CYPRUS: Supreme Court says foreclosures bills “unconstitutional”

A set of four bills tabled by opposition parties in parliament to alter the package on foreclosures of mortgages are unconstitutional, the Supreme Court said on Friday, thus paving the way for the Troika of international lenders to release the sixth tranche of €436 mln in bailout money.

The highest court ruling justifies President Nicos Anastasiades, reports said, whose efforts to get the bill, as well as a parallel effort on insolvencies through parliament had stalled by populist politicians, not realising the outstanding action was the only remaining obstacle for banks to recover a record rate of non-performing loans.
The island’s commercial and cooperative banks, with more than 50% of their loan-book deemed as NPLs, will now be able to begin a process of dialogue with borrowers to recover assets, particularly from major corporates that are cash-rich and refuse to pay back their loans.
The government has gone to extremes to introduce additional safeguards for borrowers, such as relieving a primary home from foreclosure, as well as resorting to arbitration in the case where a borrower is insolvent.
Also, the benchmark for the revaluation of properties will now be less rigid as this will no longer be determined solely by the Land Surveys Department and the assessment by the recovering bank.