How to obtain a permit to acquire real estate as a foreigner in Poland?

If you are not a Polish citizen (nor a citizen of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein or any EU country) and you want to buy real estate in Poland – you will need a special permit, issued by the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. There are certain exceptions (for example purchasing a real estate to satisfy your living accommodation or a garage – it’s best to ask the notary public) but generally if you fail to obtain this document, the consequences will be dire – any purchase agreement signed without the permit would be invalid. 

Application

To obtain a permit, you must submit an application to the Minister of the Interior and Administration. In your application, give specific information about yourself (name and surname, address, citizenship) and about the real estate you intend to acquire (the legal title to the property being acquired, street, town, municipality and voivodeship, number of the registered plot, area in hectares, land and mortgage register number and development characteristics). You should also provide some details about the transferor (his or her name, surname and address) and type of legal event that will result in you getting the ownership of real estate (i.e. sell). Finally, you have to state the purpose of the transfer of property (why do you need to acquire the real estate), source of funds (like loan agreement) and whether the acquisition of real estate will add to the personal assets of the applicant, or to the assets the applicant shares with their spouse.

In the application you also have to convince the officials, that:

• the purchase of real estate does not pose any risk to state defence, security or public order 
• The purchase of real estate is not in contradiction to social policy and public health considerations
• there are circumstances which confirm your ties with the Republic of Poland (for example your spouse is from Poland, you yourself have Polish origins,  you hold a permanent or temporary residence permit, you are a member of a managing body of the entrepreneurs being legal entities or commercial companies without legal personality based in Poland, controlled by foreign persons, you conduct economic or agricultural activity in the territory of the Republic of Poland in accordance with the provisions of the Polish law)

Attachments

With your application you have to submit some documents, i.e..:

• Document confirming your identity (like residence card)
• Copy of the land and mortgage register (if there is one – some real estates in Poland are not in this register yet)
• Extract from the land register
• Graphic extract from the cadastral map
• Documents constituting the basis to change the designation of real property
• Extract from the local spatial development plan, or a decision on the location of a public purpose investment project or a decision on the conditions of development, if issued, and in the absence of the local spatial development plan – a document issued by a competent authority to confirm the absence of such plan
• Statement by a seller on the intention to sell real property to a foreign national
• Document confirming the ties of the foreign national with the Republic of Poland
• Certificate on the lack of arrears in social security and health insurance contributions
• Proof of payment of the fee for the decision
• Documents confirming the source of financial resources for the purchase of the real property

You should file the original documents or copies certified to be true by a notary public. Also, documents in a foreign language should be submitted along with their translations into Polish, prepared by a sworn translator.

Stamp duty

Unfortunately, there is a stamp duty that you need to pay to obtain a permit to acquire real estate. The amount of stamp duty is 1570 PLN. 

Procedure

The procedure of obtaining a permit will probably last a few months, as there are a few officials that have to give their opinion on whether or not the permit should be granted. If your application is correctly filed and the information provided are true, this should be a mere formality.

Additionally, f something goes wrong and the decision of the Minister is not satisfying, you have 14 days to apply for reconsideration. 

Certificate of finality

Sometimes the notary requires you to have a final decision. In such cases, you need to submit an application to the Ministry for a certificate of finality. The amount of stamp duty for this is 17 PLN.

If you have any questions or need assistance from a lawyer, please do not hesitate to contact me via email (kotowska.kancelaria@gmail.com) or by phone (+48 795 324 106).