Court Bailiff
A public official authorized to enforce final court judgments in Poland — collecting debts, seizing assets, and carrying out evictions — appointed under the Act on Bailiffs and Enforcement.
Applies to Poland.
Definition
A court bailiff (komornik sądowy) is a state-appointed enforcement officer operating under a district court, governed by the Act on Bailiffs and Enforcement. Once a creditor holds an enforceable title — typically a final court judgment with an enforcement clause, but also certain notarial deeds containing a debtor's submission to enforcement — only a bailiff, not the creditor personally, may carry out the actual enforcement.
In a real estate context, bailiffs handle two distinct kinds of enforcement: seizing and, if necessary, auctioning a debtor's property to satisfy a money judgment (including a mortgage lender's claim after default), and physically carrying out an eviction once a court has ordered one. In both cases, the bailiff acts strictly within the scope of the enforcement title and applicable procedural safeguards — they cannot go beyond what the judgment or notarial submission to enforcement actually authorizes.
Examples
A bank holding an unpaid mortgage obtains an enforcement clause and directs a bailiff to seize and auction the mortgaged property to recover the outstanding debt.
A landlord with a final eviction judgment against a non-paying tenant hands it to a bailiff, who schedules and carries out the physical removal rather than the landlord doing so directly.
A tenant who signed an occasional lease's notarial submission to enforcement finds the landlord can go straight to a bailiff for eviction without first winning a full lawsuit.
How this affects buying and selling
For a buyer, a mortgage entered in Section IV of the land and mortgage register is a signal that a bailiff could eventually become involved if the current owner defaults — which is exactly why checking that section before an offer matters. For landlords, understanding that only a bailiff can lawfully execute an eviction is a reminder that self-help remedies like changing the locks are not just risky but generally unlawful.
