Cross-border Debt Recovery Blog
by Marco Sposini
Laywer, Milan Bar Association
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The Court of Justice of the European Union on Articles 6(1) and 7(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts
24 June 2025
The Court of Justice of the European Union, by judgment ECLI:EU:C:2025:474, dated 24 June 2025, in Case C-351/23 – in proceedings between GR REAL s. r. o., on the one hand, and PO and RT, on the other hand, concerning, first, the eviction of the latter from their family home following its purchase by that company at an extra-judicial auction and, secondly, a counter-claim by which PO and RT challenge the lawfulness of the transfer of the ownership of that immovable property – ruled that:
1. Article 6(1) and Article 7(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC on unfair terms in consumer contracts, read in the light of Articles 7 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, must be interpreted as meaning that their scope covers judicial proceedings in which, first, the company which was the successful bidder in an auction of immovable property constituting the family home of a consumer, sold in the context of extrajudicial enforcement of a mortgage granted over that property by that consumer for the benefit of a creditor acting in the course of trade, applies for the eviction of that consumer and, secondly, the consumer challenges, by means of a counterclaim, the lawfulness of the transfer of ownership of that property to that company making the successful bid, that transfer taking place despite court proceedings which were still pending at the time of that transfer and which sought suspension of the enforcement of that mortgage on the ground that there were unfair terms in the contract on which that enforcement was based, the company making the successful bid having been previously informed of those pending proceedings by that consumer. That applies in so far as, at the time of the sale concerned, there was corroborating evidence that the terms were potentially unfair and that the consumer had availed him or herself of the legal remedies that an average consumer could reasonably be expected to avail him or herself of, with a view to obtaining judicial review of those terms.
2. Article 6(1) and Article 7(1) of Directive 93/13, read in the light of Articles 7 and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which allows extrajudicial enforcement of a mortgage, granted by a consumer for the benefit of a creditor acting in the course of trade, on immovable property constituting that consumer’s family home to continue despite the existence of a pending application before a court for an interim measure seeking suspension of that enforcement, and corroborating evidence as to the possible presence of a potentially unfair term in the contract on which that enforcement was based, and which does not moreover provide for any possibility of obtaining by judicial means the annulment of that enforcement on the ground that there are unfair terms in that contract.
The text is available here