28 luxury flats in Carabanchel taken over for €2,500

Macro-squatting in Carabanchel: 28 flats 'sold' for €2,500

How much does a brand-new flat with aerothermal heating, a pool, a padel court and a concierge cost in the Pau de Carabanchel Alto? Between €875 and €1,500 a month if rented. Between €2,000 and €2,500 if bought in the queue at a neighbourhood charity dining hall. That is the arithmetic that explains why 28 homes in the development at Calle Excelente 6, in Madrid, are listed as illegally occupied before ever being lived in. The property belongs to the company Vivenio; according to published reports, the occupants are families who paid that money to an alleged clan that gave them a key and a contract.

The takeover was not a raid: it was a move-in

There was no crowbar and no doors broken down. During the December bank holiday weekend, the regular concierge fell ill and a replacement arrived. That weekend moving trucks and vans began arriving at block 1. “You saw piles of fridges and lots of children and adults going into the homes,” one resident said. Two days later the neighbours learned that these were empty flats, still unrented, with the lock cylinders changed in the process. The 28 occupied homes are concentrated in two-bedroom flats on the first floor and in a penthouse. They lack hot water and heating, although they have electricity and cold water.

The detail that has thrown residents and outsiders alike is that the occupants have gained control of their own entrance door. The lock on the main entrance was replaced — the owner later changed its own lock, next to the concierge desk, to no avail — and a young man opens from inside to anyone who calls by phone. “They even have their own security; this is unheard of,” complained a resident.

The numbers: from €875 to €1,500 a month

The development consists of two blocks with some 170 homes and penthouses, all rental. The official price scale: €875 for one bedroom, €1,135 for two and €1,500 for penthouses. The first legal tenants moved in in autumn, after a selection process that included handing over keys and being accompanied to their front door. Now they live alongside parties, fights and, according to their account, blood on the walls. Vivenio has compensated them with a €100 cut in monthly rent.

The occupants are packed in: there are flats where two and three families live with children and even elderly people, and one of them admits to 13 people under the same roof. Those affected maintain that the conflict is not an organised protest, but a coexistence problem that has fallen on them.

What the owner has done and why it has not been enough

Vivenio has shut down two of the building's three lifts, reinforced security at the door, installed alarms, changed the entrance lock and hired a company specialising in removing squatters. All to no avail: the occupants are not leaving and their number is growing. Residents claim that the company has not acted since 23 December and that its only response has been the €100 reduction. The owner had already had similar conflicts in developments in Villaverde and Móstoles, according to published reports. Alarms and sensors connected to a control centre have been installed in the still-empty flats.

Some point to the root of the problem: in a brand-new development with keys still to be handed over, 24-hour security until handover is the only thing separating an idle asset from an occupation. The full breakdown of what that decision costs (and saves) is what no one has put on the table.

The contract, the children and the law

One of the occupants, who identifies himself as Marcelo, insists that they signed a contract and that 13 people live in his home after paying €2,500. “They offered it to me in the queue at a church dining hall, and there we closed the whole thing and they gave us the key,” he says. “We have a contract and they cannot throw us out here; besides, we have children and the law protects us.” The intermediary who facilitated the entries, according to the neighbours' account, promised to come by on the 28th to collect payment and never showed up.

Accounts no one has confirmed are circulating about coexistence: clandestine businesses inside the flats, a concierge who goes out to find people in the street and brings them up, the presence of gangs. The owner was asked about all of it; the neighbours' complaint insists that the problem is not one of nationalities, but that no one deployed the means in time.

There is a certain irony in the fact that in a building with aerothermal heating, a gym and electric chargers, the most contested service has ended up being a concierge who opens the door to the occupants. So is the fact that a two-bedroom flat can be had for what a high-end phone costs. The dream development, meanwhile, is still waiting for someone to decide who is in charge on the landing.