Spain announces eviction ban until 2030 and rent controls after 87-year-old woman is carried out on a stretcher

From the Newshound archive · first published 29 September 2026.

Spain's coalition government has approved emergency housing measures after the forcible eviction of Maricarmen Abascal, 87, from her Madrid apartment of more than 70 years sparked nationwide protests. Health Minister Mónica García says the package could protect more than five million people and includes a potential ban on evictions until 2030, rolling rent contracts to 2028, and banning investment firms from buying homes. The measures still require parliamentary approval, which the minority socialist-led government does not have guaranteed.

Abascal's lawyer Beatriz Duro says the investment firm Urbagestión has agreed to let her return home at a similar rent, though Abascal, still being treated for exhaustion, must sign the deal herself.

Up to 1,000 protesters gathered at Madrid's Puerta del Sol, where a tent city has grown, though tenants' groups are demanding deeper reforms 'so that there are no more Maricarmens'.

Opposition politician Míriam Nogueras warned the package wrongly lumps ordinary small landlords together with 'vulture funds managing millions of euros'.