A Spanish streaming star bought an apartment building, but couldn’t get rid of the last holdout tenant, an 80-year-old woman.
Spanish streaming star David Cánovas, known as TheGrefgis involved in a legal battle in the courts of Andorra with an 80-year-old woman he is trying to deport.
David Cánovas, 26, has amassed a fortune through his YouTube videos and content on Twitch, where he has more than 29 million subscribers who follow him as he plays video games, showcases his lives and comments on football matches.
During the summer of 2020, the designer bought an apartment building in the Andorran village of Escaldes-Engordany through his real estate company Grefito SLU.
When the previous owner sold the property, he asked residents to leave, and David Cánovas’ company stopped renewing tenants’ contracts.
Everyone ended up leaving, except for one tenant, an 80-year-old woman who had lived in the same apartment for almost 36 years..
Having lived at the property since 1989, the woman’s tenancy agreement was a verbal agreement of indefinite duration – predating the current Tenancy Act 1993 – which entitled her to a lifetime tenancy.
If the company was able to stop renewing the annual contracts of other tenants, she couldn’t do the same for the old ladywho refuses to leave his home.
An “uninhabitable” apartment
The conflict between the two sides has become so tense that the Grefito company, in order not to lose its financial investment, decided to start the renovation work while the old lady was still living in the house.
“The apartment is completely uninhabitable. Many windows and shutters have been torn off and the Andorran winter is very cold“, Pere Cristòfol, the tenant’s lawyer, told Euronews.
The first stages of the building’s renovation transformed it into “fridge“, because there was nothing to insulate it from the cold air, and the frozen pipes did not allow the water to flow.
The lawyer says thatAt the end of 2022, they managed to get the High Court of Justice to order the company to replace the windows. David Cánovas’ company appealed and, to date, a decision is still awaited.
Some months later, in April 2023, the company opens a new front in court and requests the expulsion of the elderly woman. The judge granted the request, but the tenant and her lawyer appealed the decision.
“The trial took place on July 11 and the verdict was delivered on August 18. In my entire career, I have never seen a case unfold so quickly“, says Pere Cristòfol.
“We would like justice to act with the same speed when requests are made by my client as when they are made by the opposing party. (The courts) do not act with the same diligence“, he adds.
Streaming star defends his business
Following the announcement of the legal battle between the elderly woman and the streamer, and in the face of criticism on social networks, David Cánovas released a statement late Monday accusing the woman of “abusive occupation“.
The company claimed the elderly woman had not paid her rent for many months, something her lawyer vehemently denied.
“She continues to pay the rent every month, otherwise she would not have been able to appeal the court’s decision. The fact is that the company has refused to receive the money since January 2021“, says the lawyer, who specifies that it could be a form of pressure from the owners. This is why his client pays the rent to the court every month.
In the same statement, David Cánovas assures that he does not personally manage the company, which means that he was not aware of this information.
ADVERTISEMENTHe also claims that the woman occupies “abusively“two apartments and she does not live in the property.
“It’s not that she doesn’t live in the apartment, it’s just that on very cold days she can’t sleep there.. It’s like someone taking the wheels off your car and asking why you aren’t using it. How can she sleep in these conditions?” said the lawyer.
As for the “abusive occupation“, Pere Cristòfol explains that the two apartments were joined when his client moved into the building.
Euronews contacted the popular Spanish streamer for comment, but did not receive a response.
However, many fans left comments about the case under his videos, comments not very favorable to the streamer: “Grefg, it was you who made life difficult for this grandmother for four years“, we read, while another fan implores to “leave my grandmother in peace!“.
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