From the summer of 2021, real estate auctions have resumed. Hundreds of seizures and auctions are conducted electronically every week. Now the electronic conduct of auctions shows us the following: a) the reasons for the invalidity of the auction are minimized due to possible irregularities in its conduct and b) that the debtor may know the successful bidders at least two days before the auction (and therefore be aware of any lack thereof which entails usually the barren auction).
Also, since the autumn, changes have been made once again to the Code of Civil Procedure, with the most basic ones concerning the process of foreclosures and auctions of real estate. The shorter deadlines for where the auction is to take place have changed, and vice versa for the rest.
But the most important thing is that important defensive procedural weapons are once again being taken away from the citizens, especially the borrowers. In the previous amendments, the article on the debtor's right to request the suspension of the seizure when it started was removed, a huge advantage for the creditors who acted undisturbed afterwards. Now although this article is back it does not apply to real estate (!)
But another right that was abolished through an amendment to facilitate again the creditors and especially the banks is that now if a property that is put up for auction has no buying interest then its price will automatically decrease after the second auction attempt. The difference with what is valid until the beginning of the year is that the bank was obliged to go to court to reduce the price of the property, which practically meant that the debtor could respectively support and prove that the value of the property should not change or at least ensure that it would change less than what the bank was asking for. Now, regardless of the condition of the property, its price will fall automatically and without litigation. One can therefore easily understand what is happening and what will be the practice that will be followed from now on so that the properties are sold at even lower prices and of course the debtors still owe to their lenders while they will have lost the real estate their property.
It is therefore very important to know the few weapons we have in this case and of course to use them to the fullest, because they are limited and relate mainly to the beginning of the execution process.
We will therefore look at some flaws / errors in the pre-auction process that will ultimately lead to the cancellation of the foreclosure and / or auction of the property.
- Failure of pre-auction auction formalities - Late posting of the seizure report on the website of the Bulletin of Judicial Publications
Among those defined in article 995 par. 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure for the actions of the bailiff during the preparation and notification of the seizure report is that he must proceed within 15 days from the seizure to the publication of the excerpt on the website https: //deltio.tnomik.gr/. If the publication does not take place within the above deadline, the auction can not be validly validated and if it is, it is challenged with an objection and finally canceled.
Similarly, the same curator must submit the necessary auction documents to the competent notary within 20 days from the seizure and prepare the relevant report.. If the said deposit does not take place in time, any auction will be canceled if there is another objection in time.
- Late service of a copy of the seizure report to the debtor
When the foreclosure report is drawn up, the bailiff usually does not enter the property in question, although he has the right to do so. It is practical not to deliver the foreclosure report on the spot but if the debtor resides in the same municipality as the foreclosed property, the service deadline is one day after the foreclosure. However, if he resides in a different municipality, then the deadline is 8 days after the seizure. If these deadlines are not met, the seizure becomes invalid and therefore with the appropriate opposition is canceled.
- Auction determination before 5 months or after 6 months
The auction must take place between 5 and 6 months from the time of the seizure report. Violation of these arrangements and the scheduling of the auction before the five-month period or after the six-month period shall result in the annulment of the seizure report and any auction held. In recent months, decisions of the courts of first instance have been published accepting that August should not be counted for the calculation of the seven months.
- Improper drafting of a seizure report
The preparation of the seizure report must meet certain conditions. Must e.g. to be signed by the bailiff and by a witness, in whose presence it is drawn up. The on-site transfer of the curator to the property must also be certified as remote seizure cannot be made. The foreclosure report, however, is required to contain the necessary information for the exact description of the property (type: urban or rural property, shop, apartment, office, detached house, area, street, number, floor, etc. ∙ boundaries and area ). If there is any doubt about the local and financial identity of the detainee, then the seizure can be revoked. Such a case occurs e.g. when it is not mentioned in the seizure report of a building of significant area and value on the property or when there are large deviations in the surface of the property.
- Failure to submit a seizure report to the competent cadastral office
A copy of the seizure report is served on the mortgagee (land registry) of the region where the seizure is located within five (5) days of the seizure. If this service does not take place on time, then the seizure report is canceled.
- Lack of ordering on the inventory
If there is no execution order on the body of the inventory by the attorney, then the seizure report is canceled. It is important not only to have the execution order, but to have it given exactly on the body of the title of the inventory. Indeed, this defect is rare, but it is still one of the reasons why arrest warrants have been canceled.
- Enforcement of check checks
Failures in the procedure of the check to be executed and in its content, may result in the invalidity of the seizure. The same happens with any irregularities in the process of notifying the necessary documents when we have a transfer of loan receivables to a special purpose company in the context of securitization or a receivables company under Law 4354/2015 for the transfer of "red loans", or mergers / separations of credits institutions or transfers following a transfer order from the BoG in the context of liquidation of credit institutions. It has already been stated that the provision should be considered to apply in the case of entrusting the collection of receivables from bank loans or credits to a management company, which must notify the relevant management contract, as well as when its management has been assigned by an acquiring company. such claims, and a certificate of registration in the public book of the contract of sale and their transfer to the latter.
- Title defects - invalidity of payment order
The invalidity of the attachment report can also be led to the invalidity of the enforceable title on which it is based, which usually takes the form of a payment order. If, therefore, a first objection has been lodged against the payment order, ie an objection under Article 632 of the ICCPR, its invalidity should be judged by the court hearing the objection against the seizure report, so that any decision to annul it is issued. foreclosure prior to the auction. This of course opens up a very large field of defense, as the possible irregularities of the payment order can be dozens.
- Abusive execution
Cases of enforcement actions have often been brought before the courts, where the debtor alleges that they are being abused. In other words, this is a report of the actual facts that may substantiate the abusive attitude of the lender and differ from case to case.
