European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP
European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP
European Property Rights and Wrongs - Diana Wallis MEP
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egions. For example in Spain, communities can legislate on this issue depending<br />
on their degree of independence. It is also the case in Belgium because rules can<br />
vary between regions on registration law <strong>and</strong> inheritance law.<br />
Council Regulation number 44/2001, known as Brussels I 44 , is the instrument that<br />
governs the attribution of international competences between Member States of<br />
the <strong>European</strong> Union, <strong>and</strong> the conditions <strong>and</strong> methods of recognition <strong>and</strong> enforcement<br />
of judgements given in Member States as well as relating to deeds to ownership.<br />
In most Member States this convention replaces the 1968 Brussels convention.<br />
Another difficulty relating to this issue relates to the professionals involved, their<br />
competences <strong>and</strong> their powers, because these can vary between Member States.<br />
In Belgium the notary is the main figure who authenticates property contracts,<br />
in France it would be a lawyer <strong>and</strong> other states differ again <strong>and</strong> the roles <strong>and</strong><br />
expectations of professionals can vary considerably.<br />
Now for consumers, the main issue here relates to access to information. This<br />
is the main obstacle, particularly if we add the issue of languages, a point also<br />
noted by ELRA. You can imagine this can be very tough, <strong>and</strong> there is the status<br />
of estate agents <strong>and</strong> the various professionals involved, which can change from<br />
country to country.<br />
I can give two practical examples from my files. The first case relates to an Italian<br />
company which decided to rent a building in Nivelles, the town I come from,<br />
which is near Brussels. They rented it from a Belgian company which owns the<br />
building. Now the Italian company’s business did not go well, so they decided to<br />
leave the Belgian property, <strong>and</strong> they literally ab<strong>and</strong>oned it, leaving the owner with<br />
a pretty heavy bill. The Brussels I Regulation meant that the dispute was taken to<br />
the Nivelles Justice of the Peace, as the building is located in Nivelle. The decision<br />
was reached, <strong>and</strong> the decision needed to be enforced in Italy. Now it has been<br />
my experience that the Belgian legal system can be slow, but sometimes you find<br />
that other systems are even slower. Nevertheless, it took me a year to get the<br />
Court of Appeal of Florence to say that the Belgian decree was valid. All that was<br />
44 Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 on jurisdiction <strong>and</strong> the recognition <strong>and</strong> enforcement<br />
of judgments in civil <strong>and</strong> commercial matters.<br />
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