Property registry treatment of the eary termination clauses of mortgages

Abstract

Article 12 of the Mortgage Law has been interpreted differently by the scientific doctrine, divided between those authors who are agree with the registration qualification of early termination clauses and those who believe that this article doesn ’t let Registrars perform legality of such clauses to order the transcript of the same for purposes of advertising news.

The Directorate General of Registries and Notaries has recently confirmed that the Registrar can make a minimum qualifying activity on the early termination clauses, may refuse registration only if it is unfair to be assessed objectively. Although it may be considered an improvement on the opinion that has maintained the Directorate General since the nineties against the registration qualification of such clauses, this solution is not enough autonomy to continue depriving the Registrar when qualifying unfair terms of a contract. This doctrine clearly limits the preventive control to be performed by registrars in order to effective consumer protection.