The Confederation of Tenants' Unions has launched a campaign to organize the first state-wide rent strike against the company Alquiler Seguro, which it accuses of maintaining “systematic and structural practices contrary to legality.” The initiative seeks to mobilize thousands of tenants across the country after years of complaints, conflicts, and judicial proceedings without immediate resolution.
The plan starts with an organizational phase that includes visiting nearly 30,000 homes managed by the company in Spain. The objective is to directly contact the tenants, inform them of their rights, and lay the groundwork for a possible collective strike. According to the Confederation, there are already “hundreds of organized families”, many of them affected individuals who have approached the union after prolonged experiences of abuse.
Among the main complaints are the collection of allegedly illegal fees, the imposition of tied insurance, and the mandatory contracting of supplies with companies from the same group. They also point to practices such as charging up to 200 euros for visiting a property or lack of maintenance. “We cannot wait any longer. We are fed up,” the organization states in its press release.
The conflict has its origin in February 2024, when the Madrid Tenants' Union filed a lawsuit against Alquiler Seguro. Shortly after, it also filed a complaint with the General Directorate of Consumer Affairs for possible abusive clauses, undue charges, and violation of the right of withdrawal.
As a result of that administrative process, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs imposed a fine of 3.6 million euros on the company, although the resolution is not yet final. Trade unions criticize that this measure does not compensate the affected people who have already paid those amounts, which reinforces their commitment to collective mobilization.
In parallel, a lawsuit against the company is still ongoing for the “hidden” collection of fees and the “irregular” management of deposits. However, the trial is not scheduled until February 2028, a timeline that organizations consider incompatible with the urgency of the problem. “Justice is too slow to stop abuses we suffer every day,” they denounce.
Given this situation, the Confederation proposes the rent strike as a form of “disobedience and direct action”. The call does not yet have a date and must be approved in assemblies once the initial phase of organization concludes, but the objective is to exert direct pressure on the company's business model.
As they maintain, a strike of these characteristics could affect Alquiler Seguro's ability to guarantee payments to landlords, which would force the company to modify its operation. “They will not be able to sustain this model,” the unions assure, who frame the campaign in a broader struggle against the rising cost of access to housing, which they place at more than 4,000 euros every five or seven years just to enter a rental.
