The House finance committee is set to hold an extraordinary session on Thursday afternoon to discuss extending the foreclosures bill in a process MPs have earmarked as urgent.
Tabled by Akel, the Green party and Edek MP Costis Efstathiou, the bills aim to extend the freeze on property foreclosures for another three months. It concerns property mortgaged for non-performing loans.
Akel MP Giorgos Loukaides said the aim was to get the bill to plenum as soon as possible so it could be voted through immediately. The reason was the same as all the other times the law came into effect, he added – protecting vulnerable home owners.
“This is tabled as urgent so the new government can move forward quickly and bring to parliament the mortgage to rent scheme, allowing parliament to discuss the necessary changes in the institutional framework.”
At the moment, banks are foreclosing properties without a broader discussion on how a balance can be restored between clients and bankers, Loukaides added. More importantly, there is a glaring absence of measures to protect vulnerable property owners he added.
Dipa MP Alekos Trifonidis said the new finance minister and government needed more time to come up with proposals on resolving the problem on non-performing loans.
Foreclosures freezing has long been a contentious issue. The last time deputies voted to extend the freeze until the end of January 2023, the Bank of Cyprus chief called it ridiculous, and a move “tragic for the country.”
Last year, former President Nicos Anastasiades sent the bill to the Supreme Court citing unconstitutionality, however court ruled against the appeal.
Temporary foreclosures freezes have been implemented since 2021, usually for a span of a few months, until MPs vote it through into law anew.
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