The tension escalates on Excellent Street, 6 of the PAU of Carabanchel. Since the Constitution Bridge there are 28 new families residing in the urbanization, whom the other neighbors call squatters. Those affected allege that they have been scammed and paid up to three monthly payments to be able to enter the rental home. “I want to leave here but when they give me the money back. I don’t have the money to pay for another home,” confesses one of them.
Junior arrived at the block with his wife and two children. He found the home two months ago through a well-known advertising website. “A person showed me a catalog with several floors. He asked me for a deposit of one month and the current month for this and it seemed affordable to me because other times they ask you up to 5 months in advance,” he says. Payment always had to be made in cash and To draft the contract, he only requested the passport and the registerthe payroll was not needed even though it was offered.
The same thing happened to another victim who found the apartment in a Facebook group called “Peruanos en Madrid.” He paid 2,400 euros for a two-bedroom home: “I paid him the deposit month and the next month and he told me that from 1 to 5 he was coming to collect but he has not appeared again,” he says. He claims that he did not suspect that it was illegal because he went to visit the property and the same person opened the door and showed him the apartment.
The illusion did not last long… a few days after moving, the Police appeared on Excellent Street and warned those affected that they had possibly suffered a scam, “that the contract was not valid and many had a similar one.” The contracts are quite brief… With spaces to indicate the apartment number and the name of the tenant, which are filled in with a pen. Each person affected has filed a complaint and they say they want to leave the building. The problem, they say, is that they paid their savings to access these homes, so they expect the money to be returned to them so they can rebuild their lives. But the alleged scammer does not give signs: “I wrote to him and he blocked me, I called him and he said that the number does not exist,” according to Junior.
The other neighbors who claim to be living legally like Manuel and Isabel say that the developer demanded two payslips, the income tax return and their working life. To enter they had to pay two months of guarantee, the deposit and the current month. That’s why they claim that “it was organized, they knew they were in an illegal situation.” Residents like them pay “between 900 and 1,300 euros a month at most” for apartments of approximately 60 square meters with one or two bedrooms. The urbanization also has a swimming pool, paddle tennis courts and a gym. “It is possible that they have been scammed,” they insist , “but “They don’t stop being squatters.”
The urbanization has two blocks: the scammers have settled in the first, where the two-bedroom homes are. Manuel lives there too and assures that coexistence is complicated, something that the others deny. “We have seen them manipulate the installations on the false ceiling where the electricity and hot water cables are,” says Manuel, who assures that “Some have taken advantage of the hallway outlets to use an electric stove.”
The company that owns the development, Vivenio, has tried several alternatives to evict those scammed. As soon as he found out, he changed the lock on the portal and only gave the keys to those who legally pay the rent. But it doesn’t matter, “they have set up their own door opening network”, Isabel explains. Someone calls, tells them that they are at the door and another person comes down to open the door. Also has offered a reduction in monthly rent 10% for those with one bedroom and 15% for those with two bedrooms, “for now for two months maximum.” And it has installed alarms in the floors that are still empty to prevent new squats.
The moment of greatest tension was experienced on December 23, when The owner company hired an eviction company. The employees were scolded and attacked by some squatters when they appeared in the building. A week later, Vivenio tries to hire another “mediation” company, as the owner, Rafael González, calls it, who has appeared with his team “to see if we can reach a solution.” He says that the promoter contacted them this January 8 to remedy it: “Let’s see if we can put in access control.”
While those affected themselves assure that, for the moment, they are not leaving; The neighbors believe that the solution is complicated. “The only possibility to solve it is with money and relocation and changing the laws that favor criminals“, say Isabel and Manuel. Specifically, the vice mayor of Madrid, Inma Sanz, has also asked for progress on this issue. “It is not acceptable in a rule of law to call into question private property” and has given an example of the new legislative reform that will reduce the deadlines for squatter evictions.
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