An eviction order for the "Cerberus" fund against a grandmother and her grandson in Madrid after 20 years of paying for housing.

Ligiya, 66 years old, shares her worries during a phone conversation: "Every day when I come home, I doubt whether I will be able to open the door." This woman is fiercely fighting to keep her home and now experiences fear almost daily when returning from work. Seventeen years ago, she bought a house, but soon had to give it up to the bank, retaining only a rental agreement. The bank, in turn, resold the property to a speculative investment fund, which is now trying to evict her by not renewing the lease. Years of mortgage and rent payments have proven futile — she has become just a pawn in someone else's game. At this point, the owners are not even considering the purchase options proposed by Ligiya, even though she wants to save her home.

A woman purchased an apartment in Fuengirola in 2007 and officially took possession of her new property on February 2 of the same year. At that time, Ligia signed a mortgage agreement with Banco Sabadell, paying156,000 eurosFor the housing that had three rooms, not far from the metro and main bus routes. However, the financial crisis changed her plans, and she found herself in a difficult situation just a few months before retirement. Despite the fact that her relationship with the landlords ended three years ago, she continues to diligently send the rent every month, trying to maintain at least some stability and has no intention of occupying the apartment.

In 2015, Ligia lost her job and was forced to sell her apartment using the "deed in lieu of foreclosure" mechanism. The bank took her home and provided her with social housing. This continued until the moment when Banco Sabadell transferred its properties to the large investment company Cerberus in 2018. As a result, a large-scale operation took place, during which the bank parted ways with...61000The properties, the vast majority of which were residential, were managed.

As soon as the apartment came under Cerberus, the new owners showed no interest in social housing. The existing contract expired, and the woman, having no alternative housing, received no response to her requests. The company had no desire to discuss the terms or agree on alternative options. "It's a real disaster, it's incredibly difficult," Ligia shared with Infobae during her work break, where she works as a housekeeper.

She is not the only one facing this. Representatives of the Platform for Mortgage Victims (PAH) report that this scenario happens very often: Cerberus no longer signs new lease agreements, preferring to sell unsuitable housing to other funds and private investors. From their perspective, the main goal is to extract profit from real estate.

Local residents, like Ligia, began to face the consequences of the change in ownership after Cerberus entered the Spanish real estate market. For instance, BBVA launched a new company, Divarian, in collaboration with this same investment fund, while Banco Santander established Manzana Global Licata. These moves resulted in Cerberus acquiring around...150,000houses across the country.

Currently, Cerberus has about2448residential properties only in Madrid; the leaders in the number of properties remain Renta Corporación2916) and CaixaBank (4772“The banks allocated their assets and transferred them to these companies, forming new structures. They then sold these assets, sacrificing profit while avoiding capital gains taxes and other obligations,” explain specialists from Observatorio CODE.

Despite the difficult situation, Ligia does not lose hope and continues to believe in a better future. She hopes that Cerberus will accept her proposal to take out a mortgage again on the apartment that she has been carefully maintaining and protecting.17 years old“I’ve made a lot of improvements here, spent my own money. It will be very painful for me to leave this place,” she admits, wrapping up the conversation before heading back to work.