Ayuso's promise regarding the penthouse falls through: Planifica Madrid cannot directly allocate the sale to reconstruction due to the fires

The formula presented by Isabel Díaz Ayuso to convert the controversial Chamberí penthouse into aid for municipalities affected by fires has a significant obstacle. The money from the sale cannot go directly into the coffers of the Community of Madrid because the property belongs to Planifica Madrid, a public commercial company with its own assets and accounts.

The amount obtained will remain within the company after the operation. As published by 'elDiario.es', the regional government itself recognizes that the planned way to extract these funds will be a distribution of dividends at the close of the fiscal year, provided that Planifica Madrid's accounts show profits and allow it to be carried out.

Ayuso assured this Wednesday from Villa del Prado that she intended to sell the penthouse and several properties on Gran Vía to allocate those resources to the reconstruction of the Sierra Oeste. "It would not be understood if it were spent or used for another matter," she stated. The operation will take months and its result will depend on the price that Planifica Madrid finally achieves.

The penthouse has to be sold at a profit

The public company bought the property on Paseo del General Martínez Campos last April for 6.3 million euros. To that amount were added another 378,000 euros corresponding to the Property Transfer Tax. The home had gone on the market for 6.6 million and the real estate agency that managed the sale received a 3% commission, paid by the seller.

The problem for the regional accounts is simple. Recovering the money invested in the acquisition does not equate to obtaining a profit of the same amount. If Planifica Madrid sells the penthouse for a price similar to what it paid, the operation will barely improve the year's result. If it accepts a lower offer or incurs new expenses, it can reduce its profits and lower the future dividend.

The official accounts of Planifica Madrid establish that dividends can only be distributed from the profit of the fiscal year or from freely available reserves, after covering legal obligations and provided that the net worth maintains the required limits. The sale must take place before the end of the year and leave a sufficient capital gain to contribute a significant amount to the reconstruction.

The Minister of the Presidency, Miguel Ángel García Martín, has confirmed that the Executive will resort to the distribution of dividends, a formula it also uses with other public companies. The Government estimates that it will obtain between 20 and 22 million euros, although that figure includes the penthouse and the offices at Gran Vía 6, divided into four registered properties and valued at 11.7 million. The latter have been for sale since August 2025 and their first tender ended without a buyer.

Ayuso has announced a reconstruction plan of about 100 million euros with bonuses on water bills, deductions for entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals, rental and housing repair aid, home care, and infrastructure investments. Her Executive now speaks of allocating an "equivalent" amount to what was collected from the properties, but it still needs to complete the sale, close the accounts, agree on the dividend, and then incorporate those revenues into the regional budget.

The operation reaches the Prosecutor's Office

The new economic difficulty appears as the purchase has already opened two lines of investigation. This Thursday, 'ElConstitucional.es' has revealed that the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Madrid has received a complaint requesting verification of whether the acquisition and subsequent sale could have caused harm to public coffers.

The document provisionally mentions possible crimes of prevarication, embezzlement, and document forgery, although it does not yet attribute criminal responsibility to any specific person. It demands the complete files, the minutes of the Board of Directors of Planifica Madrid, the appraisals, the legal and economic reports, and the documentation that allows determining who promoted and authorized the operation.

Another complaint filed by lawyer Javier Flores before the Court of Accounts already warned that the amount of the sale would remain in the assets of Planifica Madrid. To dedicate it to public spending, a formal corporate and budgetary procedure was needed, such as the distribution of dividends that the Madrid Executive now acknowledges.

García Martín maintains that the explanations are "more than given" and accuses the opposition of looking for "a ghost." As of August 6, the penthouse remains in the hands of Planifica Madrid, there is no record of a buyer and no income from its sale has reached the reconstruction of the Sierra Oeste.