The ongoing uproar over forced auctions of residential properties owned by indebted homeowners continued last week, this time with a twist that seems to be equal parts chilling and goofy. According to tabloid Bors, the Budapest Gas Works (Budapesti Gázművek) has threatened to have an apartment belonging to a man named Sándor Horváth (left) auctioned off to cover the debts of a different man named Sándor Horváth.

The story begins almost two decades ago, when the pictured Sándor Horváth and his wife Margit started their married life together in a District VII apartment they rented from a relative who just happened to also be named Sándor Horváth. By 1994 they had bought their own home and moved out of the other Sándor's flat.

Sometime between then and now, the gas company placed a lien on Sándor and Margit's home, owing to a debt of Ft 172,000 accumulated in 2002 by the flat they had moved out of in '94. Since they had not been living there for ages, the Horváths thought they only had to prove Sándor was not the same Sándor who owned that apartment, but the company refused to admit it was at fault, despite the obvious mismatch of personal data of the two Sándor's, such as mother's name and birthday. They even threatened to have the Horváth's home auctioned off, a clerk explaining that "Someone has to pay!"

The Gas Works apparently continues to insist that this Horváth owns the money, and that he forgot to remove his name from the gas meter when he moved away. The company also says that Horváth missed the deadline for appeal after the lien was placed. For his part, Horváth says he never had to remove his name from the meter as it was always his relative who was the client, and he only learned of the lien when he checked the "ownership sheet" (tulajdoni lap) for a different reason.

Since the story seems to not yet be over, and is obviously a bit unusual, we're not sure what lesson to draw from it, other than that you should probably never assume you own a piece of property in Hungary until you've already sold it and spent the money.