Spain's Investment Funds Keep Evicting Tenants as Congress Blocks New Protections

In Rivas-Vaciamadrid, a town southeast of Madrid, residents of the Ronda de Gloria Fuertes 2 estate say investment fund Nestar has stopped renewing rental contracts, telling tenants to either buy their flats or move out once their lease ends, according to Tercera Información and Diario de Rivas. The estate, originally built as protected housing (vivienda de protección oficial, or VPO), is home to around 100 people; the first contracts are due to expire on 30 November 2026, Diario de Rivas reported.

Residents cite non-renewal notices, new charges for items such as non-payment insurance, property tax and waste collection that tenants say should fall to the landlord, and poor building maintenance, according to both outlets. One resident identified as Fátima, who has lived there 16 years, said her contract ends in late November with no renewal offer; another tenant, 28-year-old Violeta, told Diario de Rivas that residents feel they are being pushed out of their homes. The complex was built between 2000 and 2003 by developer Detinsa under the VPO scheme; Detinsa sold the building to fund Lazora in 2008, which was renamed Nestar in 2022, Diario de Rivas reported.

A Previous Court Ruling Against the Same Fund

Nestar has faced legal action before. In July 2025, a Madrid court ordered the fund to repay more than €20,000 to tenants in the Vallecas neighbourhood over a separate dispute, cutting what those tenants owed by roughly 30%, Tercera Información reported.

The Eviction That Became a National Symbol

The housing debate intensified after María del Carmen Abascal Martín, known as Maricarmen, an 87-year-old with a recognised 50% disability, was evicted on 23 September 2026 from the Madrid flat where she had lived for more than seven decades. According to France 24, the fund that owned the building, Urbagestión, had sought to raise her rent from €500 to €2,650 a month. Maricarmen was hospitalised after the eviction and died on 7 October at Hospital Gregorio Marañón; the fund later offered her a new, subsidised-rent contract, but she never returned home, France 24 reported. Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez cited the case of an '87-year-old woman evicted in Madrid on 23 September' when presenting new tenant-protection measures, according to the government's official record of its 29 September cabinet meeting.

New Decrees, Then a Congressional Rejection

On 29 September 2026, Spain's Council of Ministers approved two royal decrees described officially as urgent measures to protect the 'social function' of housing. One decree extended protection against eviction for vulnerable tenants without alternative housing until 31 December 2030, according to La Moncloa's summary of the meeting. The other targeted what the government calls 'fondos buitre' (vulture funds): any entity whose business purpose includes acquiring real estate would be barred, until 31 December 2028, from buying homes at less than 70% of their market appraisal value, El Independiente reported, citing the decree text. The same outlet said exemptions applied to entities offering affordable or social rentals for at least five years and to public housing bodies. A previous eviction moratorium had already lapsed in February 2026, Idealista reported.

The decrees required parliamentary validation. On 2 October 2026, Congress rejected both by 178 votes to 172, Infobae reported. The opposition Partido Popular, Vox and the Catalan party Junts voted against them; Junts objected to separate rules requiring landlords to justify short-term seasonal rental contracts. PP spokesperson Ester Muñoz argued the government's housing policy had failed to improve access to housing, while a Madrid regional government economy official said insufficient housing supply, not funds, was the core problem, according to Infobae. The rejection meant the planned extension of eviction protections and the restriction on low-value fund purchases did not take effect.

Following Maricarmen Abascal's death and the wider protests over housing, Spanish unions called a general strike for 11 November 2026, and early general elections were announced for 29 November 2026, France 24 reported.

Not an Isolated Precedent: The 2013 Sale

Spain has an earlier, well-documented case of protected housing passing into fund ownership. On 24 July 2013, Madrid's City Council, then led by mayor Ana Botella, sold 1,860 social housing units to Fidere, a vehicle linked to US fund Blackstone, for €128.5 million, according to elDiario.es. Rents at some of those buildings later rose by as much as 43%, and evictions followed, the outlet reported. In December 2018, Spain's Court of Auditors ordered Botella and seven other officials to personally repay €25 million, ruling the sale price had been below the legally required minimum. By the time of elDiario.es's reporting, the portfolio's estimated market value had risen to about €662 million, a 227% increase on its original valuation.