Mallorca woman, 87, faces eviction after 60 years

In Palma on Mallorca, 87-year-old Margalida faces eviction from the flat she has called home for more than 60 years. A court in the city’s sa Gerreria district will hear the case at 12.30pm on Tuesday. The owners want to end her low-rent tenancy over missed payments.

How the rent fell into arrears

Margalida and her husband signed the lease in 1963. After his death in 2007, the tenancy passed to her the following year. Her lawyer, Aina Díaz, says the rent was just over 12 euros a month.

An investment company bought almost the entire building in 2021. According to Díaz, the new owners did not tell tenants about the change until a year later. The bank account for rent payments also changed.

In 2023, Margalida had cancer surgery and spent time recovering at her son’s home. When she returned to her flat in Pere Garau, she found a notice saying she owed around 150 euros in rent. She paid it, but could not arrange an automatic payment to prevent the problem happening again.

A home she wants to keep

After a fall in which she broke three vertebrae, Margalida stayed with her son again. Díaz says he took over dealings with the owners, but when he learned that rent had gone unpaid again, they did not give him the bank details he requested to settle it. She accuses them of allowing the debt to build up before taking legal action.

Margalida received a request for out-of-court mediation in early 2025. The eviction claim followed in May. Díaz plans to argue that the missed payments were not deliberate. Margalida is willing to accept a rent increase, her lawyer says, but wants to remain in the flat.

Topics: Court cases · Housing · Palma

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com