CASE OF VASKRSIĆ v. SLOVENIA
Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Protection of property (Article 1 para. 1 of Protocol No. 1 - Peaceful enjoyment of possessions;Article 1 para. 2 of Protocol No. 1 - Control of the use of property);Pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage - award (Article 41 - Non-pecuniary damage;Pecuniary damage;Just satisfaction)
András Sajó;Boštjan Zalar;Egidijus Kūris;Krzysztof Wojtyczek;Marko Bošnjak;Nona Tsotsoria;Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque;Vincent A. De Gaetano
6. The applicant was born in 1980 and lives in Kresnice. 7. The applicant and his family lived in a house in Litija which was sold in the impugned enforcement proceedings, described below. 8. During the proceedings described below the applicant was the subject of enforcement claims brought by three different creditors, namely a public water-supply company JP Vodovod-kanalizacija J. (hereinafter “company J.”), private company Porsche Kredit in Leasing SLO (hereinafter “company P.”), and an individual, A.A. Each creditor was seeking to enforce its own claim against the applicant. Although company P. had initially requested that the enforcement be carried out by seizing the applicant’s house, its claim was subsequently paid from the applicant’s bank account. Having been unsuccessful in securing the payment of its claim by the sale of movable property, company J. subsequently requested that enforcement action be taken against the applicant’s house. The house was ultimately sold at public auction for the purposes of enforcing company J.’s claim. A.A. joined the proceedings with his claim after the house had been awarded to the successful bidder at the aforementioned public auction. As the applicant repaid the debt to company J. after the auction, the proceeds from the sale of the house were used to cover his debt to A.A. Taxes and the outstanding mortgage on the house were also paid from the proceeds. 9. Company J. is based in Ljubljana and is the largest public water-supply company in Slovenia. On 18 December 2007 it sent the applicant a water bill in the amount of 124 euros (EUR), which was due to be paid on 5 January 2008. 10. As the applicant had not settled the aforementioned water bill of 18 December 2007, company J. instituted enforcement proceedings against him on 28 May 2009. It sought enforcement of the principal amount of EUR 124 plus default interest. 11. On 2 June 2009 the Ljubljana Local Court issued an enforcement decision – a writ of execution – against the applicant, ordering the seizure of his movable property as requested by company J. The decision contained a notice that an objection could be lodged by the debtor within a time-limit of eight days. The decision was served on the applicant on 24 June 2009. Since the applicant did not object to it, it became final on 3 July 2009. The case was subsequently transferred to the Litija Local Court for further consideration. 12. On 7 January 2010 an enforcement officer went to the applicant’s house with a view to seizing movable property. A report drawn up by the enforcement officer stated that nobody was at the property. The enforcement officer left a note, which included information concerning the attempted enforcement of the principal debt, interest and costs totalling EUR 376. He also wrote to the applicant inviting him to pay the debt voluntarily. 13. On 2 March 2010 company P. instituted enforcement proceedings seeking payment of EUR 1,576 together with interest accrued as from 10 July 2009 until payment. It proposed several means of enforcement, including the sale of the applicant’s house. The Ljubljana Local Court granted the request and the decision was served on the applicant on 9 March 2010. Since the applicant did not lodge an objection, the decision became final on 18 March 2010 and was transferred to the Litija Local Court for further consideration. 14. On 21 April 2010, as part of the proceedings instituted by company P., the Litija Local Court ordered a valuation of the applicant’s house. The order was served on the applicant through his father. Subsequently, on 2 June 2010, a property valuer submitted a report in which he set the market value of the house at EUR 140,000. He also stated that the applicant had assured him on the phone that the debt had already been repaid, but had then failed to submit confirmation of such repayment. The report was sent to the applicant for comment. As neither the applicant nor any other adult member of his household was found at the address, a note was left on 8 June 2010 directing the applicant to collect the report at the post office. However, he failed to do so, and on 24 June 2010 the report was left in his mailbox (see paragraphs 52 and 53 below). The applicant did not react to the report. 15. In the meantime, on 29 April 2010, the enforcement officer inspected the interior of the applicant’s house in the presence of the applicant’s wife and concluded that it contained no objects which could be seized and sold to cover the debt concerned in the proceedings instituted by company J. The officer again left a note inviting the applicant to pay the debt, now amounting to EUR 516, voluntarily. In his report, he proposed that the creditor choose some other means of enforcement, because enforcement directed against movable property would not suffice for the payment of the enforcement costs, let alone the debt. It was also established that the applicant’s car was leased and therefore could not be seized for enforcement purposes. 16. On 15 June 2010 company J. applied to the Litija Local Court for an attachment order in respect of the applicant’s immovable property, namely his house. 17. On 17 June 2010 the Litija Local Court granted company J.’s application and issued a decision allowing enforcement to be carried out by means of the sale of the applicant’s house. The decision was served on the applicant via his wife on 21 June 2010. The applicant did not lodge an objection. Subsequently, the court joined company J.’s application to the proceedings instituted by company P. 18. On 1 July 2010, the Litija Local Court set the amount to be paid to the property valuer. This was then paid from the deposit made by company P. On the same day the court also issued a decision setting the market price of the applicant’s house at EUR 140,000. After an unsuccessful attempt to serve both decisions on the applicant, they were left in the applicant’s mailbox (see paragraphs 52 and 53 below). The applicant did not appeal against the decisions. 19. On 31 August 2010 the Litija Local Court discontinued the enforcement proceedings pursued by company P. because the debt had been paid by means of the seizure of assets from the applicant’s bank account. 20. On 1 September 2010 the Litija Local Court ordered that a public auction of the applicant’s house be held on 7 October 2010. Following an unsuccessful attempt on 3 September 2010 to serve the order and the summons on the applicant, they were left in his mailbox (see paragraphs 52 and 53 below) on 20 September 2010. 21. On 2 September 2010 the Litija Local Court discontinued the enforcement action in respect of the applicant’s movable property because company J. had not lodged a new application within three months of the failed attempt (see paragraph 15 above). The decision was served on the applicant on 6 September 2010. 22. On 7 October 2010 a first public auction of the applicant’s house was held. However, there were no interested buyers. The applicant did not appear. 23. On 8 October 2010 the Litija Local Court ordered a second public auction to be held on 18 November 2010. Following an unsuccessful attempt to serve the order and the summons on the applicant on 14 October 2010, a note was left directing the applicant to collect them at the local post office. As he failed to do so, they were left in his mailbox (see paragraphs 52 and 53 below) on 2 November 2010. 24. In the meantime, on 18 and 25 October 2010, company J. applied to the Litija Local Court for an extension of the enforcement order to other means of enforcement, namely the attachment of the applicant’s bank account and his salary respectively. 25. At the second public auction held on 18 November 2010 the house was sold to M.L. for EUR 70,000, namely 50% of its estimated market value. The applicant did not appear. 26. On 19 November 2010 the Litija Local Court issued a written decision awarding the property to the bidder, M.L. (sklep o domiku). The award decision, together with a copy of the minutes of the second auction, was served on the applicant via his wife on 23 November 2010. 27. On 22 November 2010 the Litija Local Court granted company J.’s application and attached to the enforcement order the applicant’s salary and bank account. The decision was served on the applicant on 24 November 2010. The decision mentioned that enforcement had previously been ordered against movable property, but contained no mention of the judicial sale of the house. It was noted that up to two thirds of the salary the applicant was receiving from his employer K. could be seized, provided that the applicant was left with the statutory minimum guaranteed income. The decision also contained a notice to the bank, which stated, among other things, that if no assets were currently available, the bank should proceed with the seizure once assets became available; if no assets became available within a year of the decision being served on the bank, the latter should inform the court to that effect. 28. On 22 November 2010 another creditor, A.A., applied to the court for enforcement of a court judgment granting him compensation together with costs and interest, totalling EUR 5,112, with accrued interest. He requested that the enforcement be carried out by attachment of the applicant’s house. 29. On 24 November 2010 the applicant lodged an appeal against the award decision in which he informed the court that he had repaid the debt (see paragraph 26 above). He argued, inter alia, that he had been unable to go to the auction and that he had only learned from the impugned decision that the auction had been held. He further submitted that in the meantime he had repaid his debt. He had been having financial difficulties throughout that year since his father had died and his mother had lost her job. In this connection he submitted that he had needed to support her in addition to his wife, who had also been unemployed, and his two children. He stressed that in the event that the award decision were not revoked, his family would risk becoming homeless. Moreover, his employer, company K., had received the same day the enforcement order directed against his salary. 30. Following the applicant’s repayment of the debt on 24 November 2010, company J. on the same day applied to the court for discontinuation of the enforcement proceedings. 31. On 25 November 2010 the Litija Local Court discontinued the enforcement proceedings instituted by company J. 32. On 2 December 2010 the Ljubljana Local Court granted the application for attachment of the applicant’s house in the enforcement proceedings instituted by A.A. (see paragraph 28 above). 33. The applicant lodged an objection to the above decision (see paragraph 32 above), stating that the enforcement proceedings instituted by company J. had already been discontinued and that he wished to have A.A.’s claim enforced by the seizure of his monetary assets and repaid in twelve monthly instalments. On 19 January 2011 the Litija Local Court dismissed the applicant’s objection and refused to adjourn the enforcement proceedings in respect of the attachment of the applicant’s house. It also refused to allow the enforcement by means of seizure of the applicant’s monetary assets as proposed by the applicant because it had not been shown that such means would lead to the settlement of the debt within a year (see paragraph 49 below). That decision was served on the applicant on 21 January 2011. The applicant did not appeal against it. 34. On 29 December 2010 the Ljubljana Higher Court dismissed an appeal lodged by the applicant against the award decision issued in favour of M.L. (see paragraphs 26 and 29 above), which thus became final. The court held that the applicant had been properly summoned to attend the public auction, which he had not disputed in his appeal, and that he had not given a reason why he had been unable to go to the auction. The court dismissed his allegations that he had been unable to repay the debt. It explained that the enforcement decision concerning the debt of EUR 124 had become final in July 2009, whereas he was relying on circumstances which had taken place in 2010. Moreover, the debt was of minor value. The court further pointed out that the applicant had been properly served with all the court documents in the proceedings but had not reacted to them, which had been entirely his choice. It also found that there was no reason to suggest that the applicant’s family would end up on the street, although their standard of living might worsen as a result of the sale of their house. Lastly, the court referred to Constitutional Court decisions nos. Up-35/98 and Up-77/04 (see paragraph 55 below), stressing that the subsequent repayment of the debt could not lead to the revocation of an award decision that had already been pronounced, regardless of the amount of money to be paid. 35. On 12 January 2011, following the full payment of the sale price by M.L., the Litija Local Court transferred the property sold at public auction to him and ordered that his name be entered as the owner in the Land Register. It further ordered the applicant to vacate the house within thirty days of receipt of the decision. 36. On 21 January 2011 the applicant, now represented by a law firm, lodged an appeal against the decision concerning the transfer of title and applied for revocation of the finality of the award decision. He argued, inter alia, that following the discontinuation of the enforcement proceedings on 25 November 2010, the court should have, in accordance with section 76 of the Enforcement and Securing of Civil Claims Act (hereinafter “the Enforcement Act”, see paragraph 48 below), annulled any enforcement actions already taken; hence it should also have revoked the award decision. He stressed that at the relevant time the buyer had not yet acquired ownership of the property and therefore the revocation of the award decision would not have affected rights already acquired by the buyer. The applicant maintained that the summons for the auction had not been served on him. 37. On 25 May 2011 the Ljubljana Higher Court dismissed the applicant’s appeal. It held that under section 192 of the Enforcement Act (see paragraph 50 below) there were only two conditions to be fulfilled in order to allow the transfer of property to a buyer – a final award decision and the payment of the purchase price. Therefore, the law had been correctly applied. The court also rejected the allegation that the summons had not been served on the applicant, referring to the findings in the decision of 29 December 2010 (see paragraph 34 above). It also rejected the applicant’s assertion that the discontinuation of the enforcement proceedings should have resulted in the annulment of orders to carry out enforcement, including revocation of the award decision. The court further stated that the Constitutional Court, in its decisions nos. Up-35/98 and Up-77/04, had already expressed an opinion that the revocation of the award decision would have interfered with the rights of others (see paragraph 55 below). 38. On 17 June 2011 the Litija Local Court held a hearing on the distribution of the proceeds of the house sale and decided to distribute them as follows: the amounts of EUR 146 and EUR 5,895 would go to the applicant’s creditor, A.A., who had joined his claims to the enforcement proceedings after the house had already been sold; EUR 1,372 to the Tax Office for taxes due for the sale of the house; and EUR 58,888 to a bank on account of the outstanding mortgage on the house. The remainder of the proceeds from the sale in the amount of EUR 3,699 was transferred to the applicant. The decision was served on the applicant on 18 August 2011. 39. At the request of M.L., on 11 July 2011 the Litija Local Court issued a writ of execution against the applicant, ordering the eviction of the applicant’s family from the house. The applicant lodged an objection and a further appeal, which were both dismissed. He referred to his constitutional appeal (see the following paragraph) and essentially argued that the sale should be revoked in view of the fact that he had repaid the debt before the award decision had become final. In his submission, the transfer of the title to M.L. could not therefore be taken as a valid basis for his eviction. 40. In the meantime, on 28 July 2011 the applicant lodged a constitutional appeal against the decisions of 12 January and 25 May 2011 (see paragraphs 35 and 37 above). He argued that the decisions were unlawful and arbitrary and that the sale of his house resulting from a debt of EUR 124 amounted to a disproportionate interference with his property rights. In particular, he argued that the court had been under no obligation to attach immovable property to the enforcement order. He also submitted that an award decision could not become final if the enforcement proceedings had been discontinued, a point he had explicitly raised in his appeal (see paragraph 36 above). 41. On 5 March 2012 the Constitutional Court dismissed the applicant’s constitutional appeal by referring to section 55b(2) of the Constitutional Court Act (see paragraph 54 below). 42. On 16 March 2012 the applicant and his family were evicted from their house with the assistance of the police. They first moved in with their relatives and later acquired a new home.