Spain's Eviction Fury Widens: Expanded 'Vulture Fund' Definition Draws Small Landlords Into New Housing Rules
Anger has boiled over in Spain about the death of Maricarmen Abascal two weeks after the 87-year-old pensioner was evicted from her Madrid home, and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had no doubt who was to blame for the mounting housing crisis, Reuters reported on October 21. Emergency housing legislation passed after he dissolved parliament and called a snap election for November 29 would 'stand up to vulture funds,' Sanchez said on October 6. With rents rising 44 percent and house prices 58 percent over five years, protesters have clamoured for a halt to speculation by so-called 'fondos buitre' (vulture funds).
But many in Spain are struggling to pin down exactly who these supposed predators are. In Abascal's case, her landlord was not a big-name private equity firm but a small consultancy called Urbagestión, owned by two brothers, with eight staff and two properties to its name, according to the Association of Spanish Registrars. After buying her apartment eight years ago, Urbagestión increased her monthly rent to 1,650 euros from 570 euros, more than her monthly pension, according to the tenants' union that represented her. 'Urbagestión may not have been a fund, but it is a vulture SME,' Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez said. Companies including investment funds account for just 8 percent of Spain's rental market, according to the Bank of Spain.
The government's new decrees lower the threshold so that those who own five or more properties in areas deemed to have housing shortages are included, and ban them from buying property for less than 70 percent of its market value. Owners of more than two properties are banned from evicting tenants until 2030, while all landlords face automatic contract extensions and rent freezes. Orders for about 70,000 evictions were reinstated after a pandemic-era protection law expired in March, according to the Tenants Union, and social groups say the new measures protect nearly 5 million people, including 122,683 at risk of eviction. Analysts counter that the market is in the hands of small investors, who now bear the entire burden. (Compiled from Reuters, October 21)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
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