Household essentials protected from repossession in new bill

A draft law submitted to Parliament on Tuesday seeks to protect debtors from having essential assets seized when their properties are being repossessed for auction.

Under the provisions of the new Public Revenue Collection Code, household equipment like refrigerators and cookers, furniture or personal items and clothing cannot be seized with the other contents of a property that is being repossessed over bad debt.

Apart from protecting debtors from the likelihood of losing all of their possessions, the new provision also liberates courts from having to carry out that task.