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 judicialin Argentina. If you arrived carrying US assumptions, read falsos-amigos first.
Read the banner narrowly.
The banner’s “no administrative sale” is about land taken for unpaid tax: a fisco collects through a judge (ejecución fiscal, apremio). It is not a statement about movables. Customs goods in
rezagoorcomisoare sold administratively by theservicio aduanero(Código Aduanero arts. 419–436), and a creditor holding a registered pledge can sell without a court-run auction (Ley 12.962 art. 39). Ley 24.441 art. 66 also gives a mortgage debtor a 30-day right to buy back after an extrajudicial sale. All three are explained below.
Venta forzada — the map
A forced sale (venta forzada, enajenación forzosa) is a sale the owner did not
choose. In Argentina it arises in three ways: (a) a court orders it — the
`subasta judicial` that ends an ejecución, an
`apremio` or a `quiebra`;
(b) a creditor sells under a power the law gives it, with the court reduced to a
gatekeeper or absent altogether — the ejecución especial hipotecaria of Ley 24.441
(arts. 52–67), the bank’s sale of goods under a registered pledge (Ley 12.962 art. 39),
the sale of a possessory prenda (CCyC art. 2229), the warrant holder’s sale of
warehoused goods (Ley 9.643 art. 17), the fiduciario’s sale under a fideicomiso en garantía (CCyC art. 1680), and Banco Ciudad’s sale of unredeemed pawns (Ley CABA 1.779
art. 15); and (c) a public authority sells administratively — customs goods in
rezago, comiso or abandono (Código Aduanero arts. 417–448, Ley 25.603), sold in
recent practice through Banco Ciudad’s electronic platform “por cuenta, orden y en nombre”
of ARCA, and goods seized in criminal cases (DNU 575/2025).
The channel decides almost everything a buyer cares about: whether a court approves the
sale, whether other creditors’ embargos and prendas are cut off, whether the debtor can
undo the sale afterwards, how title is inscribed, and whether anyone guarantees the goods.
The CCyC sets one rule common to judicial and administrative auctions: the buyer has
no claim for damages under the saneamiento guarantees when “la adquisición resulta de
una subasta judicial o administrativa” (art. 1040 d). AuctionBlock lists every forced
sale in all three families and labels the channel. A voluntary sale by the state —
the AABE disposing of surplus national property, a ministry selling its own used vehicles,
a municipality selling its own equipment — is a sale by an owner and is not a forced
sale, even when it uses the same auction platform.
Read the rest with a free account
The opening section is open to everyone. The procedure in detail — statutes, deadlines, who may bid, and what the record does not say — is behind a free account.
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