"The flat is falling on us, in pieces": the complaint of some neighbours of a Generalitat block

BarcelonaAntonio has been living for four and a half months with his apartment shored up, right on Gran Via in Barcelona. At the end of January, the ceiling of his room collapsed due to water leaks, and the Firefighters recommended keeping the supports in place until a permanent repair could be made. A few weeks later, the same thing happened in the hallway, and shortly after, in another basic room in the house, the toilet. The property fixed his bathroom, but this week the supports are still holding up the beams of the bedroom and the hallway.

Antonio now sleeps in what was previously his dressing room. He has stopped using several parts of the apartment for fear that they might collapse completely. "The apartment is falling on us, in pieces. The Firefighters even asked our upstairs neighbor to remove all the weight he had on what is the ceiling of our toilet, just in case: they made him move the washing machine, which he now has on the balcony," he recounts. This newspaper has had access to all the reports from the Fire Department that attest to Antonio's version.

This neighbor also assures that his case is not isolated. "All the neighbors have similar problems," he points out. A quick look at the building reveals multiple cracks, original installations —in a century-old block— faulty floors, and walls that, far from remaining straight, have given way over the years. "The same day I had workers at home doing the openings to check the condition of everything, I received a letter warning me that the rent was going up again by the IPC," explains Antonio, who currently pays 1,780 euros per month. "I think that, as long as the apartment continues in this ruinous state, the least they could do is give me a discount on the rent price," he complains.

The ownership of the building is not, in this case, a company. Nor a bank, nor an investment fund. Last December, the block passed into the hands of the Generalitat, after the Hospital Clínic — the previous owner — sold the entire building. The operation of the change of hands began in 2024, when the healthcare center got rid of this and four more buildings as part of the future expansion works of the hospital. A change that was not without controversy. These were apartments that some citizens had left as an inheritance to the hospital and that years later the healthcare center put up for auction amid protests from residents. Finally, only one of the five blocks received an offer, the rest remained vacant and ended up in the hands of the public administration, which bought them. "At the time of the auction, it was made clear that the buildings had many maintenance problems, in fact, no one wanted to buy them because of the investment that needed to be made," adds Antonio.

The role of insurers

The fact is that, although the roofs began to collapse in January, the problems have been going on for a long time. "There has been a very evident lack of maintenance in the building for years," insists this affected resident. "If you look at the facade, from the street, you will see that all the balconies have nets to prevent debris from falling onto the sidewalk," he continues. For a month and a half now, he adds, they have neither electricity in the entrance hall nor on the landing. "The intercoms obviously don't work and if we want to go down the stairs at night we have to use a flashlight," recounts this tenant who now collects photos and videos of leaks, infiltrations, and cracks on his mobile phone which he himself monitors, to check if they are growing or not. "They tell us that the electricity is cut off due to non-payment, which we don't understand because we residents religiously pay our proportional share of this supply to the property," he questions.

Since February, several technicians and architects have inspected the building, without providing a definitive solution. "Everything is going very slowly. The insurance company of the Catalan Housing Agency, which is listed as the owner, told us that they were not responsible for the problems because they were pre-existing, meaning they occurred before they took over management," details Antonio. "Now I have stopped cleaning this room [the one that is propped up] because we have realized that sand and stones continue to fall from the ceiling every day. We have decided to leave it like this so we can check every day how much is falling," he explains desperately.

An integral "improvement plan"

Asked about this case, the Department of Territory of the Generalitat, which also has housing responsibilities, assures that it is aware of the problem and that "the Government is working on an improvement plan for the entire building" with "the will to help the tenants". Sources from the department add that a valuation of all the apartments has been carried out and that measures have been taken, such as shoring up, "to guarantee the safety" of the residents.

Antonio, however, demands speed. "The case goes from department to department and no one resolves anything for us. Furthermore, contacting the owner is very complicated, the only way we have to do it is by calling 012 between 9 am and 2 pm, and even then, it is very difficult to speak to someone," he laments. For this reason, the residents have begun to organize themselves: among themselves, in the case of the building at Gran Via 534, and also with the residents of the other affected buildings. The Tenants' Union confirms that the families also contacted the union, which sent a letter to Incasòl and the Housing Agency of Catalonia to demand an urgent meeting and a thorough review of the structural condition of the properties. "We live in fear that something serious will happen one day, and we have been warning for a long time," concludes Antonio.