Filenews 25 April 2023 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Some were waiting for MPs to hear about the foreclosures and others were finally listening. During yesterday's meeting of the House Standing Committee on Finance, the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank (CB) accepted two of the bills. Also, four proposals have been withdrawn and others will be tried to be consolidated, as they share the same philosophy.
The spokeswoman of the Ministry of Finance said that all the proposals restore a time-consuming, long-lasting and ineffective framework, which, as she said, is what led to the closure of the Central Cooperative Bank. The two bills with which the Ministry and the Central Bank agree concern the DISY and DIKO draft law, which provides that with the notice sent by a mortgage lender in case of servicing or claiming payment of mortgage debt, standardized information is also sent to borrowers, guarantors and collateral providers. Regarding this bill, the Ministry and the Central Bank consider that it is in the context of transparency.
The second proposal for a law comes from AKEL and provides that in case a mortgage debtor chooses to proceed with the exchange of mortgaged property against repayment of a debt to a mortgagee and the property is a main residence or business premises, the exchange value should be defined as the market value resulting from the existing property valuation process.
Foreclosure Court
The spokeswoman of the Ministry of Finance said that a bill was prepared for the establishment of a special jurisdiction within the district courts. It will concern mortgaged properties, main residences worth up to €350,000. With the new proposal of the Government, as has been said, an attempt was made to remove the unconstitutional issues identified by the Legal Service. The new proposal has been sent for legislative scrutiny to the Legal Service.
Regarding the Rent for Instalment Scheme, the ministry spokeswoman noted that interventions at the highest level have overcome the EU's reservations and there is a positive development, however, she could not comment on when the final decision of the European Commission is expected. Regarding the law proposals that will make the decisions of the Financial Ombudsman binding, the ministry's spokeswoman said that the European Directive does not prohibit the binding nature of decisions. For his part, Financial Commissioner Pavlos Ioannou said he distinguishes between the "nomenklatura of the Ministry of Finance" and the finance minister himself. He added that sooner or later decisions will become binding in cases where a consumer accepts his decision. According to the Commissioner, as a first step, KEDIPES and OCHS should accept the binding nature of the decisions.
