Begoña Gómez's family pays Muface just €850 a month for a Madrid penthouse
A 115-square-metre penthouse on San Bernardo street, next to Gran Vía in central Madrid, has been rented for €850 a month since 2023, far below the market price.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Begoña Gómez's family has been renting a 115-square-metre penthouse in central Madrid for €850 a month for years, a rent far below market rate. The contract is in the name of Sabiniano Gómez, Pedro Sánchez's father-in-law, who died in 2024, and his brother Francisco.
The price of a 115-square-metre penthouse in central Madrid can be four times the rent paid by Begoña Gómez's family. Since at least 2015, the property has been leased in the name of **Sabiniano Gómez**, Pedro Sánchez's father-in-law who died in 2024, and his brother **Francisco Gómez**, according to official documents from Muface. The civil servants' mutual society is the owner of the building, located on San Bernardo street, next to Madrid's Gran Vía.
## An €850 rent revised in 2023
The current amount appears in an official communication from Muface dated **19 June 2023**. Until that date, the rent was **€9,844 a year**, equivalent to €822 a month. After that revision, the rent rose to **€10,247 a year**, that is, €853 a month. The rounded figure usually cited is €850 a month.
The document is signed by the head of the organisation's Property Administration Service and specifies that the contract dates from after **9 May 1985**. That detail matters: leases signed before that date allow the tenant to live in the property until death and even transfer ownership to the spouse, with increases limited to the CPI. That is not the case here.
The 2023 update was made by applying the CPI, according to the same communication. There was therefore no upward negotiation or adjustment to local market prices.
## What €850 a month rents in Madrid
To get an idea, for €850 a month the Madrid market currently offers a **28-square-metre** studio with views of an inner courtyard, located on the first floor. The penthouse in question has 115 square metres and views of the most emblematic buildings in the city centre.
The area is considered a stressed rental market, with prices soaring. A property with those characteristics can fetch four times that monthly rent. Other estimates put the market rent for a similar home at between **€3,500 and €4,500 a month**.
The contract dates back to **1986**, when the rent was equivalent to **€272 a month**. Almost four decades later, it barely reaches €900. The difference between what is paid and what it would cost to rent today is, in economic terms, the core of the matter.
## Three properties and almost four decades of expenses
The Gómez family rents three properties in the same building at San Bernardo 38: a commercial space, a first-floor flat and the sixth-floor penthouse. Muface has covered the building's maintenance costs for almost four decades, from minor repairs to major works, at a cost of more than **€200,000**.
That detail adds another layer to the calculation: not only is the rent low, but the upkeep costs are borne by the mutual society that owns the property. In an ordinary lease, many of those works would be the landlord's responsibility, but it is the accumulated scale over such a long time that raises eyebrows.
Muface is the mutual society that manages healthcare for public employees. The fact that it owns the building and, at the same time, sets the rent paid by a family linked to the Prime Minister is what has turned this case into a matter of public debate.
## A contract that is not an old-rent lease
The legal key lies in the date. Contracts signed before **9 May 1985** fall under a special regime that extends the lease until the tenant's death and allows ownership to pass to the spouse, with increases in line with the CPI. The penthouse contract is later than that date, according to Muface's own document.
That means it is governed by the urban leasing legislation introduced after 1985, which allows rent increases and has different terms and conditions. The 2023 revision is therefore neither an exception nor a privilege stemming from an old law: it is the ordinary update of a contract in force.
The question hanging over the matter is why a public body has kept, for decades, a rent far below market level in one of Madrid's most expensive areas. For now, the answer is in the documents: because the contract was signed that way and the revisions have been limited to the CPI.
The price of a 115-square-metre penthouse in central Madrid can be four times the rent paid by Begoña Gómez's family. Since at least 2015, the property has been leased in the name of **Sabiniano Gómez**, Pedro Sánchez's father-in-law who died in 2024, and his brother **Francisco Gómez**, according to official documents from Muface. The civil servants' mutual society is the owner of the building, located on San Bernardo street, next to Madrid's Gran Vía.
## An €850 rent revised in 2023
The current amount appears in an official communication from Muface dated **19 June 2023**. Until that date, the rent was **€9,844 a year**, equivalent to €822 a month. After that revision, the rent rose to **€10,247 a year**, that is, €853 a month. The rounded figure usually cited is €850 a month.
The document is signed by the head of the organisation's Property Administration Service and specifies that the contract dates from after **9 May 1985**. That detail matters: leases signed before that date allow the tenant to live in the property until death and even transfer ownership to the spouse, with increases limited to the CPI. That is not the case here.
The 2023 update was made by applying the CPI, according to the same communication. There was therefore no upward negotiation or adjustment to local market prices.
## What €850 a month rents in Madrid
To get an idea, for €850 a month the Madrid market currently offers a **28-square-metre** studio with views of an inner courtyard, located on the first floor. The penthouse in question has 115 square metres and views of the most emblematic buildings in the city centre.
The area is considered a stressed rental market, with prices soaring. A property with those characteristics can fetch four times that monthly rent. Other estimates put the market rent for a similar home at between **€3,500 and €4,500 a month**.
The contract dates back to **1986**, when the rent was equivalent to **€272 a month**. Almost four decades later, it barely reaches €900. The difference between what is paid and what it would cost to rent today is, in economic terms, the core of the matter.
## Three properties and almost four decades of expenses
The Gómez family rents three properties in the same building at San Bernardo 38: a commercial space, a first-floor flat and the sixth-floor penthouse. Muface has covered the building's maintenance costs for almost four decades, from minor repairs to major works, at a cost of more than **€200,000**.
That detail adds another layer to the calculation: not only is the rent low, but the upkeep costs are borne by the mutual society that owns the property. In an ordinary lease, many of those works would be the landlord's responsibility, but it is the accumulated scale over such a long time that raises eyebrows.
Muface is the mutual society that manages healthcare for public employees. The fact that it owns the building and, at the same time, sets the rent paid by a family linked to the Prime Minister is what has turned this case into a matter of public debate.
## A contract that is not an old-rent lease
The legal key lies in the date. Contracts signed before **9 May 1985** fall under a special regime that extends the lease until the tenant's death and allows ownership to pass to the spouse, with increases in line with the CPI. The penthouse contract is later than that date, according to Muface's own document.
That means it is governed by the urban leasing legislation introduced after 1985, which allows rent increases and has different terms and conditions. The 2023 revision is therefore neither an exception nor a privilege stemming from an old law: it is the ordinary update of a contract in force.
The question hanging over the matter is why a public body has kept, for decades, a rent far below market level in one of Madrid's most expensive areas. For now, the answer is in the documents: because the contract was signed that way and the revisions have been limited to the CPI.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (3 replies).
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