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.
Ley 12.962 — prenda con registro
The prenda con registro is a registered pledge that leaves the thing with the debtor
(art. 2): the car stays in the garage, the harvester stays on the farm, and the pledge lives
in a registry — for automotores and registrable machinery, on the vehicle’s own folio at
the DNRPA (RJA art. 19). The CCyC keeps it outside the Code: art. 2220
says “Esta prenda se rige por la legislación especial”. It gives the creditor a privilegio
especial over the goods (art. 3; CCyC art. 2582(e)) and lasts five years from
inscription unless re-inscribed (art. 23).
The statute offers two enforcement routes, and the difference decides what a buyer is
buying. (1) Judicial execution (arts. 26–38): a summary ejecución prendaria before a
commercial judge, with only six admissible defences, ending in a court-ordered subasta
announced by edict three times, ten days ahead, with the credit as base. (2) The art. 39
sale: when the creditor is the State, a bank, a BCRA-authorised financial entity or an
international financial institution, the judge — on sight of the pledge certificate —
orders the vehicle seized and handed to the creditor, “sin que el deudor pueda promover
recurso alguno”, and the creditor itself sells it at public auction. That second sale
is a forced sale but not a court sale: no judge orders the auction, approves it, or
distributes the price. AuctionBlock lists it, labelled extrajudicial — see
venta-extrajudicial-prendaria.
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