Auction of a house worth 140.000 euros for a debt to the Slovenian water supply company of 124 euros! The principle of proportionality also applies to property auctions.

JUDGMENT

Vaskrsić v. Slovenia 25-04-2017 (no. 31371/12)

see here 

SUMMARY 

Protection of property. Principle of proportionality. Loss of residence of the applicant due to public auction following the forced execution of the public water company for a debt of EUR 124. The property had a commercial value of 140,000 euros and was auctioned at the amount of 70,000 euros. According to the European Court of Human Rights, auctioning the property in the circumstances of the case did not prove that it was necessary to secure the claim. The low value of the debt coupled with the lack of consideration of other appropriate and less burdensome measures failed to achieve a fair balance between the aim pursued and the measure implemented. There has been a violation of the applicant’s property right.

USE

An important decision to protect debtors whose properties are sold in a public auction. When there is a clear disproportion between the claim and the execution measure in conjunction with the value of the property being auctioned and the amount due and the auction leads to a serious loss of the debtor’s property, there may be a violation of the debtor’s property right.

PROVISION 

Article 1 of the First Additional Protocol

PRINCIPAL FACTS

The applicant, Zoran Vaskrsić, is a Slovenian national who was born in 1980 and lives in Kresnice (Slovenia). Relying in particular on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property), he complained that the sale of his home at public auction had involved a disproportionate interference with his property rights. He alleged that the property had been sold for 50% of its market value, in the course of debt enforcement proceedings arising from a principal debt of only 124 euros.

THE DECISION OF THE COURT 

Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1

Just satisfaction: EUR 77,000 (pecuniary damage), EUR 3,000 (non-pecuniary damage) and EUR 5,000 (costs and expenses)