Appealing an award order following a public sale

Appealing an enforcement officer’s award order

Article 435 of the Bulgarian Code of Civil Procedure does not provide a general right of appeal against an enforcement officer’s actions. Each person may challenge only the specific actions for which that provision gives them a right of appeal. Under Article 435(3), a debtor may appeal an award order on the ground that bidding at the public sale was not properly conducted or that the property was not awarded at the highest price offered. A mortgagor has the same rights, but only in relation to the order awarding the property they mortgaged.

Point 8 of Interpretative Judgment No. 2/2013 of 26.06.2015 of the Supreme Court of Cassation explains which acts of the court and the parties form part of bidding. Service of the invitation to pay voluntarily, valuation of the property and publicity for the sale prepare the way for bidding but are not part of it. They therefore fall outside the scope of review on appeal against an award order. In the operative part of its judgment, the Court expressly included the acts of the court and bidders relating to sealed bids submitted throughout the full bidding period, the acts of parties entitled to purchase by exercising a preferential right, and the acts of the enforcement officer and bidders during open bidding in fixed increments. When the debtor appeals on the ground that bidding was not properly conducted, review is confined to whether those steps in the bidding procedure were properly carried out.

Accordingly, Article 435(3) covers only a debtor’s objections that relate directly to the bidding.

This publication is not a legal opinion or advice on a particular situation or person. The author makes no claim to cover enforcement or the award of property following a public sale exhaustively. For legal assistance in a similar case, consult a civil lawyer specialising in enforcement.