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.
Buying a vessel at a subasta
A vessel at auction looks like a car sale and behaves like a real-estate sale. Its title
lives in a national register (the Registro Nacional de Buques, kept by the
Prefectura). It can carry a hipoteca (if it measures 10 tons or more). It is
surrounded by privilegios marítimos that need no registration at all: crew wages, port
and navigation charges, salvage, supplies and repairs (Ley 20.094 art. 476). These attach to
the ship for one year unless she is attached (art. 484(a)). A venta judicial
extinguishes them from the moment the price is deposited, and they move onto the price — but
only for a sale “realizada en la forma establecida en esta ley” (arts. 484(b), 472). That
form includes the court’s mandatory report from the RNB before ordering the sale (art.
553) and, where privileged claims appear to exceed the base and a privileged creditor asks,
a concurso especial with
edicts in the Boletín Oficial and posted on the vessel (art. 554). The buyer’s biggest
practical exposures are usually not the privileges but:
- mooring and marina debts — the CSJN-portal sailboat “MURMULLO” carried ARS 2,448,050 of mooring debt;
- lapsed safety certificates — a 2016 tug was sold “imposibilitado de navegar y no tiene certificados vigentes”;
- provincial pleasure-craft tax;
- the time it takes the Prefectura to register the transfer — 30 business days after the
oficioarrives, with some courts withholding possession until the transfer is registered.
Reference: buques-y-embarcaciones, ley-20094-navegacion, prefectura-registro-nacional-de-buques, privilegios-maritimos-y-aeronauticos.
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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