E/C.12/55/D/2/2014
9.6 The author submitted a communication to the Committee on 28 January 2014,
within the time limit set in article 3, paragraph 2 (a), of the Optional Protocol.
9.7 The Committee finds that the communication in this case meets the requirements
of admissibility under article 3, in particular under article 3, paragraph 2 (e), of the
Optional Protocol. It is a communication that raises the possibility of a violation of the
author’s right to housing by reason of possibly inadequate notice of mortgage
enforcement proceedings, which, it is claimed, prevented a proper defence in those
proceedings, and the Committee therefore considers that the communication is
sufficiently substantiated for consideration on the merits.
Consideration of the merits
Facts and legal issues
10.1 The Committee has considered the present communication taking into account
all the information provided to it in accordance with the provisions of article 8 of the
Optional Protocol.
10.2 The author claims that, after she had missed several mortgage repayments on her
normal place of residence, in 2012 the lending institution took mortgage enfor cement
proceedings against her, but that she did not receive adequate notice and accordingly
became aware of the proceedings only after the auction of her home was ordered.
Consequently, she believes that she did not in practice have access to effective an d
timely judicial protection, which prevented her from mounting a judicial response to
the proceedings and protecting her right to housing in the courts, with the result that
she now finds herself in a position of vulnerability, uncertainty and anxiety.
10.3 The State party argues that in her motion for reconsideration the author referred
to another family home, which means that the dwelling in question was not her usual
residence; that the Court served notice of the decision to admit the mortgage
enforcement application in accordance with the law, at the address the author herself
had given in the mortgage loan instrument; that only after several unsuccessful
attempts to serve notice in person did the Court order notification to be served by
publicly posting the notice in accordance with article 686, paragraph 3, of the Civil
Procedure Act; and that the public posting of a notice of proceedings meets the
requirements of the right to effective judicial protection. Moreover, the State argues
that, when notice was being served on 28 September 2012, the author deliberately
refused to receive the notification of the application and the Court ’s decision to admit
the application (see para. 8.4). Lastly the State party has informed the Committee that
there has in any case been no eviction, enforcement or auction of the mortgaged
property as the author lodged an ordinary appeal that resulted in suspension of
enforcement, and accordingly continues to live in the dwelling, and her rights have not
been violated.
10.4 As regards the nature of the mortgaged property referred to in the present
communication, the Committee takes note of the author ’s explanations that when she
mentioned another family residence in the mortgage enforcement proceeding, she was
referring to the home of a member of her family (see para. 5.1), that she lives in the
residence in question and that she does not own another residence. The documentation
provided by the author (see note 7 above), which has not been contested by the State
party, bears out her claims. None of the documentation submitted to the Committee
indicates that the property in question is not the author ’s usual place of residence or
that she owns another home. Consequently, in the light of the documentation
contained in the file and the information provided by the parties, the Committee views
the property in question as the author ’s usual place of residence.
GE.15-17368
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