Permission to purchase real estate

 Acquisition of ownership to real estate located in Poland by a foreigner requires the permission of the minister competent for internal affairs.

 Exemptions from the obligation to obtain a permit to purchase real estate are discussed in art. 8 clause 1 of the Act on the acquisition of real estate by foreigners. Pursuant to the aforementioned provision, it does not require permission:

• acquisition of an independent property (flat);
• acquisition of real estate by a foreigner residing in the Republic of Poland for at least 5 years from the granting of a permanent residence permit or a long-term European Union residence;
• acquisition of real estate by a foreigner who is a spouse of a Polish citizen and resides in the Republic of Poland at least 2 years from the granting of permanent residence permit or long-term European Union residence, which as a result of the acquisition will constitute the statutory jointness of the spouses;
• acquisition of real estate by a foreigner by way of a contract with the seller, if on the day of purchase the foreigner is entitled to statutory inheritance from the seller of the property, and the seller of the property is its owner or perpetual owner for at least 5 years,
• acquisition by a legal person or commercial company without legal personality having its registered office in Poland and controlled by foreigners, for statutory purposes, of undeveloped real estate whose total area in the whole country does not exceed 0.4 ha in urban areas;
• acquisition of real estate by a foreigner who is a bank and at the same time a mortgage creditor, by taking over the property as a result of unsuccessful auctioning in enforcement proceedings.

Exemptions from the obligation to obtain a permit to purchase real estate indicated above do not apply if the subject of the purchase are real estate located in the frontier zone and arable land with an area exceeding 1 ha. When a company is controlled, i.e. it is a foreigner within the meaning of the Act, but it is also an entrepreneur of the EEA (registered office in Poland) - art. 1 point 2 point 4, In accordance with art. 8 paragraph 2 of this Act: "It is not required to obtain a permit by foreigners who are citizens or entrepreneurs of the countries - parties to the agreement on the European Economic Area or the Swiss Confederation, except for the acquisition of:

• agricultural and forestry real estate, for a period of 12 years from the date of accession of the Republic of Poland to the European Union;
• a second property, for a period of 5 years from the date of accession of the Republic of Poland to the European Union.

In connection with the above, at present a company which is a foreigner based in Poland, regardless of where the partners or board members come from and what citizenship they have, does not need to obtain permission to purchase real estate issued by the minister responsible for internal affairs.

The permit is issued in the form of an administrative (discretionary) decision on the basis of an application submitted by a foreigner. There is no ready application form. The permit is issued if the purchase of the property does not pose a threat to defense, state security or public order. An additional requirement for obtaining a permit is the need for a foreigner to demonstrate that there are circumstances confirming his ties with the Republic of Poland, such as, for example, having Polish origin, getting married to a Polish citizen, holding a temporary residence permit, permanent residence permit or long-term EU resident, as well as conducting business or agricultural activity in the territory of the Republic of Poland, in accordance with the provisions of Polish law.