Maintenance of legal administration for properties operated as hotel residences

Facts

Bank A. SA terminated the repayment of credits granted to D. and C. SA, and initiated debt enforcement proceedings for the realization of a real estate lien against C. SA and D. The Debt Collection Office of Geneva ordered the legal administration of the properties of C. SA and granted B. SA a deadline to transfer the management of the properties to E. SA.

B. SA, C. SA and D. contested this decision, concluding for its annulment and that the legal administration be entrusted to E. SA. However, E. SA stated that it was not able to take on this mandate due to the complexity of the case, as the apartments and parking spaces were managed as a "hotel residence" with numerous short-term contracts.

The Supervisory Chamber of the Debt Collection and Bankruptcy Offices of the Canton of Geneva upheld the complaints, annulled the decision of the Office and stated that the debt enforcement proceedings in question cannot give rise to legal administration. Bank A. SA appealed against this decision.

Considerations

The Federal Tribunal upheld the appeal of Bank A. SA and amended the contested decision, considering that the new conclusions of the respondents aimed at establishing that legal administration is not possible for properties operated as hotel residences should have been dismissed.

Indeed, according to the case law, the facts invoked by the respondents cannot be qualified as "new" and did not justify the modification of their…