The need for immediate changes in the current legislative framework of sales and the restoration of basic rights of borrowers and guarantors was brought before the Parliament’s Finance Committee by party deputies, requesting that the relevant pending law proposals be discussed as soon as possible.
AKEL MP Aristos Damianou stated in his statements that for a decade the party has been making an effort “to restore the balance between the super-privileges of the banks and now the credit acquisition and management companies and the basic rights of borrowers and guarantors”. As he stated, the most basic human right we are fighting for is unhindered access to justice, so that borrowers can claim a stay of sale of their first home and small business premises, in cases where there is an allegation of abusive clauses or a dispute about the balance of the loan.
Mr. Damianou recalled that similar efforts were made in 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2023, without result, noting that the law proposals submitted by AKEL and other parties must be discussed within February. As he said, “it must be finally decided whether the basic rights that were willfully removed by the majority of the Parliament and the previous Government will continue to exist or whether we will return to a fairer state of affairs”.
He also stated that he had sent a relevant letter on December 1, adding that now is the time and place to have this discussion with a sense of urgency, stressing that “on the day of the Christmas holidays, people were evicted as a result of the existing legislative framework”. At the same time, he expressed the position that the Minister of Finance “has been quick to prejudge some things without listening to the proposals on their merits”.
In the same context, the President of the Environmental Movement – Citizens’ Cooperation, Stavros Papadouris, said that his party asks to open the issue of auctions as soon as possible to the Finance Committee, recalling that there are many submitted law proposals.
As he mentioned, as of December 8, 2023, a proposal for a law regarding the inalienable right of the borrower to go to court to determine the legal amount owed before the auction has been re-filed. He emphasized that this is a “tragic distortion”, since in Cyprus it is allowed to complete an auction within nine months to a year, while the determination of the legal amount owed through the courts, due to delays, can take seven to nine years.
Mr Papadouris also referred to proposals regarding the status of guarantors, abusive clauses and the amount of loans, pointing out that borrowers are now being asked to manage non-performing loans “loaded with abusive clauses”, which can only be challenged through the courts. As he said, “we are at a point where serious political decisions must be made”, calling on the parties to position themselves in the Plenary on whether the current system satisfies them or whether it should be changed.
Referring to risk concerns for the financial sector, he noted that licensed credit institutions have high liquidity and do not face recapitalization issues.
Source: KYPE