REALWorld Law

What are the key laws governing residential leases in your country which are different from non-residential leases?

In Polish law, there are several dozens of acts regarding leases, though few relating to residential leases only. Some key acts are:

Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 12 April 2002 on the technical conditions to be met for buildings and their locations (Polish: Rozporządzenie Ministra Infrastruktury z dnia 12 kwietnia 2002 r. w sprawie warunków technicznych, jakim powinny odpowiadać budynki i ich usytuowanie). The Regulation lays down the technical conditions for buildings and related installations, their location on a building plot and the development of plots designated for the construction of buildings.

Act of 20 July 2018 on the Transformation of the of Perpetual Usufruct Right to the Land Developed for Housing Purposes into the Ownership Right to This Land (Polish: Ustawa z dnia 20 lipca 2018 r. o przekształceniu prawa użytkowania wieczystego gruntów zabudowanych na cele mieszkaniowe w prawo własności tych gruntów).

The Act applies only to the land on which the buildings intended for housing purposes stand. The Act provides for the statutory transformation of the perpetual usufruct right into the ownership of land for owners of single-family houses and of independent premises located in multi-family buildings with commercial buildings, garages and other construction objects; and construction equipment that enable proper and rational use of residential buildings. Landowners are obliged to pay for the acquisition of property rights in the form of an annual payment for 20 years. The amount of the annual fee for the conversion will correspond to the annual fee for perpetual usufruct, valid on the day of transformation. A number of payment reductions may apply.

Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure and Development of 27 February 2015 on the methodology of determining the energy performance of a building or part of a building and energy performance certificates (Polish: Rozporządzenie Ministra Infrastruktury i Rozwoju z dnia 27 lutego 2015 r. w sprawie metodologii wyznaczania charakterystyki energetycznej budynku lub części budynku oraz świadectw charakterystyki energetycznej).

The regulation specifies for a building or part of a building:

1. the methodology for determining energy performance;
2. the method of drawing up an energy performance certificate; and
3. models of energy performance certificates.

Act of 26 October 1995 on Social Forms of Housing Development (Polish: Ustawa z dnia 26 października 1995 r. o społecznych formach rozwoju mieszkalnictwa) – rules for collecting savings and financing by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego of some investment and construction projects aimed at building residential premises along with the principles of operation of social housing associations.

Act of 20 July 2017 on the National Property Resource (Polish: Ustawa z dnia 20 lipca 2017 r. o Krajowym Zasobie Nieruchomości) – the creation and functioning of the National Property Resource; the rules for qualifying and transferring real estate, including building and housing properties, to the National Property Resource.

Act of 20 July 2018 on State Aid in Bearing Housing Expenses in the First Years of the Lease of a Flat (Polish: Ustawa z dnia 20 lipca 2018 r. o pomocy państwa w ponoszeniu wydatków mieszkaniowych w pierwszych latach najmu mieszkania) – rules for the use of subsidies covering part of the rent for the lease of a flat.

Regulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration of 8 July 2004 on the terms of lease of residential premises managed by organizational units of the Police (Polish: Rozporządzenie Ministra Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji z dnia 8 lipca 2004 r. w sprawie warunków najmu lokali mieszkalnych pozostających w zarządzie jednostek organizacyjnych Policji) – specifies the terms of lease of residential premises located in buildings owned by the State Treasury and managed by the Police units.

Act of 8 December 2006 on Financial Support for the Certain Housing Projects (Polish: Ustawa z dnia 8 grudnia 2006 r. o finansowym wsparciu niektórych przedsięwzięć mieszkaniowych) – concerns the provision of:

- financial support out of the Subsidy Fund, including for the purpose of creating:

• residential premises for lease with reduced rent, including premises in the commune's housing stock;
• training or supported housing;
• night shelters, homeless shelters, heating and temporary shelter premises;
• technical and social infrastructure;

- creating, supplementing, and sharing a database of architectural and construction projects and technical designs for the construction of buildings with residential units, as well as managing this database;

- and of managing residential premises for lease, created using financial support where such premises do not form part of a commune's housing resource.

Act of 21 June 2001 on Housing Allowances (Polish: Ustawa z dnia 21 czerwca 2001 r. o dodatkach mieszkaniowych) – lays down the rules and procedure for awarding and determining the amount and payment of housing allowances, and the competence of the authorities in these matters.

Act of 21 June 2001 on protection of tenants’ rights, the housing stock of the municipality and on amending the Civil Code (Polish: Ustawa z dnia 21 czerwca 2001 r. o  ochronie praw lokatorów, mieszkaniowym zasobie gminy i o zmianie Kodeksu cywilnego) (Tenants' Rights Protection Act) – specifies the rights and obligations of tenants and landlords, describes the rules of the occasional lease and institutional lease and the principles of the housing stock of the municipality.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

What are the key laws governing residential leases in your country which are different from non-residential leases?

In Polish law there are a few categories of residential leases that are subject to specific laws such as: occasional lease, institutional quality lease, communal flat lease and premises for temporary purposes.

Occasional lease

The right to occasional lease applies only to the premises used to satisfy housing needs. Only natural persons not conducting business activity in the scope of rental of premises can take advantage of this form of lease. An occasional lease is granted only to owners understood broadly and includes also holders of the cooperative ownership right to premises. Considering the above, the agreement for occasional lease cannot be used to sublease the premises, or a part thereof.

The term of an occasional lease cannot be longer than 10 years. Such a lease may involve the tenant paying a deposit to secure the payment of amounts due for the occasional lease of premises, which the tenant has to pay on the day of vacating the premises, and any possible costs of enforcement of the obligation to vacate the premises (the deposit is later returned if the owner's claims have been satisfied).

Additionally, after the expiry or termination of the occasional lease agreement, if the tenant has not voluntarily vacated the premises, the owner delivers to the tenant a request in writing to vacate the premises, with an officially certified signature of the owner. To execute the request, prior to concluding the agreement for an occasional lease, the tenant is obliged to deliver a statement in the form of a notarial deed in which he/she submits to enforcement and to vacate and deliver the premises used under the occasional lease agreement within the time limit indicated in the request. In the event of ineffective lapse of the time limit provided in the request, the owner files an application to the court to have an enforcement clause appended to the above-mentioned notarial deed.

Another specific obligation related to this type of lease is the obligation for a prospective tenant to have some other premises to stay in if the obligation to leave the premises is enforced.

The owner of the premises notifies the tax office competent for his/her place of residence of the conclusion of an occasional lease agreement within 14 days from the date of commencement of the lease.

The following documents must be attached to the occasional lease agreement:

• the tenant's statement in the form of a notarial deed regarding the enforcement;
• indication by the tenant of other premises in which to stay in the event of enforcement; and
• statement of consent by the owner of the premises or the person holding the legal title to the premises to the residence of the tenant and any persons living with him/her in the premises (upon the landlord's request, a statement with a notarized signature must be attached).

In accordance with the Act of 12 March 2022 on assistance to citizens of Ukraine in connection with the armed conflict on the territory of the country, to the tenant who is a citizen of Ukraine shall not apply:

1. provisions on the indication of another premises in which he or she will be able to reside in the event that the obligation to vacate and surrender the premises occupied under the occasional lease agreement is enforced against him or her;
2. provisions regarding the submission of a statement by the owner of such premises or the person holding the legal title to such premises that he or she consents to accommodate the tenant and persons residing with him in the premises.

Institutional-quality lease

The institutional-quality lease is similar to the occasional lease:

• the tenant's statement in the form of a notarial deed regarding the enforcement is attached to the agreement; and
• there are similar conditions regarding the payment of a deposit by the tenant.

However, the institutional quality lease agreement can be concluded by a natural person, a legal person or an organizational unit other than a legal person, conducting business activity in the scope of leasing premises, and it is concluded for a specified period of time.

There is also a specific kind of that lease – the institutional-quality lease with subsequent ownership. For details please see Registration and taxes.

Communal-flat lease

Premises to be let for communal-flat lease must be suitable for habitation thanks to their equipment and technical condition; the room area per tenant cannot be less than 5 m² and in the case of a single-person household, 10 m².

The right to a communal flat is acquired by a court judgment by persons with low or no income who are forced to vacate occupied flat. The court decides whether the persons concerned have the right to conclude a communal flat lease agreement, or not, in a judgment ordering to vacate other premises. The obligation to ensure the communal flat lease of the premises is binding on the commune competent for the location of the premises that have to be vacated.

The court, when examining whether the person is entitled to conclude a communal-flat lease agreement takes into account the manner in which he/she has used the premises so far and the specific material and family situation.

There are some groups of people in respect of whom the court cannot declare the lack of right to conclude a communal flat lease agreement of premises, such as: pregnant women, minors, disabled persons, pensioners or disability pensioners fulfilling the criteria for receiving a social assistance benefit persons, those officially recognized as unemployed – unless they can reside in premises other than those used to date or their financial situation allows them to satisfy their housing needs on their own.

The communal-flat lease agreement is concluded for a fixed period of time and it can be terminated by a commune if the tenant has obtained a legal title to another property.

Premises for temporary purposes

The lease of premises for temporary purposes may be concluded for the period of one to six months. Eligible persons are those against whom the enforcement proceedings have been commenced on the basis of an enforcement order regarding the duty to vacate the housing premises, without the right to lease communal flat (described above) or replacement premises.

The replacement premises are premises located in the same city as the existing premises, equipped with at least the same technical devices and having the same surface area of the rooms as the premises used to date; one household member may enjoy 10 m² of the total surface area of the rooms, and in the case of a single household, 20 m² of that surface. The commune ensures the delivery of replacement premises.

There are some specific cases when the right to lease premises for temporary purposes is not granted, such as: if the order to vacate the premises was made by reason of domestic violence or gross or persistent infractions against the domestic order, if the debtor is obliged to vacate the temporary premises or if the debtor was obliged to vacate the premises occupied under the institutional lease agreement with subsequent ownership.

Other specific premises

Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 12 April 2002 on the technical conditions to be met by buildings and their locations specifies some other categories of residential premises. The Regulation distinguishes and provides technical specifications, among others:

• Residential buildings:
  • multi-family residential building; and
  • single-family residential building.
• Buildings of collective residence: a building intended for temporary stay of people, in particular a hotel, guest house, vacation house, youth hostel, shelter, boarding house, student house, accommodation building in a prison, detention centre, facility corrective, shelter for minors, as well as a building for permanent residence of people, in particular an orphanage, home for pensioners and a religious house.

• Public utility buildings: buildings intended for the needs of public administration, justice, culture, religious worship, education, higher education, science, education, health, social or social care, banking, commerce, gastronomy, services, including postal services or telecommunications, tourism, sport, passenger service in rail, road, air, sea or inland water transport, and another building designed to perform similar functions.

• Individual recreation buildings – a building intended for periodic recreation.

• Commercial buildings – buildings intended for the non-standard performance of workshop works and for storage of materials, tools, equipment and agricultural produce for residents of a residential building, a collective residence, an individual recreation building, and their surroundings, and for farm storage in agricultural buildings, equipment and agricultural produce.

The regulation covers:

• location of the building;
• access and commuting (including access for people with disabilities);
• parking places and garages for cars also for people with disabilities;
• places for collecting solid waste;
• technical infrastructure of the plot and discharging surface waters;
• wells;
• liquid outflow tanks for liquid waste;
• greenery and recreational facilities and the recreational facilities accessible to the disabled;
• buildings and rooms (including building furnishings in lift for the disabled);
• lighting and insulation;
• stairs and ramps for the disabled;
• entry to buildings and flats;
• rooms for people's stay;
• sanitary and hygiene rooms;
• special requirements for apartments in multi-family buildings;
• technical equipment of buildings (cold and hot water supply systems, sewage and rainwater sewage system, internal solid waste disposal installations, heating installations, flues, ventilation and air conditioning, gas installations, electrical installation, telecommunications installation, lifting devices);
• construction safety;
• fire safety; and
• safety of use.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025

What are the key laws governing residential leases in your country which are different from non-residential leases?

Lease of residential premises may be concluded for a defined or undefined period of time. Lease agreement concluded for a term exceeding 10 years is deemed to be concluded for unlimited term. In the case of agreements concluded with entrepreneurs, the lease is deemed to be concluded for an unlimited period of time after a 30-years’ period. Such distinction is essential in terms of establishing termination period which are different by law in these two categories.

Defined lease periods relate to specific types of leases such as occasional leases, premises for temporary purposes or communal-flat leases. Generally establishing duration of residential leases should be approached on a case-by-case basis. For example, operation of apartment hotels is closer to hotels which are booked for short periods of time. Whereas residential leases are intended for satisfying housing needs which assumes a long-term lease.

Last modified 13 Mar 2025