An 87-year-old disabled woman whose forced removal from her Madrid apartment sparked nationwide demonstrations will be allowed to move back into the property she has called home for more than seven decades, her legal representative has confirmed.
Maricarmen Abascal was carried out of her flat on a stretcher by authorities on 23 September, an operation that drew immediate outrage across Spain and turned her into a potent symbol of the country's deepening housing emergency. She was taken to hospital shortly after the eviction and has since been receiving treatment for exhaustion.
Her lawyer, Beatriz Duro, told reporters at a press conference that an agreement had been reached between the parties and that Abascal would be able to return under a new rental contract. Crucially, the deal would see her pay a sum close to what she had previously been charged, avoiding the steep increase that had made her continued occupation of the apartment financially impossible. Duro described the outcome as the product of "goodwill from both parties," but also framed it as a direct consequence of the public pressure generated by the case.
The agreement has not yet been formally signed. According to Duro, Abascal intends to put her signature to the contract once her health improves, and she remains under medical care for the exhaustion brought on by the ordeal.
The dispute at the heart of the case stretches back decades. Abascal's father first rented the property in 1956, and she took over as tenant following the deaths of her parents. During much of that period, the rent was subject to a legal cap that kept it artificially low by current market standards. The building changed hands in 2018 when the investment firm Urbagestión acquired it, and the company subsequently moved to raise the monthly rent from €500 to €2,650.
That increase — roughly a fivefold jump — far exceeded what Abascal could afford. Her sole income was a monthly pension of €1,350, less than the revised rent alone. The company later offered to lower the figure to €1,650, but even that reduced amount remained beyond her means, leaving her in an impossible position: stay and default, or leave the home where she had spent her entire adult life.
Courts blocked three previous attempts to remove her from the property. The fourth effort succeeded, and the images of an elderly woman in a wheelchair being wheeled out of her building quickly circulated across Spanish media and social platforms, igniting a wave of anger that extended well beyond the capital.
That anger translated into action. Tens of thousands of people marched through Madrid on the Saturday following the eviction, demanding stronger protections for tenants and protesting against a housing market that many Spaniards believe has become disconnected from ordinary incomes. Protesters have pointed to the case as evidence that vulnerable people are being pushed out of their homes by investment funds seeking to maximise returns on residential property.
The political consequences have been swift. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has pledged that his cabinet will approve housing relief measures when it meets on Tuesday, a commitment that appears designed to address the public mood head-on. Sánchez's Socialist Party does not hold a majority in Parliament, meaning any legislative effort to rein in rents or expand tenant protections will require support from other parties — a fact that complicates the path from promise to law.
The scale of the underlying problem is considerable. The Bank of Spain estimates that the country is short of approximately 700,000 homes, a figure calculated by measuring the gap between existing demand and the pace of new construction. That shortfall has driven rents upward in major cities, squeezed household budgets, and made eviction a politically explosive issue in a country where home ownership has long been treated as a pillar of stability.
Duro attributed the resolution of Abascal's case to what she called the "result of the social mobilisation," suggesting that without the protests and the intense media scrutiny, the outcome might have been very different. Supporters of Abascal have welcomed the news as a victory, but have been careful to frame it as a single win rather than a solution, vowing to continue campaigning against similar evictions and to press the government for a substantial expansion of affordable housing.
For Abascal herself, the immediate future remains uncertain. She is still recovering in hospital, and the contract that would allow her to return home awaits her signature. Yet the fact that a return is now possible at all represents a remarkable reversal for a woman who, only days ago, appeared to have lost the apartment her family had occupied since the 1950s.
The case has also focused attention on the broader role of investment firms in Spain's residential rental market. Urbagestión purchased the building in 2018, at a time when property investment in Spanish cities was attracting significant capital. The company's decision to raise the rent has been portrayed by critics as emblematic of a wider trend in which long-standing tenants, particularly the elderly and those on fixed incomes, are priced out of neighbourhoods they helped sustain for generations.
Whether the agreement in Abascal's case sets a precedent or remains an exception is an open question. Her lawyers have indicated that the deal is specific to her circumstances rather than a template for other tenants facing similar pressure. The demonstrations, however, suggest that public appetite for structural reform is growing, and the government's announced measures will be watched closely by tenants' groups, landlords, and investors alike.
For now, the most immediate fact is simple: an 87-year-old woman who was removed from her home on a stretcher may soon be able to return to it, under terms she can afford, after a public campaign that turned her private hardship into a national cause.
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