Ley 20.266 — Martilleros y Corredores (as amended by Ley 25.028)

Argentina (AR) — civil law.

Nothing on this page describes United States practice. There is no certificate sold to an investor, no administrative sale, and no post-sale redemption window in Argentina. If you arrived carrying US assumptions, read falsos-amigos first.

Ley 20.266 — martillero público

Argentina’s auctions are conducted by a licensed private professional, not by a public officer.

Field	Value
Statute	Ley 20.266, as amended by Ley 25.028
Role	Conducts the auction act; signs the acta de subasta
Status	Private professional, matriculado with a provincial colegio de martilleros
Appointment in a subasta judicial	By the court, from the relevant list
Compensation	comisión, fixed by the court within the applicable scale

There is no sheriff in Argentina.

Physical enforcement acts — serving a mandamiento, carrying out a lanzamiento — are performed by an oficial de justicia, a court employee. The martillero conducts the sale; the oficial de justicia executes force. They are different people with different functions, and neither of them is a sheriff — Argentina has no such office.

Duties that bear on a buyer

The martillero publishes the edictos as ordered, exhibits the property, conducts the act, takes the seña, and renders accounts to the court. Misstatements in the edicto or in the exhibition are a recognised ground for attacking the sale — see nulidad-de-subasta.

Under electronic auction

The martillero remains the appointed professional, but the act itself now runs through a portal in the jurisdictions that have adopted one — see acordada-15-2025-subastas-electronicas and index. Precisely which of the martillero’s traditional functions the portal absorbs varies by jurisdiction and is needs_verification.

Commission

The comisión del martillero is a real and material bidding cost, payable by the buyer in addition to the hammer price in the ordinary case. The percentage is set by provincial scale and by the court’s order, and is needs_verification per jurisdiction — do not assume a national figure. See costos-de-la-subasta.