How Claims for the Transfer of Property Are Enforced
When a vehicle is to be transferred to its owner or to a lessor by a court decision from the person actually holding it, enforcement takes place through the National Enforcement Bureau. Under the law, where claims concern the transfer of an item, the order on the placement of seizure must specify that the obligated person is to transfer the item to the National Enforcement Bureau. Coercive action against the obligated person may be carried out only where the creditor obtains an enforcement document against the obligated person for the surrender of the item.
The subsequent fate of the transferred item differs according to its nature: where a movable item is transferred — and a vehicle is precisely that — the rules for the realization of seized movable items apply, while the transfer of an immovable item is governed by the rules for enforcement against immovable property. This distinction determines which procedural norms apply to the realization of the creditor’s ultimate goal, and it is fixed directly in the statute.
The Coercive Procedure of Eviction and Transfer
The general mechanism of coercive enforcement is described in detail by the law: in a case of reclaiming immovable property from another’s possession, the National Enforcement Bureau ensures the transfer of the property to the creditor in a vacated condition, and the eviction of the debtor and the persons with him from the property indicated in the enforcement sheet takes place together with their movable property. The Bureau hands the debtor a written warning stating the period fixed for voluntary compliance — ten calendar days — as well as the notice that in case of non-compliance the eviction will be carried out by coercion, that in the debtor’s absence it may be carried out without him, and the date and time of the forced eviction.
The creditor has duties of his own in this procedure: the Bureau notifies the creditor of the date and time of the forced eviction, and the creditor is obliged to attend the action; his failure to appear is a ground for postponing the enforcement action, and repeated failure to appear leads to the termination of the proceedings and the return of the enforcement sheet to the creditor. If the debtor attends and does not vacate the property, the enforcement officer may himself arrange the removal of the debtor’s property, and in that case the Bureau bears no liability for its loss, damage, or destruction. In the debtor’s absence, entry into the immovable property is possible with the permission of the Chairman of the Bureau, and the storage of the inventoried property is the creditor’s duty, with the related costs borne by the debtor. Where the persons present disobey the lawful demands of the enforcement officer, the police must assist him.