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Lawyer Beatriz Duro announced the breakthrough following extended negotiations with investment firm Urbagestión, which had purchased the property in 2018 and sought sharp rent increases that exceeded the pensioner’s monthly income of €1,350. Duro told reporters that goodwill from both sides had produced a contract allowing Maricarmen Abascal to pay an amount close to the original €500 rate rather than the €2,650 initially demanded or the later €1,650 offer. The 87-year-old, who had lived in the Retiro neighbourhood flat since her father signed the lease in 1956, was hospitalised for exhaustion after being carried out on a stretcher during the September 23 eviction.
The resolution arrives after the case ignited nationwide protests that included overnight camps in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol square and demonstrations in multiple cities, CNN reported. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez responded by pledging housing relief measures at a cabinet session scheduled for the day after the eviction, according to the BBC. Abascal herself recorded a hospital message urging supporters to keep fighting for tenant rights, a recording circulated by several outlets including Jezebel.
Urbagestión had filed for eviction after Abascal could not meet the higher payments, though she maintained she had never missed her original rent, EL PAÍS English edition detailed. Three earlier attempts to remove her were blocked by lower courts before higher rulings including from the Supreme Court cleared the way for enforcement, Gulf News noted. The episode has focused attention on vulnerable tenants holding old rental contracts amid rising market rates across Spain.
General Council of the Judiciary figures show courts carried out 4,005 evictions in the first quarter of 2026, a drop of more than 45 percent from the same period a year earlier. Rent arrears drove 2,600 of those cases, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total, according to CGPJ data. More than 272,000 evictions have occurred nationwide since Pedro Sanchez took office in 2018, averaging roughly 90 per day, an analysis by El Español found.
Duro credited sustained social pressure with helping produce the new lease, expected to run up to eight years under urban leasing rules and to keep rent below 30 percent of Abascal’s net income, Spain Expat Press reported. The pensioner must personally review and sign the document once she recovers sufficiently, with the process being accelerated to allow her swift return from Gregorio Marañón Hospital. Madrid city authorities had earlier offered emergency housing options that Abascal rejected because they would have taken her away from her established neighbourhood routines.
The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had intervened in June 2026 with a request for Spain to suspend the eviction or guarantee suitable alternative accommodation, Article 14 noted. Neighbours, activists and even an anonymous writer who offered to cover her rent for life had rallied around Abascal during the eight-year dispute, Upsocl reported. Her lawyer indicated the agreement would be formalised shortly, enabling the woman to resume independent living in the only home she has known for seven decades.
