E/C.12/55/D/2/2014
Author’s comments on the State party’s observations on admissibility and the
merits
5.1 In a communication of 10 December 2014, the author submitted her comments
on the observations of the State party. The author denies that she owns another
property or lives elsewhere and provides documents to show that the mortgaged
property is her normal residence. 7 She points out that although the State party has
access to various public registers and archives, such as the civil register, the tax office
and the registers kept by each municipality, it questions these fa cts without adducing
any evidence or providing documentation. She states that she is divorced, has no
children and lives alone in the mortgaged property and that, when she referred in her
motion for reconsideration to the possibility of notice being served at the home of a
family member, she was referring to her mother ’s home, the address of which was
known to the lending institution.
5.2 The author points out that her communication concerning a violation of article
11, paragraph 1, of the Covenant, arose out of the failure to notify her of the mortgage
enforcement proceedings in respect of her property, or of the Court ’s decision to admit
the enforcement application, which prevented her from defending her right to housing
in the courts.
5.3 According to the author, article 686, paragraph 3, of the Civil Procedure Act
allows notification by posting of notice only when it has proved impossible to notify
the debtor. Moreover, according to the State party’s procedural rules and the
Constitutional Court’s case law, notification by posting of notice is in general done
only when all possible means of serving notice in person have been exhausted, and
notification has at least been left in the person’s letter box. 8
5.4 The author draws attention to the difference in the way the Court acted when
giving notice of the auction of the mortgaged property, inasmuch as, after two
unsuccessful attempts to serve notice in person, she was left an advice that enabled her
to take effective cognizance of the auction order.
5.5 The author argues that the remedies she initiated with the Court were appropriate
and permitted the Court to consider the violation of her fundamental rights caused by
the posting of notice and to provide redress. She further claims that, according to the
case law of the Constitutional Court, her interlocutory challenge to the Court order on
the auction, referred to by the State party, was not a necessary remedy that needed to
be exhausted before submitting her appeal in amparo to the Constitutional Court. 9
5.6 In the author’s view, the State party’s references to the amendments to the legal
order in order to provide better protection for mortgage holders are neither applicable
nor relevant to the present case.
Third-party submissions
6.1. Under article 8, paragraph 3, of the Optional Protocol, subject to the rules
governing the consideration of communications and to authorization by the
Committee, third parties may submit documentation relevant to the case under
consideration. This documentation must be transmitted to the parties. On 4 February
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GE.15-17368
The author provides a certificate of residence issued by the city of Madrid dated 14 November
2014, and copies of her receipts for the Madrid property tax 2014 and the Madrid waste -collection
tax 2014, issued by the Madrid tax office and which give the address of the mortgaged property as
the author’s place of residence.
The author refers to the fourth legal argument in Constitutional Court judgement No. 59/2014 of 5
May 2014.
The author refers to Constitutional Court judgement No. 216/2013 of 19 December 2013.
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