Ruth Diaz Madrid
Madrid
Updated Saturday, February 10, 2024-00:23
Speculation A vulture fund demolishes the upper floor of the Torrijos Market, despite the fact that the stalls of four merchants remained: "There is nothing now"
28-M In Rita Maestre's Lavapiés: "They want to kick me out of my apartment to make tourist apartments," the neighbors complain
The scene repeats itself: Argumosa, 11; Elm, 35; Juan de Vera, 13; Encomienda, 18; Santa Ana, 6; Santa Ana, 8; Toledo, 77... They were blocks of flats with a
traditional
neighborhood in the center of Madrid and, after their expulsion or eviction and the purchase and renovation by an investment fund, today they are tourist or residential apartments. luxury in stressed neighborhoods. This time, the victim is
Tribulete, 7
. «We want to avoid the purchase. "We don't want to be just a minute of glory on the evening news," claim its tenants, because, on this occasion,
they found out before the operation was completed
. Before they can send them the dreaded burofaxes with the termination of the rental contracts or with a sharp increase in the rent, as the
modus operandi
usually starts . It has been "luck or misfortune" that makes his case unique.
Again in Lavapiés, where
54 families
renting - only five with old rentals -, including the three-generation Calzados Vigón shoe store and the 31-year-old El Coleccionista comic book store, face a fainting time trial:
Elix Rental Housing SOCIMI II, SA
plans to approve the purchase of the property at a shareholders meeting this Tuesday. Which indicates, as the residents have already been forced to learn in record time, after "analyzing the trajectory and partners" of Elix like experts in financial engineering, that
"they will need to kick out the neighbors as soon as possible."
Declared in rebellion, the first protest was already called last Saturday, with parades and musical performances in each home and with the support of figures such as
Soleá Morente, Alberto San Juan
or
Cristina Medina
, among other artists. The next one will be in three days, in front of the company's headquarters, in a last attempt to stop the sale. They resist in a common front. From the retired couple with more than 70 years of roots, the pensioners with minimum subsidies or the newcomers, also young people tied by their professions to the district who are already shivering with their
1,100-1,200 euros
salary after a look at other rentals, to those who envision the odyssey of getting a place in another public school or looking for work while receiving the minimum vital income.
Three of the tenants who live in Tribulete, 7.JAVIER BARBANCHO
Discomfort spreads. Well, as
Antonia
, a 56-year-old neighbor, with two customer service jobs, who landed from
Malasaña
in 2021 after another unaffordable increase of 250 euros in rent, puts it: «Here I have the people I care about, my affections, my environment ... To the gentlemen who say: 'This is the market', I ask them:
'And what future does the market want for me?
Where is Mr. Mercado going to send me?' I am a person who works, a good citizen, I behave well with people and...».
What will become of them. It is the question that Antonia, Jaime and Cristina themselves, and these 54 from Tribulete, are unable to answer. Since two weeks ago they learned from the press, alerted by the Tenants' Union, of Elix's future project: «Increase its capital by 150 million, also with blocks on Boldano
, 5
[Ciudad Lineal],
Salvia, 1
[ Tetuán] and another in
Gracia
, in Barcelona, although that purchase document to be approved no longer appears on the company's website. The company itself, owned by the financial company
AltamarCAM Partners
, chaired by
Claudio Aguirre
and the former vice president of Lehman Brothers
José Luis Molina
, is defined as "a company dedicated to the acquisition, rehabilitation and marketing of rental homes in the center of Madrid and Barcelona". And one more detail: its "main objective is to generate value for its clients." Without success, EL MUNDO has tried to contact the company.
They translate in Tribulete, 7:
"Their business is to buy buildings, renovate them and throw out all the people who rent there
. "
It is already happening in
Galileo, 22
(Chamberí), since its 50 neighbors were notified last November that the SOCIMI was their new landlord. They also acquired another block in
Canillejas
. Likewise, in Tribulete they have already suffered "intimidation and extortion," they denounce, and they have not obtained any explanation from the four brothers who still own the property - one of them with an apartment inside. "Several of us have tried to contact them by email or telephone and they do not respond."
A crowd attends the protest last Saturday in Lavapiés.JAVI MARTÍNEZ
Yes, they have already received, on the other hand, the visit of two people appointed as Elix
mediators
, a week ago, who have managed to sow nervousness among the tenants, despite the fact that the feared operation has not yet been carried out.
"They wanted to talk to us individually and inside our homes
," says Antonia. Previously, the still-homeowners had threatened possible legal repercussions if they continued with the protest. «Elix then sent two intermediaries to see if they could stop us. We imagined they would be men with suits and good manners, but our surprise was that we found a social worker. She gave us her phone number and it was fake.
It is the beginning of what we are waiting for
. The case has reached politics. Last Tuesday, Rita Maestre, the spokesperson for Más Madrid, proposed that the City Council buy Tribulete, as, in the past, the government of
Manuela Carmena
did with Alcalá, 45, or Julián Camarillo, 6. «It will be sold to a fund
vulture, coincidentally owned by
Esperanza Aguirre
's cousin
, and intends to start the usual mafia practice.
The same old story since, in
2012
, a legislative change to attract investment funds in the face of the so-called brick crisis, launched SOCIMIs. Together with the reform of the
Urban Leasing Law
a year later, "Spain became a sweetheart" for foreign investment funds, as
Jaime,
another of the neighbors, emphasizes. Architect, 38 years old and with two children, he has lived on this street since 2009. "I arrived out of economic necessity." Like so many other neighbors, he invested money in renovating his home - "the owners were not responsible" -. «Then
Lavapiés, which had not become so fashionable, was a much cheaper housing solution than any other neighborhood within the M-30
, such as Cuatro Caminos, Prosperidad... Since 2008, the neighborhood and rental prices have Changed a lot. And I am aware that the majority of neighbors who joined less than 5 years ago are paying more than me. Even for fewer square meters, indoors and without light, ranging between 300 for the old rent and
700-800 euros
for just
30 meters
. Only six exterior ones reach 57 meters.
«It is no coincidence that vulture
funds
devastate city centers.
The politicians have worked for these companies to come
," protests
Cristina
, a 40-year-old screenwriter and comedian, subject to Tribulete because of her profession, since she returns home at night from the theaters and venues downtown. «Tomorrow it could happen to anyone. And we do pay our taxes here, while the buildings no longer belong to people from the country. In fact, as AltamarCAM detailed in a statement, between
2017
and
2021
it already partnered with Elix "for the purchase of 22 residential buildings in the center of Madrid and Barcelona, through Elix Vintage Residencial Socimi", which were sold in 2021 to the German insurer Allianz. «Of those apartments there are no longer a single tenant left, they were not substandard housing, people lived with a payroll, like here.
"That is within the economic policy of this country
and it is a shame."