Redondo paid half market rate for 14 years in same Madrid social housing flat
Iván Redondo rented a Social Security flat in Madrid's Diego de León area between 2011 and 2025 for roughly half the market price. Read on to understand the case.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Iván Redondo, former chief of staff to Pedro Sánchez, lived as a tenant of Spain's Social Security in a flat on Diego de León street in Madrid from at least 2011 to 2025, paying rent at around half the market price. In September 2025 he bought the same property without an auction.
The story was first broken by **OKDIARIO** and completed by **El Mundo** with documents from the **Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS)**, the Social Security's treasury. The tenant was no stranger: between 2018 and 2021 he was chief of staff to **Pedro Sánchez**, the president's most trusted man at La Moncloa. The flat is on **Diego de León** street, one of Madrid's most expensive areas.
## From €975 to €1,147 a month
The rent Redondo paid in 2011 was **975 euros** a month. By 2025, the last documented year, it had risen to **1,147 euros**. These are the figures of a social housing rental contract, that is, a property owned by the Social Security system and reserved for social purposes.
The market in the area was asking considerably more. At the start of the period, around **1,400 euros** a month. At the end, around **3,250 euros**. The gap held for fourteen years and only narrowed because the public rent rose somewhat while the market soared.
## The purchase without an auction
In September 2025, Redondo bought that same flat. He did so without an auction, according to the published information, and at a price well below market value. The deal turns the tenant into the owner of a property he had occupied for more than a decade at a protected rent.
The TGSS is the body that manages the Social Security system's property assets. Its documents support the timeline of the tenancy and the amounts paid. The sale file, however, has not come to light in the same detail.
## The social ladder and its exceptions
Redondo's salary as chief of staff was hardly low: **125,000 euros** a year. With that level of income, access to social housing is hard to square with the usual story of the social ladder. It works, yes, but not for everyone.
The paradox is that of the system itself: a scarce public housing stock, intended for low incomes, which in practice has also housed trusted officials with high salaries. The waiting list for a social flat in Madrid is measured in years.
The story was first broken by **OKDIARIO** and completed by **El Mundo** with documents from the **Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS)**, the Social Security's treasury. The tenant was no stranger: between 2018 and 2021 he was chief of staff to **Pedro Sánchez**, the president's most trusted man at La Moncloa. The flat is on **Diego de León** street, one of Madrid's most expensive areas.
## From €975 to €1,147 a month
The rent Redondo paid in 2011 was **975 euros** a month. By 2025, the last documented year, it had risen to **1,147 euros**. These are the figures of a social housing rental contract, that is, a property owned by the Social Security system and reserved for social purposes.
The market in the area was asking considerably more. At the start of the period, around **1,400 euros** a month. At the end, around **3,250 euros**. The gap held for fourteen years and only narrowed because the public rent rose somewhat while the market soared.
## The purchase without an auction
In September 2025, Redondo bought that same flat. He did so without an auction, according to the published information, and at a price well below market value. The deal turns the tenant into the owner of a property he had occupied for more than a decade at a protected rent.
The TGSS is the body that manages the Social Security system's property assets. Its documents support the timeline of the tenancy and the amounts paid. The sale file, however, has not come to light in the same detail.
## The social ladder and its exceptions
Redondo's salary as chief of staff was hardly low: **125,000 euros** a year. With that level of income, access to social housing is hard to square with the usual story of the social ladder. It works, yes, but not for everyone.
The paradox is that of the system itself: a scarce public housing stock, intended for low incomes, which in practice has also housed trusted officials with high salaries. The waiting list for a social flat in Madrid is measured in years.
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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 (0 replies).
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