Reel by The Guardian
The Guardian@guardian Maricarmen is an 87-year-old disabled woman who lives in Madrid. Until yesterday, she had lived in the same flat for 71 years. When a developer bought the building, she was offered the chance to buy her apartment for €247,000 (£212,000), an impossible sum for the pensioner. They then raised her rent from €500 to €1,650 a month, more than her entire monthly state pension of €1,350. An unnamed “prominent” writer offered to pay the €1,150 difference indefinitely but their offer was ignored. The original contract for the flat was in Maricarmen’s father’s name. When he died, the apartment passed to his wife, and on her death it was sublet to Maricarmen. The landlords, Urbagestión SL, successfully argued in the supreme court that this subletting was illegitimate and that the contract was no longer valid. Urbagestión SL has been approached for comment. Watch our video where hundreds of protesters gather outside her apartment, many of them overnight, in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart the eviction and head to the link in bio for the full story.
Comments
A preview Instagram ships with the post — 15 of 1.1K public comments.
@mrdayveed She could’ve taken the money when it was first offered, now she homeless and broke. Not a wise decision.
@that_one_chick127 So it was fine until the landlords wanted something (selling the building) then all of a sudden the contract became illegitimate?
@mamakobu 😢😢😢
@mariacobano Thank you for informing about this. The situation is extreme in Spain. They are kicking people out of their homes to fit tourists.
@yaniv.geller.z41 This message is brought to you by the Marxist jihad by the @guardian
@badger_works How very capitalism
@pat_schettino 😢💔
@maria.mas.121 😡😡😡😡😡
@anastazia.97 😢
@angelorgilles Demagogossss
@inkismo I mean the money and the pension sound really nice.
@rachel_mercury_holmes It made me choked up seeing all these people protesting and all these generous offers to cover this grandma’s rent…despite all these, we still couldn’t stop the capitalism.
@tres_jolie_clare Greedy urbancongestion evicting an 87 year old woman. Every executive should be tried for crimes against humanity n
@seemanwon 💔
@mael_p_ 🤮🤮🤮