Polish Real Estate Registry Process and The Property Purchase
How does the real estate registry process work in Poland? How can one confirm ownership rights to a particular property or check the legal status of real estate? Such questions may come up when making decisions about purchasing property in Poland. It is important to know the procedure associated with purchasing real estate, especially when it is to be carried out in another country.
How does the real estate registry work?
Land Registers (Polish “księgi wieczyste”) is the name of the public register of real estate in Poland. This register allows for checking who holds rights to a particular property and to what extent.
Land Registers are maintained for land, buildings, and parts of the buildings (units), but can also be maintained for limited property rights. Each property has a unique number in one land register, regardless of changes in ownership.
Land Registers are maintained by the appropriate district courts, responsible based on the location of the property. For example, the district court in Katowice would be responsible for real estate located in Katowice.
Structure of the land register
The information in the land register is grouped into four sections as follows:
- Section I – includes the identification of the property, and the identification of plots included in the property;
- Section II – contains data on the current owners of the property;
- Section III – contains rights belonging to other people to the property, as well as any restrictions on dealing with the property that apply to the current owner;
- Section IV – contains information about the amount of mortgages encumbering the property.
Access to land registers is available to the public. Anyone who has the land register number of a particular property can view it using the online land register browser available on the official website: https://przegladarka-ekw.ms.gov.pl/
Typically, the land register number consists of a four-character designation of the district court where the register was established, the property number with an identifier, and a control number, e.g., KA1K/00145125/2, where KA1K indicates the district court in Katowice.
Key provisions of a real estate sales agreement
In practice, a sales agreement is one of the most common legal transactions. In a sales agreement, the seller undertakes to transfer ownership of the property and to deliver it to the buyer. The buyer, in turn, undertakes to pay the agreed price to the seller and to take possession of the property.
Real estate sales in Poland can only take place in the form of an agreement signed in a notary’s presence, in the form of a notarial deed (Polish “akt notarialny”). Thus, it is not possible to sign an agreement for the sale or purchase of real estate without the involvement of a notary.
The key elements of the sales agreement are:
- identification of the parties to the agreement – who is selling and who is buying the property;
- purchase price;
- the method of payment – how the buyer will make the payment: whether it will be a cash transfer from their bank account or a mortgage;
- the payment deadline;
- the deadline for handing over the property to the buyer.
Notarial deed details
The subject of the sales agreement should be precisely specified both factually and legally in the notarial deed. Specifying the property factually means describing the state condition of the property. For example, in the case of an apartment: it will be determined whether it requires renovation, whether it has been renovated, whether it is sold with furniture, whether it is vacant or rented, how big it is, etc.
Legal status means describing precisely who holds the ownership rights to the property. Information about whether the property is encumbered, for example, with a mortgage, or what share in the common parts of the building will belong to the owner (applies to purchasing an apartment).
The legal status of real estate primarily comes from the land register and the documents submitted to the notarial deed. The notary is responsible for confirming the legal status of the real estate, they also have to protect the interests of both parties to the agreement.
The real estate sales agreement should be read by a notary. Then both parties sign the agreement, and the notary confirms that with their signature. The original agreement is sent to the court to change the ownership in the register. The parties receive a copy called a “transcript”, (Polish: “odpis”) signed by the notary.
After signing the notarial deed, the notary records the agreement in the land register. This is not a change of ownership because the court performs this after receiving the original agreement. The notation in the land register made by the notary appears in real-time. This is to prevent an attempt to sell the same property to another person before the court changes the owner in the register.
However, there is no need to wait for the change of ownership in the land register because the change of ownership, in legal terms, occurs at the time of signing the agreement.
In summary
The real estate registry maintained in Poland allows for a quick and efficient verification of legal status. From the register, one can learn the ownership of a particular property, where it is located precisely, and whether it is encumbered with the rights of other persons.
Real estate sales in Poland can only take place in the presence of a notary, who acts as a public officer. Information about the signed agreement appears in the online register in real-time, ensuring protection for both parties to the agreement. All of this makes real estate transactions in Poland very secure.