November 2025

Decision of the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Corfu on the Annulment of an Auction Due to Failure to Serve the Extract of the Seizure Report on the Mortgage Creditor

A recent judgment, No. 1098/2025 of the Single-Member Court of Appeal of Corfu, upheld the first-instance ruling of the Corfu Court of First Instance     . With this decision, the debtor’s objection against the enforcement act was definitively accepted, and the auction was deemed to have been carried out unlawfully. This was because the auction proceeded despite the absence of valid service of the extract of the seizure report on a mortgage creditor—service which is mandatorily required under Article 995 of the Greek Code of Civil Procedure.

The procedural defect consisted specifically in the fact that the seizure report had been served on a person presented as a co-resident of the mortgage creditor, who had already passed away, rather than on his heirs. The grounds of appeal raised by the successful bidder—namely (a) lack of legal interest on the part of the debtor to challenge the auction, and (b) abusive exercise of rights given that the heir of the mortgage creditor had nonetheless filed a declaration in the enforcement proceedings—were held to be unfounded.

This judgment confirms that the debtor’s legal interest in challenging enforcement acts against his property cannot be disputed—especially with regard to defects that the legislator characterises as particularly severe and penalises with nullity, without requiring proof or invocation of any specific procedural harm. It further demonstrates that even at the “final” stage of the enforcement process, the debtor can still safeguard his rights through the appropriate legal remedies and effectively “turn the case in his favour.”