The apartment will be bought and they will be evicted: families after purchasing from Esperanza Aguirre's relative.

An image of the residents of Madrid's Galileo Street who were forced to leave their homes. (Infobae) Rosa, 71, has lived in her apartment at 22 Galileo Street for two decades, in a well-located building in the center of the Community of Madrid. In November, she received a bureaucratic fax informing her, without explanation, that the owners had sold the apartments to another owner and gave them four months, the legal timeframe, to vacate the premises. She was surprised to find that all her neighbors received the same message. Suddenly, twenty families saw their future turned upside down. "I was paying 700 euros, and in January, I will move to Plaza Elíptica for 750 a month," the retiree tells Infobae. From the center to the suburbs at a higher price - a housing problem in Spain that can be judged by her personal story.

The previous owners never cared about the condition of the apartments; everything is without heating, and the neighbors at the entrance are complaining. They were three brothers with numerous properties in the center of Madrid, who, upon dying, passed their inheritance to their children and nephews, who have now accepted an offer from Elix Rental Housing II to purchase the entire building on Galileo Street.

“Socimi (this is what investment groups in real estate are called) is owned by AltamarCAM Partners, which is led by Claudio Aguirre, the company’s president and cousin of Esperanza Aguirre,” states the Tenants' Syndicate, a union organization fighting against real estate speculation and protecting the rights of residential tenants.

History also has a strong impact on Vanessa, another resident who suddenly has to look for a new apartment.

Neither this case nor the case in Chambéry is an isolated incident. Housing as a commodity in the market is the norm in the Community of Madrid, where the housing law has lost its effectiveness because the current government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso has decided not to enforce it. Furthermore, Isabel Rodríguez, the new Minister for Housing, dedicated her first words in office to "small property owners," promising them "protection," without mentioning the rise in housing prices or the people suffering from exploitative contracts.

“This case is yet another example of what happens when housing legislation is not regulated in a way that makes a home a place of residence rather than an object for profit. The law allows for this blow – to buy an apartment and evict all the people without any dialogue, to renovate the housing and offer it for tourist rentals or luxury apartments, which is more profitable, instead of ensuring the right to housing,” explains Alicia, a representative of the Tenants' Syndicate, who has joined the fight of these residents.

The goal of Elix Rental Housing Socimi II, says the Syndicate, "is to replicate the same strategy that their sister company, Elix Vintage, has already implemented. The Polanco family, along with other investors such as AltamarCAM Partners' Claudio Aguirre - the cousin of Esperanza Aguirre - created the Socimi Elix Vintage to reap millions in profits from real estate speculation." Since 2017, the company has acquired blocks in Madrid as well as in Barcelona, with the intention of later renovating and selling them at much higher prices.