Parliament: Property auctions frozen in May for those affected by the pandemic

In the multi-bill submitted to the Parliament and in particular the provisions concerning Ministry of Justice, special arrangements are provided for with regard to the suspension seizures and real estate auctions classified as main residence, for those economically affected by the adverse effects of the pandemic, who have been included in the relevant emergency measures.

 Specifically:

• Until 31.5.2021, the execution of seizures, auctions and forced execution for the delivery or return of real estate - main residence, for natural persons who are considered, according to the conditions and criteria set, as affected (basically those who have received financial assistance due to a reduction in salary or income, reduced rent, assistance in the form of refundable advance payment, etc.) is suspended.
•  Similarly, the time limits for the exercise of legal remedies and aids relating to the above enforcement acts shall be suspended.
• The other eligibility criteria for natural persons are specified (value of the main residence up to 250,000 euros, family income, amount of the outstanding capital of the debt, etc.).
•  The terms and conditions for the inclusion of the interested parties in the scheme are specified and the relevant procedure (submission of an application, issue of a certificate, etc.) is defined.
• Authorization is provided for the regulation, by means of a decree, of more specific issues related to the procedure for the suspension of seizures and auctions of real estate.

Specifically, and according to government circles, before July 7, 2019, in the two years 2017-2019, more than 25,000 auctions were conducted by the SYRIZA government. In the absence of any control, thousands of strategic defaulters had crept into the beneficial arrangements, who both enjoyed high incomes and had all their property - and not only their primary residence - protected.

As part of the response to the consequences of the pandemic, the government has in the last year placed the first home of affected households under protection, which is the first objective of the new «second chance» law.

After all, the protection of the first home has been a priority for the government of the New Democracy from day one:

• It introduced the “second chance” for debt adjustment up to 240 instalments (twice as much as previously foreseen), with a state subsidy for vulnerable households and prevention of evictions by re-renting or re-purchasing.
• The “Bridge” programme subsidised the first home loan for households affected by the effects of the pandemic. EUR 47.9 million has already been paid out, corresponding to the subsidisation of 110,037 loans, to 69,443 beneficiaries.
• The “Bridge 2” is expected to benefit 100,000 loan cases.
• It asked financial institutions to proceed with bilateral arrangements for non-performing loans, resulting in the settlement by December 2020 of around 397,000 non-performing mortgage, consumer and business loans amounting to €21.2 billion.
• At the initiative of the government, due to the pandemic, the loan instalments were “frozen” in March 2020, with successive extensions for a year.
• In the same context, due to the exceptional circumstances in the two quarantine periods, all enforcement measures (evictions, auctions, seizures, payment orders) were frozen.
• With improvements to the law on “red loans”, around 6,500 applications have been submitted to save their first home.