Overview
- The Sindicato de Inquilinas and Maricarmen’s family said she died Wednesday in Madrid’s Hospital Gregorio Marañón after being hospitalized when a court-ordered eviction was carried out on September 23.
- The eviction removed Maricarmen from a home she had lived in since 1956 and followed years of legal fights with Urbagestión; negotiators later secured a deal for an eight-year lease capped at about 30% of her pension but she never returned.
- Her case prompted the government to issue emergency housing decrees to extend tenant protections, the Congress voted those decrees down, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez then called a snap election for November 29.
- The eviction produced nationwide protests and a sustained encampment in Puerta del Sol led by tenant groups, which have kept pressure on owners and politicians and announced coordinated actions including a planned November 11 strike.
- Advocates say the episode exposed systemic problems — legacy 'renta antigua' contracts, the growing role of investment funds in housing, and gaps in legal protection — and helped win a temporary suspension of a separate planned eviction of a 93-year-old in Murcia while negotiations continue.