Buy to let in Poland

Some of these descriptions may seem trivial. However, I agree with the approach. These descriptions serve to put a landlord’s mind at ease and sternly remind the tenant that they should treat the property as their own.

On the day the tenant moves in, it’s also necessary to read the electric meter, water meters and central heating meter. Our agent did just that and added the meter readings to the Protocol of Delivery and Acceptance.

Over to Mateusz for his words of wisdom on the Protocol of Delivery and Acceptance:

❝ A detailed handover report is an important document for both the landlord and the tenant. It records the condition of the apartment and its contents at the start of the tenancy, helping to distinguish pre-existing defects and ordinary wear and tear from damage caused during the lease.

If a dispute arises over damage or deductions from the deposit, the report can provide valuable evidence. In court proceedings, a clear record of the property’s original condition can make it easier to establish what has changed, although it does not by itself prove who caused the damage or the cost of repairs.

Both parties should inspect the apartment, record any defects and sign the report, keeping a copy each. Attach dated photographs showing the condition of individual rooms, furniture and appliances, including close-ups of existing damage. A video walkthrough can provide additional evidence, but should supplement the written report rather than replace it. Record meter readings, the number of keys handed over and any missing items, and prepare a corresponding report when the property is returned.

6. Dealing with a notary public and assuming the role of power of attorney

To begin with, the agent made an appointment for my colleague at a notary public. An occasional lease agreement cannot be concluded without the participation of a notary public. 

The occasional lease agreement itself does not have to be concluded in the form of a notarial deed, i.e. with the participation of a notary. However, a notary public is involved in preparing one of the annexes to this agreement. This annex is the tenant’s declaration of submission to enforcement (oświadczenie o poddaniu się egzekucji). Its purpose is to enable the landlord, once the lease has ended and the statutory requirements have been met, to enforce the tenant’s obligation to vacate and return the premises without first obtaining a separate court judgment ordering eviction.

The agent offered my colleague to grant her power of attorney to deal with everything at the notary. My colleague was confident that our agent was on the ball with everything, so he didn’t hesitate to agree. Not to mention that the agent’s kind offer saved him paying 300-400 PLN for a sworn translator Polish-English.

7. Exclusivity and a personal touch

Signing an exclusive property lease agreement with an agency may bear fruit for foreigners seeking a super swift buy to let in Poland. 

My colleague signed an exclusive property lease contract with this agency. In other words, he had to refrain from activities aimed at acquiring tenants through the services of other real estate agents. 

So our agent didn’t have any competitors. A chance for her to relax, right?

Not quite.

When the agent is aware that the advertising and work they do is going to result in a significant commission, they try harder to get a property rented.

Besides, exclusive contracts don’t last a lifetime. Indeed, back in 2020 our agency concluded exclusive agreements for a period of two months. This was enough to give my colleague the confidence that our agent would get the job done.  

 On the topic of “exclusivity”, over to Mateusz again:

❝ Exclusivity can encourage an agent to invest more time and resources in marketing your property, but it should come with clearly defined obligations. Before signing, check what the agent commits to doing, how progress will be reported, how long the agreement lasts and how you can terminate it if the service falls short.

You should also establish what happens if you find a tenant yourself. Does the agreement merely prevent you from appointing another agency, or does it also seek to charge commission on a letting arranged independently? Pay attention to automatic renewals, contractual penalties and provisions claiming commission after the agreement ends. Exclusivity alone does not guarantee a successful letting or make every commission claim justified. 

Different Types of Lease Agreements in Poland

In Poland, landlords tend to use either one of two types of lease agreements when letting their property:

1. Regular Residential Agreement

The first type of lease agreement is a regular residential lease contract (Umowa najmu lokalu mieszkalnego). This is a standard civil law contract with provisions that are regulated by the Civil Code and the Act on the Protection of Tenants’ Rights, which sets out mandatory rules concerning matters such as termination of the lease.

If I were a landlord, I’d never sign a standard agreement with a tenant. In the case of disputes, Polish law strongly protects the rights of tenants. If tenants do not pay their rent on time or refuse to leave the apartment, then the landlord may have problems evicting them. 

It’s possible that many landlords sign the standard contract so as to go unnoticed by notary officials and, ultimately, the tax office. 

2. Occasional Lease Agreement

A residential real estate occasional lease agreement (Umowa najmu okazjonalnego) offers increased protection to the landlord. This form of lease can only be used by natural persons provided they are not involved in letting premises as a part of their business activities. The agreement must be made in writing, otherwise, it is invalid.

First of all, a landlord doesn’t need to endure lengthy court proceedings to evict a tenant with an occasional lease agreement. This is because the landlord is protected by the tenant’s declaration of submission to enforcement (oświadczenie o poddaniu się egzekucji). The landlord must lawfully end the lease, comply with the applicable formalities, obtain an enforcement clause from the court and instruct a bailiff. More on this declaration shortly.

On the subject of eviction, Mateusz Radomyski shared the following:

❝ An occasional lease generally allows the landlord to recover possession through a more streamlined procedure, without first bringing a separate court claim for eviction. However, it does not permit the landlord to remove the tenant personally, change the locks or cut off utilities to force them out. Enforcement must be carried out by a bailiff after the necessary formalities have been completed by the landlord. The arrangement therefore provides additional protection, but does not guarantee immediate eviction.

I do not mean to scare potential landlords here. The vast majority of tenants are responsible people who pay their way in life. To put things into perspective, our agent confirmed the following back in 2020:

❝ I have never personally encountered a potential tenant who has raised an objection [to an occasional lease agreement]. This kind of lease agreement shouldn’t be seen as something out of the ordinary. The trustworthy tenants have nothing to worry about and landlords can relax knowing they are protected against any unforeseen circumstances.

What does an occasional lease contract broadly consist of? 

My colleague’s contract is a sixteen-page document. It contains all the specific and general terms of lease which one would expect to find in a standard rental contract. Clauses relate to: 

• the delivery of the premises to the lessee
• duration of the agreement
• information about the rent, security deposit and administrative fees
• insurance
• the lessee’s rights and obligations
• the lessor’s rights and obligations
• lease agreement termination
• return of the premises
• final provisions

However, be aware the protection a lease provides depends on its terms and compliance with Polish law, rather than its length.

Execution of a demand to vacate the premises

Things begin to get interesting in section 9 of my colleague’s contract. This section is titled: Execution of a demand to vacate the premises.

Now, we come to the aforementioned Declaration of Submission to Enforcement which a tenant has to sign at the notary public. 

The first annex of four is the lessee’s declaration of submission to enforcement in connection with the occasional lease agreement (oświadczenie o poddaniu się egzekucji). This is a declaration in the form of a notarial deed, in which the lessee subjects himself to enforcement. In other words, the lessee undertakes to vacate and surrender the premises within a specified time limit. 

In the contract, point 4 of section 9 states that: 

After the expiry or termination of the Agreement, if the Lessee has not voluntarily emptied the Premises, the Lessor shall deliver to the Lessee a written request to vacate the Premises along with an indication of the date in which the Lessee and the persons residing with him shall empty the Premises. The above-mentioned date shall not be shorter than 7 days from the date of delivery of the request.

In the event of an ineffective expiry of the time limit referred to in point 4, the lessor has the right to submit to the court an application for granting an enforcement clause to the aforementioned notarial deed.

If the tenant does not comply with the demand, the landlord may apply to the court for an enforcement clause for the tenant’s notarial deed. The application must include the demand and evidence of its service, a document confirming the landlord’s legal title to the premises, and confirmation that the occasional lease was notified to the tax office.

A properly notified occasional lease is subject to different eviction rules from a standard residential lease, including the exclusion of the statutory winter eviction moratorium. However, court processing and bailiff enforcement can take some time (in practice up to 2 months), and the procedure remains subject to legal requirements.

Which other statements relate to the execution of demand to vacate the premises?

The second annex is a statement containing the lessee’s indication of another premises in which the tenants will be able to reside in the event of execution of the demand to vacate the rented premises. This is referred to as Wskazanie przez Najemcę innego lokalu in Polish. For this, the lessee wrote and signed a handwritten declaration.

The third annex is a declaration of consent to the lessee’s residence in another premises (oświadczenie o wyrażeniu zgody na zamieszkanie najemcy w innym lokalu). Here, the owner of the premises referred to in the second annex provided consent to the residence of the tenants in the unlikely event that they would be evicted. 

The fourth annex is the Protocol of Delivery and Acceptance, which I’ve already written about.

Tax affairs when letting out an apartment in Poland

After finishing all the paperwork and handing over the property to the tenants, my colleague made his way to the tax office to report his forthcoming rental income.

Let’s check the steps involved when it comes to setting one’s tax affairs in order:

1. Notify the tax office of an occasional lease agreement 

In the case of an occasional lease agreement, the landlord should notify the tax office competent for his or her place of residence within 14 days from letting the apartment. To be clear, this period of 14 days applies to the date after which the premises were handed over to the tenant, not from the date of signing the agreement by a notary.

Importantly, even if you regularly pay tax on the rental, but have not reported the apartment lease agreement to the tax office, you will lose the privileges resulting from occasional lease. Despite signing it with a notary, the agreement will be treated as a traditional lease agreement. 

As for traditional lease agreements signed between the landlord and the tenant, they do not need to be reported to the tax office.

You may download a model notification form of an occasional lease agreement here. Accept the terms and conditions (Akceptuję regulamin serwisu jakiwniosek.pl) then Click on ‘Pobierz dokument’.

The notification informs the tax office of the date from which the contract was concluded. There are also spaces to fill in the landlord’s personal details and also the address of the apartment.

My colleague filled out this form and took it with him to the tax office. He had other duties to carry out there, as we shall now go into.

2. Registration of a natural person who is a taxpayer 

Aware that my colleague hadn’t yet registered as a taxpayer in Poland, the clerk gave him the ZAP-3 form to fill in.

The ZAP-3 form is for natural persons, whose tax identifier is their PESEL number. My colleague already possessed a PESEL number.

Natural persons are those who do not conduct business activity, are not registered as VAT payers, and do not pay taxes or social security contributions.

On the ZAP-3 form, the taxpayer has to fill in basic information such as personal details, home address, correspondence address and personal bank account details. 

3. Become familiar with the taxation rate of rental income

As of 1 January 2023, a landlord (not conducting business activity) may only pay tax on private rental according to lump sum tax rates.

Lump sum tax rates in Poland for natural persons renting out property:

A lump sum rate of 8.5% applies to income up to the amount of PLN 100,000. A rate of 12.5% ​​applies to the surplus over PLN 100,000. 

In an occasional lease contract, it’s vital to state that the tenant will bear fees related to the premises. These fees include electricity, water, gas and monthly communal fees (czynsz administracyjny). If the contract does not explicitly state that the tenant will cover these fees, yet the tenant still transfers money into the landlord’s account for them, this income is taxable.

A natural person, as the owner of a property, no longer has to submit special written declarations on the choice of lump sum taxation of private rental. 

Tax on renting property as business activity in Poland:

In the case of renting property as part of a business activity, there is a choice of three forms of taxation:

• According to the tax scale – 12% or 32%,
• a flat tax of 19%,
• a lump sum tax of 8.5% and 12.5%.

With the progressive tax scale, the 12% rate applies to a taxable base of up to PLN 120,000 per year. Rental income is added to the income from other sources, for example, from an employment contract. Therefore, there is a risk of entering the 32% tax band. Nevertheless, these income tax bands are advantageous to landlords as they may deduct expenses related to the apartment from the income obtained from the lease. 

The sheer range of costs that can be deducted is very extensive. For example, mortgage interest, home insurance, repairs and the purchase of equipment are all feasible expenses. 

In order for a given expense to be considered a cost, it should be properly documented. In other words, a landlord should keep invoices or bills.

4. Pay tax into an individual micro-account

So, my colleague informed the tax clerk of his preferred way to pay tax. Thereafter, the clerk set up an individual tax micro-account for him.

This micro-account is an individual tax account which is used for PIT, CIT and VAT payments.

My colleague’s identification number is his PESEL number.

In sum, my colleague was obliged to transfer 8.5% of the total rent to his micro-account by the twentieth day of the month following receipt of the first rental fee. 

Further information about tax micro-accounts can be found here.

5. Submit PIT-28 for lump sum settlements by the end of the tax year

The final piece of the puzzle for my colleague was to file his taxes for 2020.

Taxpayers who choose a lump sum settlement have to submit the PIT-28 tax form.

For the current tax year (2026), the deadline for filling in the form will be April 30, 2027.

Is now the time to invest in real estate in Poland?

I am confident that cash buyers who are not afraid to partake in some hard bargaining would be able to grab a fabulous rental yield in any major Polish city. By fabulous, I mean anything over 5.5%.

Let’s also not forget the prospect of significant capital appreciation of Polish real estate in the future.

Don’t be put off by the bureaucratic procedures mentioned in this article. Polish bureaucracy is much easier to handle than it used to be. Besides, a professional real estate agent can do most of the heavy lifting for you.