Real estate nightmare in Cerdanyola del Vallès
Two families from the town of Vallesana end up on the street despite a ruling that recognized their right to be property owners
BarcelonaOn February 13, AP and his wife were evicted from their flat in Cerdanyola. Their neighbours, EV, her husband and their two children, will go through the same ordeal on March 10. They are families with the financial capacity to pay the rent and have a favourable ruling that recognises their right to be the legitimate owners of their flats. However, this ruling was not enforced due to the transfer of ownership of the flats between two companies owned by CaixaBank. Now, despite the litigation opened in Madrid against the transfer, they are on the edge of the street.
The case begins in 2011. The families moved into two flats owned by the Bons Edificios real estate agency, in Cerdanyola del Vallès. They signed a rental contract with the right of withdrawal: if the flats were put up for sale and they offered the same price, they had priority over the rest to make the purchase effective. Three years later, the developers defaulted on the loan and CaixaBank acquired their properties through a judicial auction.
From CaixaBank to Building Center
Shortly after acquiring the apartments, CaixaBank transferred ownership to Building Center, a limited company 100% owned by the bank. AP and EV explain that they were never notified of this change of ownership, although legally they should have been informed so that they could exercise their right of withdrawal. The representative of Bons Edificios, the original real estate agency, disappeared, and they were left without knowing who to pay the rent to.
The Cerdanyola court, in a judicial resolution, told them "that they had the right to remain in the house and that whoever acquired it would contact them." But as explained in the ARA, Building Center never did so. It left them little notes in the mailbox, with cryptic phrases and a telephone number. No representative or legal contract. This went on for five years, until 2019. During this period the tenants did not pay the rent because they did not know, they explain, who to pay it to. During that time they tried to contact Building Center, without success. Only recently and as a resource to avoid eviction, the tenants deposited in the Cerdanyola court the 30,000 euros equivalent to the cost of the rent.
From Building Center in Coral Homes
In May 2019, the affected parties received calls from Building Center and Coral Homes, a limited company created a year earlier by CaixaBank as the sole shareholder. Both companies claimed to be the owners of the homes and demanded payment of the rent. AP and EV verified through the Cerdanyola Property Registry that Building Center was the owner of their apartments.
It was then that AP and EV became aware of the change of ownership of CaixaBank in Building Center, and at that time they filed the claim to exercise the right of withdrawal. Between 2021 and 2022, the two withdrawals were recognized by the Provincial Court of Barcelona. In other words, both tenants became entitled to be the owners of the homes. But that was not the end of this Kafkaesque real estate situation.
EV started paying the mortgage on the property and deposited the money in court for Building Center to accept it. But the company refused, stating that the apartments were owned by Coral Homes. The Court then ruled that a court case was needed to settle the ownership of the properties.
As the tenants retained the right of redemption and Coral Homes is based in Madrid, AP and EV opened a new court case there to declare the transfer of the homes between real estate agencies null and void. Both families argued that, when it occurred, the redemption in favour of the tenants was already underway and, therefore, the change of ownership of the home in favour of Coral Homes should be annulled.
Ezequiel Varela, the lawyer for those affected, has asked both Building Center and Coral Homes for the official document with the transfer of ownership, but neither of them has ever provided it. In conversation with the ARA, sources from CaixaBank assure that the transfer was made in 2018. Varela contradicts them, saying that in 2018 the transfer was not registered in the Property Registry of Cerdanyola and that, therefore, it could not affect third parties.
The bank also explains to the ARA that the transfer of Building Center to Coral Homes was made through a transfer of shares and that in these cases "the Supreme Court has recognized that the right of withdrawal cannot be exercised, because the same offer cannot be made by the tenant."
Eviction
The lawsuit was filed in Madrid in November 2022. AP is waiting for it to be resolved this year and EV has a date for the preliminary hearing in 2026. But in 2020 Coral Homes launched an eviction order for non-payment and the court did not grant any extension to the tenants. AP tried to contact Coral Homes to reach an agreement by paying the rent or buying the house, but found no response. This is how the two affected families have reached the eviction: one has already experienced it and the other faces it in a few weeks.
Coral Homes has not wanted to give its version of the case to the ARA. As for CaixaBank, it argues that it only owns 20% of Coral Homes shares today and that it is not responsible for its management.