Taxman seizes 48 properties a day

The taxman has taken administrative possession of an average of 48 properties per day, during the last year.

Of the total of 16,073 actions carried up to November 2018, the majority relate to family homes, although debtors have been able to stay in their properties under 2016 legislation.

Homes, shops, warehouses, farms and building land has been seized for tax debts, 93 fewer properties than in the same period in 2017 but still a number that concerns government.

A law brought in by the Socialist government in May 2016, does not prohibit a family home from being taken over for tax enforcement reasons but has stopped the wholesale auctioning of primary properties, often at a fraction of their market value. 

As for bank seizures of property for non-payment of mortgages, on January 3rd, Portugal’s parliament will debate proposals from the Left Bloc and the Communist Party that aim to call a halt to the current situation where the balance of a loan on a seized property remains payable even after the property has been seized and its value deducted from the mortgage.

The debate will be, whether it is fairer that loans are written off when a property is repossessed by the lender, a proposition than Portugal’s banks will do anything legal to prevent.
 
At present, the so-called dação process does not clear the total debt to the bank as the bank has the property valued (low) and deducts its own valuation figure from the amount outstanding.

This leaves the debtor without a property in which to live and still liable for the outstanding debt.