The Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid, or Madrid Tenants’ Union, is growing exponentially. In the past few years, the number of affiliated members and activists has tripled, reaching over 3,000 members and more than 300 activists. The union has gone from having no presence in the city’s neighbourhoods to establishing more than five groups per district.
Pablo Pérez Ruiz is an activist with the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid.
But this is not only happening in Madrid: tenants’ unions are beginning to flourish in cities all over Spain, promoting a network of solidarity and struggle that is spreading throughout the country. On 5 April 2025, simultaneous demonstrations were held in 42 cities, bringing together more than 200,000 people. These demonstrations showed that the strength of the tenants’ unions is growing and that tenant power is becoming an increasingly visible force on the streets throughout Spain.
Faced with the violence of the housing market, the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid has insisted for years that there is only one option left: to organize tenant power. But what does “tenant power” mean exactly? What kind of power are we talking about? How is it built? What goals does it pursue? In this article, we will share four key ideas that will help to clarify the concept and, above all, how to put it into practice.
Our Enemy: The Rentier Economy
The housing crisis in Spain is deep and ongoing. In cities such as Madrid and Barcelona, rents have risen by more than 50 percent in the last ten years, while the percentage of household income spent on rent has reached historic levels. Currently, more than 20 percent of the population rents, and a large portion of those renters face excessive increases beyond what their salaries can bear.
This crisis is the result of unchecked speculation, public policies that have favoured the profitability of large investment funds and speculators, and the absence of a real public housing supply. It is not that there is a lack of houses — in Madrid, as in so many cities, there is a surplus of empty properties. The problem is that, rather than being places to live, homes have become commodities in the service of a rentier economy: an economy in which a minority accumulates wealth by charging for a basic necessity. Blackstone and other private equity vulture funds, banks, and other rentiers have the upper hand today because they hold the keys to our homes.
The rentier economy not only pushes tenants out of their neighbourhoods, it drives up the cost of living and makes life even more precarious for those of us who live off our labour. It also destroys the social fabric, isolates us, and forces us to survive in a city that wants us alone, indebted, and silent. The impunity of these landlords has gone too far. For years, we have been told that we could not do anything about it, that the housing business was untouchable. But the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid is showing that it is possible not only to resist, but even to go on the offensive.
The fight against rentierism has drawn broad support, linking concrete political demands with strong grassroots organizing.
Since the union began organizing, it has achieved major victories that make it clear that the days of landlord impunity are numbered. Recently, the union succeeded in getting companies like Alquiler Seguro, which manages 22,000 apartments throughout Spain, to face fines in the multi-millions for scams related to illegal fees, insurance against non-payment of rent, and deposits that were not returned. It has also ensured that no organized tenant is forced to leave their home, no matter who their landlord is or what tricks they try to pull. We are not moving — even when landlords try to raise our rents, hinder us from renewing our contracts, or even make up stories about their imaginary children who supposedly need to live in the property.
When it comes to the political context, the coalition government made up of the Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and Sumar, an electoral alliance of left-wing parties, finds itself caught between the pressures of the real estate sector and public demands. Although the government has taken some measures, such as capping rent increases in certain municipalities, its response is still insufficient to curb the housing bubble. The political discourse frames renting more as a market issue than a matter of basic rights, and although rental laws have been modified, the lack of genuine intervention in favour of tenants remains a critical problem.
At the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid, we see how centre-left policies fail to address the root of the problem: rentierism. The government maintains a complacent attitude toward the major players in the real estate sector, despite promising change. Through legislative battles and social mobilization, tenant unions are advocating for a radical shift — one that disrupts the process of rent accumulation and promotes the de-commodification of housing as a common good. This implies a critical stance against the government’s partial reforms and seeking legislation that, beyond moderating the market, will break with rentier capitalism and comprehensively protect the rights of tenants.
In this context, the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid has managed to construct a powerful narrative against rentierism. Far from getting bogged down in marginal debates, it has succeeded in identifying rentierism as the main threat to tenants’ rights. The fight against rentierism has drawn broad support, linking concrete political demands with strong grassroots organizing. This has been key to mobilizing many tenants who previously felt unseen in traditional politics.
Our Method: Grassroots Unionism
The Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid is not an NGO, a consultancy firm, or a political party. It is a union, and that means it is organized from the ground up by equals to defend our common interests: a roof over our heads, a dignified life, and the right to the city. Grassroots unionism does not wait around for someone else to come and fix our lives. We meet, share advice, investigate our landlords together, support one another to stop evictions and rent increases, and when necessary, fight back. We do not delegate — we decide collectively.
Grassroots unionism is grounded in the belief that power does not lie with the elites, whether they are comparatively better or worse, but rather with the social majority. It is based on this conviction and on a very concrete view of how to organize: it is not a matter of telling people what to think, but of always starting from where the people are, rather than where we would like them to be. Organizing tenant power means building community in a world that wants us isolated. It means bringing back neighbourhood assemblies, talking to our neighbours, and knowing that we are not alone.
The union’s victories — such as the rent strikes against the vulture fund Nestar, the third-largest landlord in Spain, which led to a 30-percent rent reduction for tenants — are a clear example that, when tenants organize and support each other, they are unstoppable. Grassroots unionism is not just a method, it is the path towards transforming our communities.
The union has successfully set up tenant pickets in more than 20 neighbourhoods across Madrid.
Part of the union’s approach lies in constant training. Knowledge is power, and to fight effectively we need tools that allow us to organize better. This is why the union has launched various trainings throughout the years, to equip its members with skills pertaining to key issues such as the principles of union action, organizing apartment blocks, or forming local groups. These trainings not only serve to strengthen individual skills, but also reinforce the cohesion and collective power of the organization.
In addition, the union has published materials such as Organize and Rise: The Tenants Handbook and the book Poder Inquilino (Tenant Power), essential resources to guide new tenants in their organizing process. These publications not only gather experiences and strategies, but also serve as training tools for people who are joining the struggle, providing them with a solid foundation for active participation in the movement. Disseminating these materials is key for spreading the union’s ideas and reaching every corner of the city, facilitating the self-organization and politicization of everyone involved.
In the months leading up to the demonstration on 5 April 2025, the union launched a new tool: piquetes inquilinos, or tenant pickets, a key tactic for articulating the struggle in the neighbourhoods. Tenant pickets are outreach groups that inform, mobilize, and build support networks in the neighbourhoods, expanding tenant organization and increasing support for the rent strike. Their ultimate goal is to build up enough strength to carry out rent strikes and grow the union. You do not have to be an expert to participate: these are inclusive, action-oriented spaces where anyone can join to fight for real change.
The union has successfully set up tenant pickets in more than 20 neighbourhoods across Madrid. That is where grassroots unionism comes to life, shaping networks of solidarity, mutual support, and resistance against abuses in the housing market. The tenant pickets are an extension of the union’s organizing model, demonstrating its capacity to engage and mobilize new people by agitating and making the everyday conflict of living in rented space visible.
Our Tool: The Rent Strike
Rent strikes consist of withholding rent payments as a way of applying pressure. It is a broad concept that includes a range of possible strategies depending on the nature of the conflict, the objectives, and the degree of collective strength that can be built. That is where the tenant picket comes in: it is a key organizing tool that makes it possible to identify, mobilize, and accumulate the forces needed to carry out a successful rent strike.
There are currently rent strikes underway in Madrid and Barcelona targeting two of the largest landlords in Spain: Néstar-Azora and La Caixa. These strikes are setting a precedent for the rest of the tenant movement. In several apartment blocks owned by the vulture fund Néstar-Azora, tenants have stopped paying up to 30 percent of their rent due to abusive clauses in their contracts. In Barcelona, comrades in the Tenants’ Union of Catalonia have launched a total strike against Inmo Criteria Caixa, with dozens of tenants fighting for public housing and against abusive contracts. These strikes are just the beginning.
For the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid, rent strikes encompass various forms of collective action against rentierism. They can involve withholding rent entirely for a certain period of time or pressuring landlords to reduce the rent or improve the conditions of the property, such as carrying out necessary repairs. They can also take the form of a partial strike, especially to challenge abusive requirements such as payment of property tax or community fees, which are common in contracts with large real estate companies or vulture funds. Another form involves staying in the home after the contract has expired, maintaining the rental conditions while negotiating a fairer renewal. These strikes not only seek to immediately improve tenants’ conditions, but they also serve as a tool of political pressure to challenge abusive rents and the precariousness of the system.
Each type of strike has its own dynamics, risks, and specific actions, but they all share the same purpose: to challenge the rentier system, build tenant power, and collectively press for improvements. Every strike we are able to support is a step towards a bigger goal: a general rent strike that challenges the rentier system altogether. Victories in concrete conflicts build trust and legitimacy.
What was once considered unthinkable has today become a reality: rent strikes are now a central topic of conversation across the country.
Currently, rent strikes are not legally recognized in the Spanish legal system. Although there are situations in which a stronger legal defence is possible, such as in cases of strikes over damages or abusive contract clauses, the legitimacy of these actions does not depend solely on legal arguments, but rather on their social and political support above all. That is why they are all accompanied by visibility campaigns, neighbourhood solidarity, and support from the entire union.
It is important to remember that a rent strike is never the first step in a conflict. It will always be necessary to analyze each case and build a long-term strategy — starting with lower-intensity tactics and then escalating if needed. The rent strike is the strongest card we have, so we use the other union tools we have available first.
But rent strikes are not just about withholding payment. They are much more than that: they are a collective effort to build enough strength to make the landlords tremble. Historically, rent strikes have been a form of self-defence for the working classes during periods when housing was a poverty trap. That is still true today. Moreover, a rent strike reminds us of something fundamental: that all of the landlords’ power depends on tenants’ money. We are the ones who line their pockets month after month. Each rent payment contributes to their wealth. Striking shows us that, if we organize, we can shut off that tap and take back power.
Disobedience and a refusal to accept what the market imposes on us as “normal” have always been part of the tenant struggle. Raising the stakes in the fight against rentierism requires new tools like strike funds. The resources they raise not only cover strike logistics, such as legal expenses, but also go towards building a support structure for future rent strikes, because a strike is only as powerful as the community that supports it. You can find more information and contribute to the strike fund here.
What was once considered unthinkable has today become a reality: rent strikes are now a central topic of conversation across the country. Because thousands of tenants have been organized and mobilized, rent strikes are being discussed in the mainstream media and have entered political and social debate. The union has brought the fight against rentierism into public view in a way that has never been done before. As a result, the fear has changed sides: now it is the landlords who are afraid of organized non-payment.
Our Goal: A Post-Capitalist Transformation through an Alliance of Struggles
Tenant power is not an end in itself. It is a piece of something bigger: an emancipatory project that breaks with the logic of a system that privatizes shared resources and condemns us to poverty. We know that there is no dignified work without housing, and there is no future without a planet. That is why the struggle for decent housing needs to join forces with labour unionism, environmentalism, feminism, and all struggles that, like ours, are rooted in daily life and confront capital.
The union is still in the early stages of this process, but it is becoming increasingly aware of the needs that arise from the struggles themselves. Sometimes the specialized nature of the dynamics of struggle tend to isolate us, leading to fragmentation, identity-based divisions, and responses that fail to take the bigger picture into account. That is why the Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid has started to explore new forms of organization that allow us to move forward collectively.
In the medium to long term, the objective is to build an autonomous, diverse, grassroots political subject capable of intervening in the social and political landscape and building a new hegemony. This commitment to an alliance of struggles should allow us to move towards a comprehensive form of unionism that encompasses not only housing, but also labour, feminism, and environmental justice. We need to create a home together where we can share ideas, strategies, and a common vision for the future — because if we do not do politics, then others will do it for us.
Being a tenant does not just mean fighting for housing — it means fighting for everything.
In practice, this alliance has to come from the grassroots. It has to be regional. It is not about creating top-down coordination, but rather fostering an organic union of struggles that arises at the community level, respects local autonomy, and is strengthened through cooperation. The alliance should evolve gradually, beginning with the strengthening of existing organizations and ultimately working towards creating a new structure that allows us to communicate our ideas more effectively.
The alliance-building process has advanced significantly this year as we have strengthened ties with other unions and social movements. The Sindicato de Inquilinas de Madrid has successfully established bilateral relationships with collectives in different cities, sharing resources and strategies and making our struggles visible in a unified way. At the national level, it is building a solid network of mutual aid and coordination between neighbourhoods, which goes beyond specific housing demands. It has also helped create joint educational spaces for sharing experiences and knowledge that strengthen organizing capacity. This process has not only broadened the union’s vision, it has also helped grassroots unionism grow organically, opening the door to new alliances and multiplying our strength on the ground.
The transformative goal proposed by the union is grounded in a form of unionism that puts life, in all its dimensions, at the centre of political action. It is a form of unionism that does not wait for power to be seized, but instead begins now, through everyday struggles, to prefigure the type of society we want to build. It is a revolutionary unionism, one that does not limit itself to defending what we have, but seeks to transform the very structures that oppress us.
Thus, rent strikes, grassroots unions, housing cooperatives, and eco-social struggles are not separate pieces, but must converge into a common strategy. Creating an alliance of struggles is the only way to build the popular power we need so that our demands go beyond narrow, isolated issues. Faced with the everyone-for-themselves logic that the market imposes on us, the union champions an alliance of struggles and the rebuilding of a world where living well is not a privilege.
Being a tenant does not just mean fighting for housing — it means fighting for everything.
Translated by Alice Rodgers and Joseph Keady for Gegensatz Translation Collective.