The commercial director of Alquiler Seguro, Rafael Durán, has denounced this Wednesday that more than 40 offices of the company have suffered acts of vandalism coinciding with the general strike called over access to housing and the improvement of wages. As he explained, the headquarters were found in the morning with silicone in the locks, posters, and graffiti on the storefronts.
In statements to Antena 3 collected by Europa Press, Durán pointed to the Sindicato de Inquilinas as a possible party responsible for these incidents. He recalled that on the previous day, a group of around one hundred people, led by Alicia del Río, spokesperson for the organization, broke into the offices on Avenida de América, where material damage occurred and a "moral injury" to the staff.
The commercial officer criticized that the Sindicato de Inquilinas repeatedly places Alquiler Seguro at the center of its protests and accuses it of being responsible for the housing access crisis.
"We’re already used to it that the Sindicato de Inquilinas puts us in the spotlight, calls us guilty, and launches absurd proclamations that we’re a fund, that we’re landlords... But, gentlemen, it’s that we don’t pass laws, we in fact comply with the laws that are set for us. We try to provide a service to property owners and tenants; that is our only offense," he defended.
Along these lines, Durán rejected that the company is used as a "scapegoat" and stressed that the company does not own homes.
"We are guilty of putting more than 600 homes on the market each month, with affordable prices. Our clients are individual clients who place their trust, their assets, in us to manage them safely and at the same time be able to provide a service to tenants," he insisted.
Likewise, he denied that the firm contributes to driving up rental prices or imposes abusive clauses on tenants, and encouraged people to compare its ads with those of other real estate portals to check whether Alquiler Seguro is artificially raising rents, as its detractors claim.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Durán defended, reiterating that the company’s advisory policy seeks to moderate rents and reduce tenant turnover.