de Sindicatos de Inquilinas and UGT, as well as CCOO, CGT, CNT, Acción Social de Solidaridad Obrera and Co.Bas. RTÉ reported that the strike was the first general strike called by major unions in 14 years. Its analysis found that new-lease prices had risen 4.5% in Madrid over the preceding year, compared with 0.3% in Barcelona and 7.6% in Palma de Mallorca. It linked Barcelona’s lower increase to rent-cap rules in a designated stressed market.
The wider housing-policy dispute has also featured in a separate political row over claims by Alberto Núñez Feijóo about removing occupants from homes.
