Subasta de Bienes Muebles — Buying Movables at an Argentine Forced Sale

Argentina (AR) — civil law.

Nothing on this page describes United States practice. There is no certificate sold to an investor, no administrative sale of land for unpaid tax, and no redemption window after a subasta judicial in Argentina. If you arrived carrying US assumptions, read falsos-amigos first.

Subasta de bienes muebles

The CCyC divides movables into two kinds (art. 1890). Cosas muebles registrables — cars, motorcycles, self-propelled machinery, aircraft, ships — are those whose titles the law sends to a registry; for them the buyer’s ownership depends on inscription, and “respecto de las cosas muebles registrables no existe buena fe sin inscripción a favor de quien la invoca” (art. 1895). Cosas muebles no registrables — a lathe, a stock of goods, office furniture, tools, most livestock — pass by tradición: real delivery that gives the buyer physical control (arts. 1892, 1924). A good-faith possessor of a non-registrable movable that was not stolen or lost acquires ownership by that possession alone, unless the true owner proves the acquisition was gratuitous (art. 1895) — which is why physical delivery, not the receipt, is the moment that matters.

Three rules shape a movables purchase at a forced sale. First, the national procedural default is a sale “sin base, al contado” (CPCCN art. 573; provinces have their own codes). Second, goods are sold “en el estado en que se encuentra” — the buyer cannot complain of defects an adequate examination would have shown (CCyC art. 1053 a). Third, whatever saneamiento survives, the CCyC denies the buyer damages when “la adquisición resulta de una subasta judicial o administrativa” (art. 1040 d). Price the lot as if no one will stand behind it.

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