Samantha Mythen
AN 84-year-old man, his daughter and grandson have been evicted from their Málaga home, which he had been renting for more than 50 years.
The historic ground-floor apartment on Calle Victoria is owned by Sociedad Azucarera Larios Patrimonio (SALSA). The grandfather had dutifully paid his rent on time, ever since his rental contract was agreed with the Larios family in 1968.
The family moved to different ‘Los Larios’ properties over the years, but remained paying the price agreed by the original contract. They had lived in the Calle Victoria apartment for the past decade.
His daughter, Rosario De Haro told el Diario, her father used to go to SALSA’s office to pay the money in cash.
“When they didn’t want to renew, they sent us a letter and stopped collecting the rent. I found out the account number and started paying them the rent,” she said. “Last year it was 450 euros, but since it went up by ten euros every year, I paid them 460.”
SALSA initiated a legal action to evict them once the anti-eviction moratorium ended in December last year. The family tried to challenge the eviction, and supported their case with a report issued by Malaga Social Services, which described the grandfather’s vulnerability.
However, just 15 minutes after the judge received the report on May 16, they upheld the eviction notice. The family was forced to leave their home on Tuesday, just one day after receiving their final eviction notice.
“My parents were elderly, humble, and they trusted them (SALSA). They gave them a contract and they signed it; they didn’t think they were going to be deceived.” Her mother had a heart attack last year, which the family believes was caused by the stress surrounding their eviction.
Rosarios said she doesn’t know where her family will live now, with finding affordable accommodation in Málaga near impossible.
Thousands of protesters marched through Málaga’s streets in April this year, calling for government action on the nationwide housing crisis.
The port city has seen the second-highest rent increase in Spain in the last decade, of 26% according to the Rental Housing Price Index.
READ MORE: Housing crisis deepens: Seasonal rentals surge by 25% as long-term options disappear
No one wants to be evicted.
However, as they were only paying 460 euro a year, they were being heavily subsided by other people.
They knew they were taking advantage of this and never suggested paying a standard rent. They were playing the system and expected other people to pay for them.
Imagine if everyone did what they were doing. We would have less housing stock and a lot more slums.