Developer prospectus in Poland: what to check before you pay the reservation fee

The information prospectus (prospekt informacyjny) is a mandatory document about the developer, the development and your specific flat. The developer must give it to you free of charge, on a durable medium and together with its annexes, before you sign a reservation agreement (Art. 21, legal position as of October 2026). Before you pay the reservation fee, work through the list below. That fee may not exceed 1% of the flat price stated in the prospectus itself (Art. 32(2)).

Legal basis: the Act of 20 May 2021 on the protection of the rights of buyers of residential premises or single-family houses and on the Developer Guarantee Fund, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 880. The buyer-protection rules have applied since 1 July 2022. All rules and figures in this text reflect the legal position as of October 2026. This text is for information only and is not legal advice.

Checklist before the reservation fee (legal position as of October 2026)

1. The date the prospectus was prepared, and whether you have received every annex.
2. The land and mortgage register (księga wieczysta, KW) number and the entries in section IV (mortgages, pending applications).
3. The building permit: whether there is one, whether it is final, whether it has been appealed.
4. The type of escrow account for buyers (open or closed), the bank, and the Developer Guarantee Fund (DFG) contribution rate.
5. The schedule: at least 4 stages and the planned completion date for the works.
6. The date by which ownership is to be transferred, in the individual part.
7. The flat price, the price per m², the usable area, and whether the price matches the one on the developer’s website.
8. Whether the contract allows price indexation, and on what terms.
9. The surroundings: the local zoning plan within 100 m of the development boundary, and planned projects within 1 km.
10. The three annexes: the floor plan, the model contract, the site layout sketch.
11. The reservation agreement itself: written form, a fixed period (with a margin for the mortgage decision), a fee of at most 1% of the prospectus price.

What is the developer’s prospectus and when must you receive it?

A developer starting sales must prepare a prospectus for the development using the model annexed to the Act (Art. 20(1) and (3)). It hands it over before the developer agreement, and if you sign a reservation first, before the reservation agreement (Art. 21(1)).

Three rules on delivery (legal position as of October 2026):

• free of charge and with annexes, on a durable medium (Art. 21(2)). The Act defines it as a medium that lets you store information and reproduce it unchanged (Art. 5(11));
• on paper on request, at the developer’s premises, if you received the prospectus only in another form (Art. 21(3));
• the prospectus becomes part of the contract. With its annexes it forms an integral part of the reservation agreement and the developer agreement (Art. 23(2)). What you read in it is not an advertising leaflet.

The developer also publishes the general part of the prospectus on its website: from the start of sales, and if it concludes reservation agreements, before the first of them (Art. 19a(1)). This rule has applied since 11 July 2025. On the same website the developer states the price per m² including VAT. If the website price differs from the price the developer offers when you contract, you can demand a contract at the price most favourable to you (Art. 19a(6)). How to find that list and its history is covered in price transparency on the developer’s website.

An exception: for a finished flat bought from a developer under an ordinary sale contract, you will not get the full prospectus. Instead the developer hands over, on a durable medium, a short information sheet on the property and the flat, without the parts on financing, protection of payments, the schedule and withdrawal (Art. 3 and Art. 27(1)). What to check in that case is covered in buying a ready-to-move-in flat from a developer.

What is in the general part and what is in the individual part?

At the top of the model there is a field “Data sporządzenia prospektu” (date the prospectus was prepared) with the note “Stan na dzień sporządzenia prospektu informacyjnego” (position as of the date of preparation). If anything has changed since then, the developer delivers an annex (aneks) or a new prospectus, with the change identifiable, and in time for you to read it before the contract (Art. 22).

A table following the prospectus model, legal position as of October 2026:

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns. →

Three annexes come with the prospectus: a floor plan with your flat marked, the model developer agreement, and a sketch of the site layout showing the building and its surroundings. If any is missing, that is a signal to hold off on paying.

Which prospectus data should you compare with the land and mortgage register, the KRS and the building permit?

This is a simple comparison of figures, not a full vetting of the developer:

• Land and mortgage register. Enter the KW number from the prospectus in the Electronic Land and Mortgage Registers search of the Ministry of Justice. Check whether the entries in section IV match the field on mortgage encumbrances in the prospectus.
• KRS. Look up the KRS number from the general part in the KRS search: are the company’s name and registered office the same as in the prospectus and in the model contract?
• Building permit. The prospectus has three yes/no fields: is there a permit, is it final, has it been appealed. Plus the permit number and the name of the authority that issued it.

You will see the remaining documents at the developer’s office. On your request, before you reserve, the developer must make available at its premises, among other things, the current state of the land and mortgage register, an extract from the KRS or a CEIDG certificate, the building permit, financial statements for the last two years, the building design, and the consent of the bank or another mortgage creditor to transfer ownership free of encumbrances, or an undertaking to give it (Art. 26(1), legal position as of October 2026).

Escrow account and DFG: where to find them in the prospectus and what they mean for your payments

In the general part, look for the field “Środki ochrony nabywców” (buyer protection measures). It tells you:

• the type of residential escrow account (mieszkaniowy rachunek powierniczy): open or closed;
• the percentage rate of the contribution to the Developer Guarantee Fund (DFG);
• the name of the institution that safeguards the buyer’s money.

The developer calculates and pays the DFG contribution, not you (Art. 49(5)). The rate depends on the day sales started (Art. 49(6)). As of October 2026, the rates from the regulation of 21 June 2022 (Dz.U. 2022 item 1341) apply: 0.45% for an open account and 0.1% for a closed one. The Act allows rates of at most 1% for an open account and 0.1% for a closed one (Art. 49(7)).

The DFG is a separate account within the Insurance Guarantee Fund (UFG) (Art. 46). The Act earmarks its resources for refunding buyers’ payments into an open escrow account in the cases listed in Art. 48(1), for example the developer’s insolvency, or where you withdrew from the contract and were not refunded within the statutory time. If the bank holding the account becomes insolvent, the Act provides for a refund from the DFG of the part of the payments not covered by a payout from the Bank Guarantee Fund (Art. 48(2)). The prospectus model contains a mandatory paragraph on deposit protection by the BFG up to the equivalent of €100,000 per depositor (as of October 2026). The UFG sets out the details of the fund on dfg.ufg.pl.

And the reservation fee? It is credited towards the price. After the developer agreement is signed, the developer pays it into the escrow account within 7 days at the latest (Art. 32(3)–(4), legal position as of October 2026).

Construction schedule and dates: what is binding and what is indicative?

The schedule divides construction into stages. As of October 2026, it must have at least 4 stages, and the cost of each may be no lower than 10% and no higher than 25% of the total cost of the development (Art. 24(2)). For each stage the completion date and the percentage split of costs are given. The Act itself calls that split “estimated” (Art. 24(1)).

How to read the dates:

• “Planowany termin rozpoczęcia i zakończenia robót budowlanych” (planned start and completion date of the building works) in the general part is the construction plan.
• “Termin, do którego nastąpi przeniesienie prawa własności” (the date by which ownership will be transferred) in the individual part is the date for your flat. Compare it with the date in the model contract.
• Price indexation. The prospectus has a field “Dopuszczenie waloryzacji ceny oraz określenie zasad waloryzacji” (whether price indexation is allowed and its rules). If it says “tak” (yes), read the rules before you pay for the reservation.

The prospectus is an integral part of the contract (Art. 23(2)). If the contract gives a different date from the prospectus, the rule described below, in the section on differences between the contract and the prospectus, applies.

What must the developer say about the surroundings?

The prospectus model (legal position as of October 2026) requires three kinds of information about the neighbourhood:

1. Existing facilities that affect living conditions, in particular those that are a nuisance through smell, noise or light. For this field the model gives no radius.
2. Provisions of the local zoning plan for plots within 100 m of the development boundary: land use, intensity and height of buildings, share of biologically active area, minimum number of parking spaces. If there is no plan, the developer enters “Brak planu” (no plan).
3. Planned projects within a 1 km radius: including those from local plans, development-conditions decisions, environmental decisions, limited-use areas and flood hazard maps. Separately, decisions on public-purpose projects, such as roads, railway lines, an airport, transmission networks. The footnote to the model names, among others, the building of roads and rail lines, air corridors, sewage treatment plants, waste incinerators, landfills and cemeteries.

Check this information against the site layout sketch (annex 3). If something important to you (a road, a tramline) is on the sketch but not in the description, ask about it in writing.

If you do not read Polish: does the prospectus have to be in English?

This section is useful if you are buying together with someone who does not read Polish, for example a partner. The Developer Act (with the prospectus model) contains no provision on language. The general Polish Language Act applies (consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 81, as of October 2026):

• in dealings with a consumer living in Poland, under a contract performed in Poland, Polish is used (Art. 7(1)), also in documents required by other legislation (Art. 7(3));
• a document may have a parallel foreign-language version. If the consumer is a Polish citizen, the Polish version is the basis for interpretation (Art. 8(1a));
• a foreigner who knows the language and has been told of the right to a document in Polish may ask for a document in a foreign language (Art. 8(1b)).

These provisions do not create a duty to translate the prospectus. You can ask the developer for an English version, but how these rules apply to the prospectus itself is for a lawyer to judge. In practice the decisions rest on the Polish text, so it helps to know the Polish names of the fields and sections. That is why the Polish field names are given above in brackets.

What if the contract differs from the prospectus?

During the reservation. The developer must tell you about changes to the prospectus and annexes and state what they concern (Art. 33(1)). If it changed the prospectus without telling you, the reservation fee must be refunded without delay (Art. 34(1)(3)).

At signing of the developer agreement. Changes made between delivery of the prospectus and signing of the contract must be clearly highlighted in the contract. They bind you only if you agree to include them in the contract (Art. 35(2)–(3)). In the contract you also sign a statement that you received the prospectus and read it (Art. 35(1)(16)), so compare the two documents before you sign.

After signing. The Act gives a right to withdraw from the developer agreement within 30 days of its conclusion (Art. 43(2), legal position as of October 2026), among other cases when:

• information in the contract does not match the prospectus, apart from changes accepted under Art. 35(2);
• the developer did not deliver the prospectus or information on a change;
• data in the prospectus do not match the facts or the legal position on the day of the contract;
• the prospectus lacks data required by the model.

You submit the statement in writing with a notarised signature and your consent to deletion of your claims from the land and mortgage register (Art. 45(1)). The contract is then treated as never concluded, you bear no cost of withdrawal, and the developer returns the money paid out to it from the account without delay, within 30 days of receiving the statement at the latest (Art. 44(2)–(3)). This right concerns the developer agreement. For a reservation, the rules in Art. 33–34 described above apply.

FAQ

Is the developer’s information prospectus mandatory?

Yes, when you buy from a developer under a developer agreement (umowa deweloperska). As of October 2026, the developer must give you the prospectus with its annexes free of charge, on a durable medium, before the developer agreement and before the reservation agreement that precedes it (Art. 21 of the Act, Dz.U. 2026 item 880). For a finished flat bought under an ordinary sale contract you receive a short information sheet instead (Art. 27(1)).

How much can a developer charge as a reservation fee?

As of October 2026, the reservation fee may not exceed 1% of the flat price stated in the prospectus (Art. 32(2)). The reservation agreement must be in writing, on pain of invalidity (Art. 30(1)), and for a fixed period. If you are taking a mortgage, that period should allow for the time needed for the bank’s decision (Art. 31).

Does the prospectus have to be in English?

No. As of October 2026, the Developer Act contains no provision on the language of the prospectus. The Polish Language Act (Dz.U. 2026 item 81, Art. 8(1a) and (1b)) allows a parallel foreign-language version, and a foreigner who speaks the language may ask for one. Neither act creates a duty to translate the prospectus.

What if the developer changes the prospectus during the reservation?

The developer must tell you and state what the change concerns (Art. 33(1)). If it changed the prospectus or annexes without telling you, the reservation fee, which as of October 2026 is capped at 1% of the price, must be refunded without delay (Art. 34(1)(3)).

How long do I have to withdraw if the contract does not match the prospectus?

As of October 2026, you have 30 days from the date the developer agreement is concluded (Art. 43(2)). This covers, among other things, a contract that departs from the prospectus, a prospectus that was never handed over, and data that do not match the facts or the legal position. The withdrawal statement must be in writing with a notarised signature (Art. 45(1)).

Tekst ma charakter informacyjny i nie jest poradą prawną. (This text is for information only and is not legal advice.)

Have the prospectus and a visit to the sales office booked? Write to us before the visit. We will go through the prospectus and the model contract with you using this list, point out what to ask the developer or a lawyer, and we will go to the sales office together. We do not charge you a fee for help buying a flat from a developer (more: an agent when buying from a developer: what it costs you). Our remuneration on the primary market comes from agreements with developers. See what help buying a flat from a developer looks like, or browse new-build flats in Warsaw with prices from dane.gov.pl.

Jawno · +48 692 649 839 · infojawno@gmail.com