13/02/2025
In a recent decision, the 3rd Panel of the STJ reaffirmed the Court’s understanding to allow the Real Estate Unavailability Center (CNIB) to be used as an atypical means in civil enforcements, not limiting its use to tax enforcements.
This tool is regulated by CNJ Provision No. 39/2014 and its purpose is to receive and disclose unavailability orders that affect unspecified real estate assets. Effectively, the tool operates in such a way as to maintain a constant annotation for the unavailability of any real estate that is registered in the debtor’s name.
Over the past few years, the discussion about the possibility of using this tool in civil enforcements has become latent, since there is no specific legal provision allowing its use, unlike what happens in tax enforcements, where the permission is expressed in art. 185-A of the CTN.
The STJ’s current understanding, however, tends to allow the tool to be used in private executions, as long as it is used as an atypical means of execution, after the typical means have been exhausted.
The reasons adopted by the Rapporteur of Special Appeal 2.141.068, Justice Nancy Andrighi, include the respect for the principle of the effectiveness of jurisdiction and the provisions expressed in articles 4, 6 and 39, IV, of the CPC, which together lead to the understanding that “the unavailability of assets in the CNIB system is a measure that can be used by the Civil Court, in a subsidiary manner, in the execution of extrajudicial titles filed between private individuals, provided that the typical executive means have been exhausted”.
This interpretation is also in line with STJ Precedent 560, which states that “the order of unavailability of assets and rights (…) presupposes the exhaustion of diligence in the search for seizable assets”.
Although the issue is still controversial (see Theme 44 of the TJSP’s Incident for the Resolution of Repetitive Demands), the decision brings significant advances by adding to the understanding that has become increasingly majority, in order to guarantee the effectiveness of enforcement actions.
Authored by Maria Carolina Oliveira Chiacherini
