Maricarmen blames Sánchez for her eviction as housing decree talks stall

Maricarmen blames Sánchez for her eviction and negotiations grow tense

An elderly woman, a civil servant since the Franco era, with a certified 50% disability and a rental contract that is about to expire. That is the starting point of a case that has turned a property in central Madrid into the epicentre of Spain's political battle over renting. Maricarmen claims that Pedro Sánchez either "doesn't know or doesn't want to know" about her situation, and that one sentence has been enough to turn her eviction from a personal tragedy into a problem for the Government.

The paradox is this: the Government boasts of its social safety net while negotiations over its own housing decree are deadlocked between PSOE, Junts and Sumar. Tax breaks for landlords have reportedly made their way onto the negotiating table, and within days the case has moved from the crime pages to the business section.

Who is Maricarmen and why her case goes beyond the personal

The details surrounding the case explain part of the noise. Maricarmen worked as a civil servant from the Franco years onwards, has a certified 50% disability and faces the end of a rental contract on a property which, according to some analyses, did not require major renovations at the landlord's expense. Madrid City Council has proposed the Rental Mediation Service so she can return to her home with a rent that does not exceed 40% of her income, an option to be decided at a meeting with Urbagestión.

Some argue the case is a walking segarro: a woman who started working under Franco turned into an icon of the housing struggle. Others respond that a person's age or work history does not disqualify them from claiming a roof over their head. At that point, the debate only gets uglier.

The housing decree: what is being negotiated and why it's called the 'Maricarmen decree'

Attention has shifted from the specific case to the legislation itself. The Government says it is on track to approve the decree this Tuesday, while Bolaños rejects the housing expropriation demanded by Sumar. Tax breaks for landlords are at the centre of negotiations between PSOE, Junts and Sumar trinc the Maricarmen case, according to published reports.

The deeper accusation is more uncomfortable: the Government allegedly had a dossier to solve the case since October 2025, according to some reports, and Maricarmen is said to have sent Sánchez a letter last year asking for help with her eviction without receiving a reply. Six days before the eviction, the woman herself accused the Prime Minister of "keeping the decree that could have stopped it in a drawer". These claims are circulating in the public sphere and the Government has not confirmed them in those terms.

Double standards: the Sánchez family's properties and the bad bank's assets

The most uncomfortable flank for the official narrative is the family's wealth. Several reports have highlighted that the Sánchez couple own eight properties and are expecting an inheritance, and that the Muface penthouse rented by the Prime Minister's in-laws for 900 euros would be shielded by the new decree. These are published figures that the Government has not denied in detail.

Add to that the paradox of the institutional landlord: Sánchez reportedly hired several funds to evict tenants from bad bank properties, according to published reports, while now landlords are being asked to show solidarity and lower rents. The Housing Minister, who owns seven properties, is the public face of that message. PSOE is the party with the most landlord MPs after Junts and Bildu, a fact that is circulating and making more than a few people squirm.

The Muface eviction and the Sol protest camp

The case has escalated into a protest camp in Sol under the slogan "either rentierism falls or the Government falls". The march demanding the Maricarmen decree has put landlords in the dock, and in parallel cross-complaints have emerged: the Government allegedly slipped a route for evicting vulnerable tenants from Muface flats into the decree, and Óscar López is said to have requested the eviction of a Muface tenant who is Maricarmen's neighbour. These accusations are being traded and no court has ruled on them.

The comparison with Rosa Parks, launched from Pablo Iglesias's political circle, has heated things up even further. The response from the other side has been to point out that the man delivering that message bought himself a fancy house after leaving Vallecas. Housing policy, an old classic, is once again being settled through other people's biographies.

What happens now with Maricarmen's eviction

The meeting with Urbagestión will decide whether the woman can return to her home with an affordable rent. The City Council has rejected the property company's proposal as "unworkable" and has activated the mediation service. Meanwhile, the decree remains up in the air and negotiations between the governing coalition partners have yet to be closed.

The question hanging in the air is no longer whether Maricarmen gets her flat back. It is whether the Government's social safety net can withstand the scrutiny of a single case with a name attached, or whether the decree will end up being approved with more tax breaks for landlords than protection for tenants. On this evidence, anyone's guess is as good as mine.