Streamer TheGrefg asks the court to evict an elderly woman from her apartment in Andorra

Grefito, the real estate company of the popular streamer The Grefg intends to evict an 80-year-old woman from the apartment where she rents in Escaldes, a municipality in Andorra. In the summer of 2020, the company youtuber, whose real name is David Cánovas, bought a block of flats and stopped renewing the contracts of the few remaining tenants. He excepted the old woman's, which predated the Andorran regulations on rentals. The woman reported that the works carried out by the company in the building have made her apartment an uninhabitable place. The Grefg, one of the youtubers who have moved to Andorra in recent years, reacted by going to court: he asked that the woman be evicted and the court ruled in favor, although the case is pending appeal.

The woman has been renting an apartment on Obac Street, in the municipality of Escaldes-Engordany, since 1989. Although it was a verbal contract, without a defined period, her problems began when the ownership of the block changed hands. Grefito, the real estate vehicle of the controversial streamer, bought the building and little by little got rid of the neighbors. Unlike the affected one, the rest of the contracts were under the country's leasing law (approved in 1993) and expired annually, so the company was able to terminate them with relative ease.

While the woman was still in her apartment, the company began work to make economic profit from the homes. The workers tore out the closures and windows, so that air currents penetrated the building and turned it “into a refrigerator,” describes Pere Cristòfol, his lawyer. When winter came, the water pipes froze and the neighbor was left without running water. She then began her battle to continue maintaining a dignified life as long as she remained in the home. In Andorra, the high price of rents has turned housing into one of the country's main problems and forces many of its workers to go to neighboring La Seu d'Urgell, in Catalonia.

The company partially solved some problems, but then again ignored the matter, says Cristòfol, who filed a lawsuit before the courts (the Batllia) of Andorra. In October 2021, a judge agreed with him and issued precautionary measures in which he ordered the company to replace the closures, guarantee the water supply and repair some light fixtures at the entrance to the home. Grefito appealed the decision, but a higher court ratified it with harsh words towards the company's actions: “Society is disturbing the possession that legitimizes the lady, because in a property without closures and that is left out in the open, she is harmed. The order goes so far as to say that the firm's actions could entail “responsibilities other than civil ones”, despite the fact that the crime of real estate harassment does not exist in Andorran legislation.

While the court was ruling on the merits of the lawsuit (beyond the precautionary measures), the property decided to go on the attack and, in April 2023, filed an eviction lawsuit. The judge admitted her and agreed to the eviction in August, although no date was set for the eviction because the decision has been appealed by the woman's lawyer. The ruling admits that it was a verbal contract, but alleges that it was renewed year after year based on the statement of the former owner of the block, who indicated in his statement that the client had “committed” to abandon the property.

The lawyer denies that this commitment existed and criticizes that the sentence has not taken into account the additional provisions of the rental law. Cristòfol maintains that when the rental began, in 1989, without a specific law, Roman law governed. And this establishes that in a verbal contract on an urban property the duration is “indefinite”, as long as one resides in that place. “The contract has not ended nor do the different laws that have been approved apply to it, because there has been no renewal of contracts.”

The case was heard for sentencing last week. EL PAÍS has tried to obtain, without success, the version of TheGrefg and his company.

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