More than 350 people have camped for two days in Madrid's Puerta del Sol over Maricarmen's housing case. They say they will stay until the Government approves the housing decree expected on Tuesday. Urbagestión says it offered her a discounted purchase and accuses the Sindicato de Inquilinas of turning the dispute into a national campaign.
Ricardo Alonso, Urbagestión's owner, has set out the company's account of the legal conflict and its offer to the tenant. Urbagestión Desarrollo e Inversión S.L., also referred to in some reports as Urbagesa, was established in 2005. Spanish reports have identified Ricardo Alonso Fernández and Fernando Alonso Fuentes as the company's administrators since its creation.
Alonso says the case took its current legal form in 2018. Urbagestión says it soon realized Maricarmen did not meet the requirements for the tenancy to pass into her name. The company argues that she had occupied the home since 2007 without a valid legal title. Her mother died in 2005, and the transfer followed her death.
Urbagestión says Maricarmen could have held the property in her name for two years under the applicable rules. The company says it bought the flat knowing it had an old rent contract, but no valid title covered her continued occupation.
BBC Mundo and El País have described the case as a fight over a renta antigua contract and successive transfers of the tenancy. Their reports also say Maricarmen had lived in the flat since at least 1956. Urbagestión bought the flat in 2018.
The public campaign has thrust the case onto the national stage. Urbagestión says it did not expect such a large mobilisation. Alonso claims the Sindicato wanted to make Maricarmen a symbol because her situation made her a particularly vulnerable figure for its campaign. The company says early settlement efforts gave way to distrust and personal attacks.
Information from RTVE, after the eviction Urbagestión sent Madrid City Council proposals to address Maricarmen’s housing situation. The council considered one of the company's initiatives unworkable but said it was ready to mediate further negotiations.
Urbagestión has also reported alleged technical interference. Its representatives say they discovered hacking attempts and problems with their telephones. The company is trying to establish the extent of the alleged damage and assess the pressure and coercion it says it faced.
Alonso told Susanna Griso that the company had dealt mainly with Maricarmen's lawyer before the dispute became more personal. He says Urbagestión was ready to reach an agreement allowing Maricarmen to remain in her home, and still wants a solution.
Urbagestión has asked Madrid City Council to step in as a nearby administration and act as mediator. In later public statements, Alonso said the parties might have reached a simpler agreement without the Sindicato de Inquilinas' intervention.
The financial details lie basic to the competing accounts. Urbagestión says Maricarmen paid 204 euros for ten years, plus community charges, bringing the total monthly cost to 450 euros. The company says the market value was 2,500 euros at the time and that it offered her a discount of at least 40% in writing.
Other Spanish reports have cited monthly payments of around 500 euros and much higher proposed conditions. Urbagestión has disputed some of those figures. The proposed purchase price became another point of dispute.
The company says the Sindicato presented the price on social media as 2,600 euros. Urbagestión disputes that figure. An earlier report had described the wider mobilisation and its demand for indefinite rental protection.
The case connects a narrow legal dispute to a wider political demand over housing. Urbagestión points to the absence of a valid title and its written purchase proposal. The other side has made Maricarmen's personal circumstances the focus of a campaign directed at the Government.
Spanish media report that the courts ultimately backed the owner's position. The eviction came after a lengthy legal dispute. Madrid City Council has been mentioned as a possible mediator, and the available account points to documented negotiations as the clearest route.
The facts presented by Urbagestión do not settle the underlying dispute. The conflict centers on legal status and money, while Maricarmen's situation has also become a national housing symbol. As elDiario.es has reported, the case has raised questions about investors who acquire properties with long-standing rental arrangements.
