Andorra Apartment Building Sold for €11M, Leaving Long-Term Tenants in Limbo

A building at number 16 Avinguda del Fener in Escaldes-Engordany, housing 36 rented apartments, has been sold to developers for about €11 million and is nearly fully marketed to individual investors, including YouTubers and content creators. Most units, sized 80 to 86 square metres with two to four bedrooms, are reserved at €4,850 to €5,800 per square metre. Buyers have paid a 10% deposit on reservation, half of the balance a week before notarisation, and the remainder at closing. Horizontal property division is pending, with notarisation expected in June. Renovation costs for remaining units are estimated at €37,500 to €56,000, while some are already updated. Two of three ground-floor commercial spaces are sold; the last is listed at €3,200 per square metre. Eight apartments remain unsold.

Long-term tenants, mostly elderly Andorran nationals living there 30 to 60 years since the 1960s, pay €200 to just over €900 monthly. They learned of the sale informally—via rumours, family ties to former owners, or an architect's visit a month ago for measurements and habitability checks—without formal notice. One resident nearing retirement, who recently invested in upgrades, has consulted lawyers and vows not to leave easily. Another with a serious illness dreads moving medical records to Spain. A third expressed surprise at the former owners' lack of communication, despite decades of close relations. The original family, which bought the property over 60 years ago, sold it wholesale to avoid direct confrontation, sources say.

At a recent informal neighbours' meeting, residents showed no unified plan for protest but agreed the former owners lacked sensitivity. They await potential formal notice from new owners, presumed singular at the time, though units are now fragmenting. Major renovations could allow contract termination under law, heightening fears despite requirements for new owners to honour leases and auto-renew short-term ones.

The case underscores a market shift, per Col·legi d’Agents i Gestors Immobiliaris president Jordi Ribó: owners face frozen rents, rising maintenance, and low yields, prompting bulk sales to developers who resell units individually for profit. Eight such buildings are now for sale in Escaldes-Engordany and Andorra la Vella, shrinking rental stock in a tight market. Legal safeguards buy time, but the trend persists.

In a parallel development, tenants at numbers 34 and 36 Avinguda Doctor Mitjavila in Andorra la Vella recently received formal letters from family owners stating annual leases will end in July 2027 without renewal. The notices demand keys be returned then, citing contractual and legal terms, and note at least doubled rents for continuity. Many retirees, in place 30 to 50 years with minimal past maintenance, face upheaval in a transforming commercial-residential area amid high living costs and frozen rents since 2019.