The region of Madrid does not want 1,700 flats (El País, 17 Oct 2020)

• The region of Madrid does not want 1,700 flats

• Original headline in Spanish: La Comunidad de Madrid no quiere 1.700 pisos

• By Berta Ferrero. Published in El País on 17 October 2020

• https://elpais.com/espana/madrid/2020-10-16/la-comunidad-de-madrid-no-quiere-1700-pisos.html

• Summary (via Google Translate)

  • The Region of Madrid refuses to collect the keys to the 1,700 homes returned by the Encasa Cibeles investment fund due to legal requirements. It seems like a game, but with flats with people inside, which makes the situation, at least, "outrageous for those involved," according to lawyer Javier Rubio Gil, who represents tenants who have been fighting for years in court so that their original landlord , the Madrid Housing Institute (Ivima), take over your rent again.

  • The surprise was given on 16 October by the investment fund, Encasa Cibeles, which announced that on 15 October it had filed a lawsuit against the Administration because it does not let it comply with what the Supreme Court ruled in 2019 , which annulled the sale of the 2,953 homes (belonging to 32 developments) for 201 million for irregularities in the process.

  • Therefore --the investment fund says-- if the Court cancelled that sale, the investment fund --who were the buyers-- intends to return the homes that are still in their possession (1,700). "We want to comply with the law," explained fund sources. But the law has many interpretations.

  • To comply with the sentence, Encasa Cibeles has hired the services of an independent company to assess what would be the consideration they should receive now. They paid 201 million for almost 3,000 homes and now they would lose 1,700. And that has a price --which the fund has not wanted to reveal-- because they consider that the mistake that was made was not theirs. During these seven years, the company has invested money, received rents and sold homes. One sometimes wins and sometimes loses.

  • Therefore, a study has assessed the current price that the Administration should pay for these homes. "What they claim would harm the interests of the people of Madrid," reply sources from the Housing Department, led by David Pérez, who refuses to reach an agreement with the company. "We will only abide by judicial decisions," Pérez adds.

• Keywords: Madrid, Spain, public housing, investment funds, corporate landlords, financialisation of housing, financialization of housing, tenants, rental prices, home ownership