Maricarmen Abascal died on 7 October after being evicted from her Madrid home. Her case sparked protests, a political crisis and a nationwide housing mobilisation, while an agreement reached too late failed to return her to the flat.
On 23 September, officials removed Maricarmen Abascal from the Madrid home where she had lived for 71 years. She was 87, had a recognised disability of 50% and faced mobility problems. Workers carried her out of the Retiro flat on a stretcher.
Abascal later died at Gregorio Marañón Hospital after spending around two weeks there. EFE, RTVE and the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid confirmed her death on 7 October 2026.
On 7 October 2026, Maricarmen Abascal died in Gregorio Marañón Hospital, where she had been treated for around two weeks after the 23 September eviction.
Her removal quickly became one of Spain's most recognisable housing cases. The available reporting confirms the timing of her hospitalisation and death, but it does not include an independent medical assessment showing that the eviction caused her death.
Abascal had paid close to 500 euros under a long-standing rental contract that had been transferred twice. Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión SL pursued the legal case that ended with her leaving the property despite her age and health condition.
According to reporting on the case, Urbagestión acquired the property in 2018 and began court proceedings in March 2020. At least four attempts were made to enforce the eviction decision.
Demonstrators set up a camp at Puerta del Sol and organised mass protests around the case. An earlier report described how public anger over one eviction grew into a wider demand for protection against losing a home.
Abascal's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, denounced what she called the violence of the eviction and the lack of suitable housing alternatives. Her account shifted the focus beyond the court dispute: a vulnerable tenant was removed without an effective accommodation option.
The dispute was not resolved by the eviction itself. After public pressure, representatives of Abascal and Urbagestión reached an agreement on 28 September for her to return to the flat, but no new rental contract was signed before her death, so she never returned home.
The agreement came after public pressure, but it did not bring Abascal back to the flat. No new rental contract was signed before her death, so the proposed return never took place.
The rent dispute involved more than the original payment. CNN Español reported that Abascal had paid around 500 euros a month before the rental terms changed. The new amount reached 2,650 euros per month. That sharp increase helps explain why the tenancy dispute became a long legal fight, although it does not settle the court's reasoning or the medical circumstances of her death.
The political response also fell short. The Government tried to pass housing decrees named after Abascal, but Congress rejected them. The defeat helped trigger an early election, and RTVE linked her story to the wider political fight over access to housing.
Political leaders and trade unions expressed their grief and called for stronger protections for the right to decent housing. The protests also produced a concrete next step: a general strike was called for 11 November. Duro described the late agreement over the flat as potentially
