The regulations will form part of the foreclosure law.

A land registry official told deputies that auctioneers will be appointed by the registry’s head, through random selection by electronic software, which will ensure that all auctioneers are appointed.

“The system will select at random, and will remove auctioneers that have already been appointed,” he said.

According to the official, at present the interior ministry has “10 or 15” auctioneers, and plans to recruit an additional 25. However, he added, the auctioneer profession is currently unregulated, which is a matter the government plans to tend to.

The regulations stipulate that loan guarantors be included in “interested parties” that will be informed of the auction.

Once an auction process is underway, the land registry official said, it may not be stopped, unless the bank considers the property’s price too low.

Property owners may not bid for properties in auction. The finance ministry, as well as the legal service, concurred with the regulations and asked that the parliament approves them. Deputy interior committee head Stella Misiaouli said regulating the profession of auctioneer is of the utmost urgency, in order to ensure the avoidance of favourable treatment.

“We are interested in full transparency, as well as avoiding fire-sales,” she said.

Misiaouli and DISY deputy Prodromos Prodromou both came out in favour of online auctions, for which “a bill will probably be forthcoming”.

“It is certainly necessary to organise online auctions, in order to ensure better transparency,” Prodromou said.

“Introducing online auctions and regulating the profession of auctioneer are things we need to look at immediately,” he added.

Source: Cyprus Mail