New law proposes an end to home repossessions

The government has proposed the introduction of a total prohibition on evictions - this regulation can be found in the amended Code of Civil Procedures, which is to be examined today by the Sejm. At present the law protects only certain groups of tenants from eviction, such as the chronically ill, the unemployed and families with small children. At the same time the government moved a motion for the prohibition to apply not only to tenants, but also owners of houses and flats. The bailiff would not be able to evict anybody until the creditor (e.g. a bank) or gmina assures the evicted person a roof over his or her head. Bankers, however, warn that the threat of eviction is the ultimate deterrent for those who do not pay back loans and that the proposed regulations infringe a certain principle, namely that if you do not pay, the bank with its recorded mortgage in the real estate register, has the right to evict you. If the mortgage became a weaker safeguard for a loan, banks would have to establish more stringent borrowing criteria and as a result, loans would become less accessible. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. A1) A.C.