Urbagencia proposes to the Madrid City Council to include Maricarmen's apartment in the Reviva program to avoid its eviction

Urbagencia Desarrollo e Inversión has proposed “urgently” this Friday to the Madrid City Council to incorporate the apartment on Calle del Alcalde Sainz de Baranda, 46, into the Reviva program, so that Maricarmen can return to the home with a “stable and affordable” rent, according to a statement advanced by El Economista and to which EL PAÍS has had access. The company assures that the property is not for sale and has been made available to the Municipal Land Housing Company (EMVS), to whom it would transfer the home, and to the municipal Social Services to process this formula or another alternative that the administrations consider more viable.

"The objective is to coordinate with the City Council, and where appropriate, with other administrations, a solution that allows Mrs. Maricarmen Abascal to return to housing with a stable and affordable housing alternative. The company makes itself available to the EMVS and the municipal Social Services so that the proposal can be resolved in the shortest possible time," they state in the statement. At the moment, the Madrid City Council has not commented on the company's offer. How it would be carried out and under what conditions remains to be determined.

In the document, signed by the company's lawyer, Urba Gestión, she confirms that she received a purchase proposal from the pianist James Rhodes, ―“without specifying the amount”―, through two emails, but that “when those emails arrived, the launch had already occurred.” Other offers are not mentioned, such as that of a well-known writer who proposed paying the rent. They also indicate that these three days, the company has received “hundreds of massive emails that saturated its server and made it very difficult to respond to any communication.” 24 hours ago, the company sent another letter to the media in which they denied practically everything published so far regarding Maricarmen's eviction.

They insist that the Retiro apartment, which they once bought for 247,000 euros, is not for sale: "The solution that the company has decided to promote is the proposal that it presents to the City Council today through the Reviva program or the alternative that the City Council or, where appropriate, other Public Administrations could consider more feasible." The text does not specify what these alternatives would consist of.

Urba Gestión, which claims to own only that floor and not the entire building, also maintains that since 2023 it has tried to reach an agreed exit, including a new contract with a rent between 40% and 50% lower than the market price.

The Tenants Union assures that neither the organization nor Maricarmen's lawyer have so far received information about the proposal announced this afternoon by Urba Gestión. "At the moment we cannot confirm it. For us it is not true because we have not received anything," comments a union spokesperson.

The Reviva Plan is a program of the Madrid City Council to recover empty, disused privately owned homes. The owner - in this case Urba Gestión - temporarily transfers the home to the EMVS so that it can rent it at an affordable price. The owner does not lose ownership of the property at any time and receives the rent that the tenant pays.