Course programme
Foreclosure Defence
Learning Objectives
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Identify the defences available at each stage of foreclosure proceedings
- Challenge the validity of the enforcement title and the regularity of the procedure
- Make ancillary applications (time to pay, conversion to consensual sale, discharge)
- Anticipate procedural incidents (lapse, limitation, nullities)
- Exploit recent case law in defence of the debtor
Module 1 – General Rules and Defence Strategy
- The role of the enforcement judge: jurisdiction and powers
- Conditions for foreclosure: enforcement title, liquidated and due debt, seisable property
- General regime of procedural incidents: lapse, limitation, nullities (formal and substantive defects)
- Building the defence strategy: initial assessment, choice of grounds
Module 2 – Defence Prior to the Orientation Hearing
- Challenging the payment order: formal regularity, validity of the title
- Effects of the payment order and means of neutralising them
- Preparing the orientation hearing from the debtor’s perspective
- Challenging the summons to appear
Module 3 – Defence at the Orientation Hearing
- Challenging the claim: prescription, set-off, partial payment
- Application for conversion to consensual sale: conditions, procedure, effects
- Application for time to pay (Art. 1343-5 of the Civil Code)
- Procedural incidents: subrogation in the rights of the pursuing creditor, removal from the register
- Consumer protection public policy before the enforcement judge: unfair terms, acceleration of the loan
Module 4 – Post-Orientation Defence
- Appeal of the orientation judgment: time limits, effects, procedure
- Challenging the sale: reserve price, viewing conditions
- Post-adjudication remedies: overbid, application for revision
- Enforceability of the lease against the pursuing creditor
