The PP has formally requested a campaign debate with PSOE spokeswoman Montse Mínguez over her partner Sergi Vélez’s property business. Nest Capital’s housing arm, Nest Capital Homes, is reported to manage between 20 and 30 rental homes, with some reports putting the total at a minimum of 30. Artículo 14 reported that Vélez had evicted tenants; Mínguez says the business is a family rental operation that complies with the law.
Mínguez is not reported to own the properties or manage the company. Estimates of the property holding’s value vary: Ara reported assets of about €8 million, while ESdiario cited an accounting valuation of €6.3 million.
Génova has made hypocrisy the centre of its response. The PP links Vélez’s property business to Mínguez’s criticism of large landlords and investment funds, and says she should debate housing policy with the party.
PP sources said Mínguez criticises landlords and investment funds while sharing a home with someone whose business involves property. They called her partner a “self-confessed evictor” and Mínguez a “vulture consort”. Those are political insults, not findings established by the reported claims.
On Tuesday, Mínguez said personal attacks were among the worst aspects of politics. In an interview on Antena 3’s Espejo Público, she described the company as a family business devoted to renting property. She said it complies with Spanish law and the housing law applied in Catalonia.
She distinguished between tenants who do not pay rent and vulnerable tenants: the former may be evicted, she said, while the latter should be protected.
Reports on the business say it has pursued court proceedings to recover homes in cases of non-payment. One report described as many as three procedures at a time. The PP asked for a debate with Mínguez “or her husband,” the party said.
The company name also became part of the attack. Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, the PP’s deputy spokeswoman in Congress, noted the English word “nest” and its Spanish equivalent, “nido,” and made a jibe about a nest of vultures.
PP spokeswoman in Congress Ester Muñoz used the dispute to accuse the left of saying one thing and doing another. The party has asked for a debate, but none has been reported as agreed. Junts and Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso also criticised the PSOE over the contrast between its housing stance and Vélez’s business. Mínguez rejected the portrayal of the family company as a vulture fund and said it paid taxes and complied with housing law.
