They tried to evict Maricarmen Abascal four times and the last time they succeeded. It was two weeks ago. The 87-year-old woman left her home in Retiro, where she had lived practically her entire life, in a wheelchair. Once outside, they helped her onto a stretcher and took her to the Gregorio Marañón hospital. He died there this Wednesday. Their eviction motivated demonstrations of rejection throughout the country that led to the camping in Puerta del Sol, two housing decrees knocked down in Congress and an early call for elections. This is the chronology of a case that has already become a symbol.
1956. María Carmen Abascal's father rented a sixth floor at number 46 Calle del Alcalde Sainz de Baranda, in the Madrid district of El Retiro. After the death of the father, the contract is subrogated to the mother, who was not listed as a tenant in the initial contract because Francoist law did not allow it.
2005-2018. Maricarmen's mother dies and the contract is subrogated for the second time. The woman, then 66 years old, stays in the apartment and the owners have no problem with continuing to pay the around 500 euros that the rent and expenses cost. Years later, the apartment, of about 90 square meters, was bought by a real estate company, which offered to purchase the home for about 250,000 euros. Maricarmen does not have the money and decides to stay as a tenant.
2018. Urbagestion Desarrollo e Inversión S.L, a company with offices in Madrid and Valladolid, buys the apartment and for two years nothing changes. Maricarmen continues to pay the rent and bills. The owners of the company are Ricardo Alonso and Fernando Alonso and they sell properties of all types - including pharmacies - both in the capital and in other cities.
2020. The company surprisingly informs him that he must leave the house. “Everyone assumed, including Maricarmen, that the contract was protected and perfectly valid,” the woman's lawyer, Beatriz Duro, explained to EL PAÍS. The owners consider that the contract, of old rent and signed only by Maricarmen's father, was subrogated first to the mother and then to the daughter, and that the Urban Leases Law limits the second subrogation to two years, unless a 65% disability is proven. Here the judicial journey begins.
2020-2021. The case reaches the court of first instance, which agrees with Maricarmen, considering that the subrogation was already consolidated and that the company had accepted it at the beginning. Urbagestion appeals.
2022. The Provincial Court interprets the opposite: in a ruling of June 30, it states that the second subrogation is not allowed and that the contract, therefore, is not valid. Attorney Duro files an appeal before the Supreme Court.
2023-2024. The Supreme Court does not admit the appeal, so the ruling of the Provincial Court becomes final. Maricarmen does not stop paying the rent and contacts the Tenants' Union for the first time. Urba Gestión offers you an alternative rental, of about 1,600 euros. Maricarmen earns a pension of 1,400. The eviction notices begin.
2025. In autumn, the first of four eviction attempts arrives, which was suspended after a first large neighborhood mobilization.
Summer 2026. Two more eviction attempts, one at the beginning of June and another at the end. Both postponed, again, due to social pressure. Between the two, the UN demand to stop the launches. The neighborhood and the Tenants' Union mobilize. Maricarmen's face appears in the press and television. The woman encourages the fight and believes that they will be able to stop the fourth eviction attempt, scheduled for September.
September 23, 2026. The fourth eviction attempt is the final one. The day before, hundreds of people spend the night on the street, ready to try to stop the riot police. Maricarmen waits at home, surrounded by her things, already in boxes. His physical condition has worsened and he has to use a wheelchair. Around 1:00 p.m., she was taken out of the apartment and taken on a stretcher to the Gregorio Marañón hospital. That same afternoon, a massive protest is organized in front of the penthouse that the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso opaquely purchased.
September 25. Urba Gestión, which had refused to negotiate until now, offers to let Maricarmen return home and asks the Madrid City Council to intervene with one of the municipal housing programs.
September 26. Tens of thousands of people demonstrate in the streets of Madrid in rejection of Maricarmen's eviction. The protests end shortly before nightfall and several of those gathered decide to move to Puerta del Sol and place the first camping tents around the house.
September 27. The camp continues to grow - now there are more than 1,200 tents - and the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, announces that they are working against the clock to carry out a housing decree. Four days of in-extremis meetings then begin with the investiture partners, especially with Junts. Finally, they decide to present two separate decrees.
September 28. Urba Gestión, Maricarmen's lawyer, the Tenants' Union and the Madrid City Council meet for four hours. At 9:00 p.m., they reach an agreement and the company agrees to let the woman return home with an eight-year contract and a rental price similar to the previous one.
September 30. Junts confirms at the last minute that it will vote no to the two decrees.
October 1st. The two housing decrees are voted on in the Congress of Deputies. They don't get ahead. PP, Vox and Junts vote against and Sánchez announces a period of reflection during the weekend. The Tenants Union demands a general strike.
October 5. Sánchez announces an early call for general elections for Sunday, November 29. The UGT and CC OO unions confirm that they will join the general strike, which will be on November 11.
