Spain agrees decree banning evictions until 2030 after Abascal case sparks mass protests

Spain’s coalition government said on Tuesday it had agreed proposals including banning evictions until 2030 to address the country’s housing crisis, after the forced removal of an 87-year-old woman last week triggered the largest housing protests in years.

Health Minister Monica Garcia said the ruling Socialists had reached an agreement with junior coalition partners Sumar for a decree covering new measures including rolling over rental contracts until 2028 and banning so-called vulture funds from the housing market, Reuters reported.

Other measures approved at Tuesday’s cabinet meeting included stricter regulation of short-term and by-the-room lets, automatic contract renewal and limits on rent increases, Garcia said. “It is time to intervene in the speculative housing market and start striking a balance between ordinary citizens and vulture funds,” she wrote on X.

The minority government faces an uphill battle to secure support in a fragmented parliament. It has 30 days from the decree’s publication to reach a consensus with allies in congress. Junts, the Catalan pro-independence party whose votes would be needed, said on Tuesday it was still far from agreeing and wanted protection for small landlords, who make up the vast majority of property owners in Spain.

Hundreds of people remained camped in Madrid’s Puerta del Sol on Tuesday to protest the removal of Maricarmen Abascal from her home on a stretcher last Wednesday, after an investment fund that bought her apartment secured an eviction order. Some 30,000 people marched through Madrid on Saturday; hundreds have camped in the square since, demanding a rent freeze and automatic lease renewal without abusive hikes, the Associated Press reported.

Abascal’s lawyer, Beatriz Duro, said on Tuesday that UrbaGestion, the fund that owns the apartment, had offered a preliminary agreement late on Monday that could allow her return to her home if she pays 30 per cent of her pension over the next eight years — around €500 a month, roughly what she paid before the eviction. Abascal was said to be considering the offer. “She should never have been forced to leave,” Duro told reporters. “I hope this case serves to provide a collective response to the housing crisis.”

Sources

• Reuters, “Spain proposes ban on evictions as ousted 87-year-old considers offer to return home” (reporting: David Latona, Mireia Merino, Emma Pinedo; writing: Charlie Devereux; editing: Alexandra Hudson), 29 September 2026
• Reuters, “Madrid housing protests enter third day after pensioner’s eviction”, 28 September 2026
• Associated Press (via NPR), “Eviction of 87-year-old sparks protests in Madrid over housing crisis”, 28 September 2026