Filenews 31 October 2023 - by Eleftheria Paizanou
Until the end of the year, it seems for the time being, the freeze on foreclosures of primary residences worth up to €350,000, which was voluntarily implemented in July by credit acquiring companies and banks, will be extended. Today that decision expires, but converging information indicates that it is most likely to be extended for another two months, until the Government and the parties reach a mutually acceptable formula in relation to the legal framework of foreclosures.
The foreclosures were put on ice last July, in order to give the Ministry of Finance time to meet the demands of the co-governing parties (DIKO, EDEK and DEPA), which were waiting for the preparation of a bill to expand the powers of the Financial Commissioner and at the same time to make improvements to the bill for the creation of a special jurisdiction at the level of the District Court. known as the Foreclosure Court.
Unfortunately, there has been a long delay on the government side in preparing the legislation, which is why political pressure has been exerted on creditors in recent days, as Phileleftheros wrote last week. Although the credit-acquiring companies had denied that they had been hit with such incidents, the information insists that an extension of the freeze is being strongly discussed and announcements on the continuation of the suspension are expected in the coming hours.
Both banks and credit-acquiring companies are concerned about successive suspensions in the implementation of the legislation, as they believe that this does not give the right signals to borrowers. On the other hand, however, they believe that it will be a more painless solution to freeze the auctions by their own decision, instead of through a proposal for a law by the parties. This is because some of the parties may expand the perimeter of the law to include in the freeze mortgaged properties that are business premises or even parcels of land.
Members of Parliament ready to fight
MPs from opposition parties told F that they are monitoring the situation and will intervene if necessary by submitting a bill. Creditors are worried, as the bill on the Body for the Extrajudicial Settlement of Financial Disputes transforms, in their view, the Financial Ombudsman into a quasi-court, as his decisions will be binding. They also have reservations about the Foreclosure Court. At the same time, they appear annoyed, as their views have not been taken into account, as there were no meetings with the government side.
Do co-rulers disagree?
Yesterday, leaders or representatives of the co-governing parties met with the Minister of Finance Makis Keravnos, with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance George Pantelis, as well as with technocrats of the ministry, with whom they discussed the bill on the Financial Commissioner, as well as the bill on special jurisdiction in court.
The co-governing parties expressed their strong dissatisfaction with the long delay on the part of the Government.
As "F" is informed, representatives of the parties demanded changes to the bill on the court for special jurisdiction. They requested that, in the special jurisdiction, in addition to main residence cases, borrowers who have a mortgage, business premises and parcels of land should also be addressed. In addition, they demand that the law set out the timeframe within which the special court will issue rulings and incorporate a provision to freeze interest on loans when borrowers go to court.
On the part of the Ministry, we are informed that it has been said that the period within which the court should examine cases and issue a decision cannot be included in the law, as this would be unconstitutional.
Changes for Commissioner
In relation to the bill for the creation of an alternative out-of-court mechanism, which will be implemented through the expansion of the responsibilities of the Financial Commissioner, officials of the co-governing parties expressed at the meeting with the Ministry of Finance their disagreement with some provisions.
They call for changes to the provisions concerning the organizational structure of the Agency and the Board of Directors, demanding that the participation of supervisory authorities be removed, in order to safeguard the independence of the institution. At the same time, they are asking for some articles to be removed in relation to the powers given to the Assistant Financial Commissioner. Finally, they asked for the law to clarify the way borrowers will follow to contact the Agency. The Ministry of Finance said that some articles would be removed and assurances were given that in the coming days they would come back with a revised text.