An old apartment in a Warsaw tenement (kamienica) comes with the building’s history, and the risk usually sits in the paperwork and the walls rather than in the flat itself. Before you sign a preliminary agreement (umowa przedwstępna), check five things: Section III of the land and mortgage register (claims, warnings, the conversion fee), the building’s heritage status, the resolutions and finances of the owners’ association, the building inspection reports and the heating. If you are not a Polish citizen, add a sixth: how you will read the documents, sign and pay. Laws and amounts here are given as of October 2026.
You may love the high ceilings of Praga, Śródmieście or Mokotów and still worry about damp, old restitution claims and an association with no money for repairs. Each of those worries has a specific document you can ask for, and as a foreign buyer you will read it in Polish. The checks that apply to any resale flat are in our resale checklist for foreign buyers; this guide adds what is specific to pre-war buildings.
Old apartments in Praga, Śródmieście or Mokotów: what do these pre-war buildings have in common?
The common factor is the decree of 26 October 1945 on the ownership and use of land in Warsaw (the Warsaw Decree). It came into force on 21 November 1945 and, according to the Sejm’s legal database, is still listed as “in force” (as of October 2026). It covered land within the city’s 1945 boundaries.
The decree did three things that still affect tenements today:
- Article 1: the land passed to the City of Warsaw;
- Article 5: buildings remained the property of their existing owners, “unless specific provisions state otherwise”;
- Article 7: the former owner or their legal successors could, within 6 months of the city taking possession of the land, apply for perpetual lease or a building right.
Some decree proceedings based on those applications are still going on. That is why the risk of claims depends not on the district but on the exact address and its land and mortgage register. Choose the district for the street and the commute; check the risks building by building.
How do you check the legal status: the land and mortgage register, perpetual usufruct and old claims?
The land and mortgage register (księga wieczysta, KW). Registers are public (Article 2 of the Land and Mortgage Register Act, Journal of Laws 2026, item 1066). Anyone who knows the number can view the register online free of charge (Article 36⁴(6)). A printout of the online view is not a court document, so for the transaction you need an official copy (odpis). Ask the seller for the register number before the first viewing.
Section III matters most: limited property rights, restrictions on disposal and “other rights and claims” (Article 25(1)(3)). Mortgages are in Section IV. The public credibility of the register protects a buyer, but not when the register shows a note of a pending application or a warning (Article 8). Nor does it protect a buyer in bad faith, meaning someone who “could easily have found out” (Article 6(2)). If something is visible in the register, you cannot claim you did not know.
The reprivatisation commission (Komisja do spraw reprywatyzacji). The Act of 9 March 2017 came into force on 5 May 2017 (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2021, item 795). It is in force, and as of late September 2026 there was no bill in the Sejm to amend it or close the commission down. The commission is active: on 23 September 2026 it published further notices, including on new proceedings. According to its chairman’s reply to the Commissioner for Human Rights (RPO), by the end of 2025 it had carried out preliminary checks in 695 cases and issued 225 decisions to open proceedings.
Three provisions of that Act matter to a buyer:
- Article 23: the commission can order a warning in the register and a ban on selling or encumbering the property; such an entry removes the register’s protection;
- Article 24a: a warning can appear as early as the preliminary checks;
- Article 40: a decision cancelling a reprivatisation decision can be the basis for deleting register entries, including those based on a notarial deed, and for entering the City of Warsaw or the State Treasury as owner.
Any commission entry in Section III is a signal to stop and take legal advice.
The Real Estate Management Act (Journal of Laws 2026, item 399) gives tenants and buyers some protection. Article 214a(1) lists 12 grounds for refusing to hand land back to a person entitled under the decree. They include a flat being occupied by a tenant (point 6) and property rights having been created or transferred to third parties (point 9). Do not treat this as full protection: the commission’s decisions under Article 40 work independently.
Where to look for information on claims. Decree cases are handled by the Decree Affairs Office (Biuro Spraw Dekretowych) at ul. Kruczkowskiego 2. It gives access to files only on a written request from a party to the proceedings and does not publish a list of properties on its website (as of October 2026). In practice, you are left with Section III of the register, questions to the seller and the association’s board, the city’s notices about proceedings where the parties cannot be identified (posted for 30 days on the city’s website, Article 214b) and the commission’s list of notices on gov.pl.
Conversion of perpetual usufruct (użytkowanie wieczyste) into ownership. On 1 January 2019, perpetual usufruct of land built up for housing turned into ownership. A conversion fee (opłata przekształceniowa) is paid for it (the Conversion Act, Journal of Laws 2025, item 6):
- equal to the old annual fee, by 31 March each year, for 20 years from the conversion (Article 7);
- the claim for it is entered in Section III “in respect of each successive owner”, so it passes to you (Article 4(5));
- as a buyer, you pay from 1 January of the year after the purchase and, within 30 days of buying, you apply for a certificate (Article 11(1)).
You can pay the fee off in one go at any time. On city land, a Warsaw City Council resolution of 18 October 2018 gives individuals who own flats a 98% discount on the one-off payment (as of October 2026). On State Treasury land, check the discount with the office; for some groups, including people with disabilities and large families, the Act provides 99% (Article 9a). The fee for an application to delete the claim from the register is PLN 250 after a one-off payment and PLN 75 in other cases (as of October 2026).
Is the tenement on the register of monuments or the municipal heritage record, and what does that change?
The register of monuments (rejestr zabytków) and the municipal heritage record (gminna ewidencja zabytków, GEZ) are two different things. The GEZ is kept by the city mayor as a set of address cards (Article 22(4) of the Act on the Protection of Monuments, Journal of Laws 2024, item 1292). Ask the seller and the association’s board which one the building is in, and confirm the answer with the conservator or the city office.
Building on the register. Building, conservation and restoration works on a registered monument need a permit from the provincial heritage conservator (Article 36(1)(1)). Since 3 June 2026, some actions need a notification to the conservator instead (new Article 36aa). These include works around the monument, a change in how it is used, installing technical equipment and other actions that change its appearance. The conservator has 60 days from delivery of the notification to object. From the same date, the Construction Law requires either the conservator’s permit or a notification without objection (Article 39(1)).
Building only in the GEZ. A building or demolition permit is issued in agreement with the conservator, who has 30 days; silence means no objection (Article 39(3)–(4) of the Construction Law, Journal of Laws 2026, item 524). Works that need only a notification are not covered by this agreement.
Money for repairing a monument. The city may grant up to 100% of the necessary costs of works on a monument in the register or the GEZ (Article 81). Warsaw is granting such subsidies in 2026 too and publishes the amounts on um.warszawa.pl (as of October 2026). Ask the board whether the association has applied and for which works.
The owners’ association and city-owned flats: how to read resolutions, repair savings and service charges
The Act on the Ownership of Premises (Journal of Laws 2026, item 232) does not use the term “repair fund”. It speaks of the costs of managing the common property: repairs and maintenance, utilities in common parts, insurance and taxes, cleaning and the board’s pay (Article 14). How much the owners’ association (wspólnota mieszkaniowa) saves for repairs therefore depends on its resolutions, not on the Act.
Ask for five documents:
- the annual budget and the resolution on monthly advance payments; both require a resolution (Article 22(3)(2)–(3));
- the board’s latest annual report; the owners’ meeting must take place at least once a year, by the end of the first quarter (Article 30);
- resolutions on repairs and loans from recent years;
- information on owners’ arrears and on court cases;
- the building inspection reports (see the next section).
The rules on the board, resolutions and the budget apply to an association with more than three flats. In a smaller one, the Civil Code rules on co-ownership apply (Article 19).
Why this matters: the association is liable for its debts without limit, and each owner in proportion to their share (Article 17). Advance payments are due in advance, by the 10th of each month (Article 15(1)).
When the city owns many flats. Resolutions are passed by a majority counted by shares (Article 23(2)). If one owner, such as the city, holds a majority of shares, owners with at least 1/5 of the shares can demand a vote on the basis of one owner, one vote (Article 23(2a)). Once you own the flat, you have the right to scrutinise the board (Article 29(3)). You can challenge a resolution in court within 6 weeks of its adoption at a meeting, or of being notified of a resolution adopted by collecting individual votes (Article 25(1a)).
Technical condition: floors, damp and installations, and which inspection to commission
The Construction Law (Article 62) requires the owner or manager of a building to carry out periodic checks:
- at least once a year: gas installations and chimney flues (smoke, exhaust and ventilation); smoke, gravity exhaust and ventilation flues are checked by a master chimney sweep;
- at least once every 5 years: the building’s technical condition, and the electrical and lightning protection systems.
Every check produces a report (Article 62a). Ask the board for the reports from the last 5 years. A missing report is a question for the board, and the recommendations in a report are often a list of the association’s future spending.
In the flat itself, ask about:
- floors and ceilings: what the floors are made of, whether they sag, whether they have been reinforced and when;
- damp: smell and salt stains in the cellar, damp walls near the floor, the state of gutters and the roof;
- installations: whether water and drainage risers have been replaced, whether the wiring in the flat is new, whether there is gas;
- ventilation: whether the vents work, especially in the kitchen and bathroom.
Take a person with Polish building qualifications (uprawnienia budowlane) to the viewing before the preliminary agreement. The association’s reports describe the building, not your flat. If the list of likely repairs puts you off, weigh it against buying a new build instead of a resale flat.
Stove or gas heating: what the Mazovia anti-smog resolution and city subsidies mean for you
Anti-smog resolution 162/17 of the Mazovia Regional Assembly sets deadlines for old devices:
- boilers below class 3 have been banned since 1 January 2023;
- class 3 or 4 boilers may be used until the end of 2027; from 1 January 2028 they must not be used;
- room heaters, such as fireplaces, have had to meet ecodesign requirements or have a dust-reduction device since 1 January 2023.
Warsaw has a stricter rule. Since 1 October 2023, hard coal and fuels made from it may not be burned in the city (resolution 59/22). Devices that meet ecodesign and were put into service by 1 June 2022, and class 5 boilers put into service by 10 November 2017, are exempt until the end of their service life. So a class 3 or 4 boiler may run until the end of 2027, but not on hard coal.
City subsidies. Applications for work to be done in 2027 are accepted from 1 September 2026 to 31 March 2027, and work may start only after you sign an agreement with the city. The city subsidises removing a gas boiler used for at least 10 years or with an open combustion chamber, a solid-fuel boiler of class 3, 4 or 5, or an oil boiler. The new source must be a heat pump, a district heating substation or electric heating. Replacing a gas boiler with a new gas boiler gets no subsidy. Subsidies for replacing boilers below class 3 were accepted until 31 December 2024.
Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.
| New heat source | Individual | Owners’ association |
|---|---|---|
| Air-to-water heat pump | up to PLN 30,000 | up to PLN 40,000 |
| Ground-source heat pump | up to PLN 40,000 | up to PLN 50,000 |
| Electric heating | up to PLN 10,000 | up to PLN 20,000 |
| District heating substation | up to PLN 30,000 | up to PLN 40,000 |
Amounts according to eko.um.warszawa.pl, as of October 2026.
At the viewing, ask what heating device the flat has, its class, when it was put into service and whether the boiler’s papers exist. That tells you whether you will have to replace the heating before the end of 2027.
Buying as a foreigner: permit, language, signing from abroad and money checks
No permit for the flat itself. A self-contained flat can be bought without a permit from the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MSWiA), whatever your citizenship, except in the border zone; Warsaw is not in it (Article 8(1)(1) and 8(3) of the Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners, Journal of Laws 2017, item 2278). A garage unit, or a share in one, linked to your housing needs is also exempt (Article 8(1)(1a)). The share in the land and common parts of the building that comes with the flat needs no permit. According to the Ministry’s FAQ, a share in a separate property sold with the flat, such as an access road, does need a permit if the Act applies to you, for example if you are a citizen of a country outside the EEA and Switzerland and no other exemption covers you. Check in the land and mortgage register what exactly is being sold. Who needs a permit for a house or a plot is covered in our guide to buying property in Poland as a foreigner.
Documents in Polish. The land and mortgage register, the association’s resolutions and the inspection reports are in Polish. Have the key ones translated by a sworn translator (tłumacz przysięgły) before the preliminary agreement; the Minister of Justice keeps the public list of sworn translators (Articles 6(2) and 10 of the Sworn Translator Act).
At the notary. A sale of property needs a notarial deed (Article 158 of the Civil Code, Journal of Laws 2026, item 795). The deed is drawn up in Polish. At your request, the notary can also conduct it in another language, personally or with a sworn translator (Article 2 § 3 of the Law on Notaries, Journal of Laws 2026, item 614). If you do not know Polish and no translation is attached, the notary translates the deed personally or through a translator (Article 87 § 1(1)). Before signing, the deed is read out, and the notary must make sure you understand its content and meaning (Article 94 § 1). Because you are a foreigner, your citizenship is written into the deed (Article 92 § 1(4a)). If you have a PESEL number, the notary checks before the deed that the number has not been restricted (zastrzeżony) (Article 85 § 2a).
Signing from abroad. A power of attorney to buy a flat must be in the same form as the deed itself, a notarial deed (Article 99 § 1 of the Civil Code). The rule that the form of the country of signing is enough does not apply to transactions in real estate (Article 25(2) of the Private International Law Act). The Polish consulate in Stockholm states that a consul cannot certify a signature on a power of attorney for transferring property. An apostille confirms only the signature, the signatory’s capacity and the stamp; it does not fix the form. Agree the form of any power of attorney signed abroad with the notary in Poland in advance.
Money checks. The notary and the real estate agent are obliged institutions under the Polish AML Act (Journal of Laws 2025, item 644). They identify you and the beneficial owner and examine the source of funds where the circumstances justify it; the threshold for an occasional transaction is €15,000 (Article 35(1)(2)). If the checks cannot be completed, the transaction does not go ahead (Article 41(1)). Have papers showing where the money comes from ready before you transfer it. If you plan to borrow, ask a mortgage adviser (doradca kredytowy).
Tax and residence. Tax does not depend on citizenship: on a resale flat, the buyer pays 2% PCC (Article 7(1)(1)(a) of the PCC Act). Buying a flat does not give you a residence permit: the Act on Foreigners (Journal of Laws 2025, item 1079) contains no ground linked to real estate. Since 27 April 2026, a flat you own counts as legal title to accommodation if you apply for EU long-term resident status (Article 219a(1)); on its own it gives you no status (as of October 2026).
After you buy. Two deadlines are easy to miss from abroad, because the letters about them arrive in Polish: if the land was converted, the application for the conversion-fee certificate within 30 days of buying (Article 11(1) of the Conversion Act), and the 6 weeks to challenge an association resolution (Article 25(1a) of the Act on the Ownership of Premises). Arrange before completion how you will receive letters from the city office and the association’s board.
FAQ
Can a foreigner buy a flat in a Warsaw tenement without a permit?
Yes. A self-contained flat (samodzielny lokal mieszkalny) can be bought without a permit from the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MSWiA) whatever your citizenship, except in the border zone, and Warsaw is not in it (Article 8(1)(1) of the Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners, as of October 2026). The share in the land and common parts that comes with the flat needs no permit either.
Can a pre-war building in Warsaw still face claims from former owners?
Yes. The 1945 Warsaw Decree is still formally in force, and the commission for Warsaw reprivatisation is still working: on 23 September 2026 it published further notices. Before signing anything, read Section III of the land and mortgage register (księga wieczysta) and ask the owners’ association about any decree proceedings.
Will I pay an annual land fee after buying a flat in a Warsaw tenement?
Possibly. Where perpetual usufruct of the land turned into ownership on 1 January 2019, a conversion fee is due for 20 years, by 31 March each year. The claim is entered in Section III of the register and passes to you. On city land, individual flat owners get a 98% discount if they pay it off in one go (city resolution of 2018, as of October 2026).
Do I need the heritage conservator’s consent to renovate a tenement flat?
If the building is in the register of monuments, building works need a permit from the provincial heritage conservator. Since 3 June 2026, some actions need only a notification, and the conservator has 60 days to object. For a building only in the municipal heritage record, the conservator must agree a building permit within 30 days (as of October 2026).
Can I still heat a Warsaw tenement flat with a coal stove?
Not on hard coal: since 1 October 2023, burning hard coal and fuels made from it is banned in Warsaw, with narrow exceptions in resolution 59/22. A class 3 or 4 boiler may run on another fuel until the end of 2027. The city accepts subsidy applications for replacing such a boiler until 31 March 2027 (as of October 2026).
What tax does a foreigner pay when buying an old flat in Warsaw?
The same as a Polish buyer: tax does not depend on citizenship. On a resale flat, the buyer pays civil law transactions tax (PCC) of 2% (Article 7(1)(1)(a) of the PCC Act, Journal of Laws 2026, item 191, as of October 2026). Article 9(17) of that Act exempts certain first-home purchases; ask the notary whether you qualify.
Found an old flat in a Warsaw tenement? Browse resale flats for sale in Warsaw or write to us before the viewing and before the preliminary agreement. We will go through the land and mortgage register, the association’s documents and the inspection reports with you, point by point from this checklist, and tell you what to ask the seller or a lawyer, in English or in any of the other languages we work in (7 in total). When you buy a resale flat, we work under a written agreement with you (umowa pośrednictwa), which sets out our fee and who pays it.
Jawno · Vladyslav Moroz, real estate agent (pośrednik w obrocie nieruchomościami), sole trader with OC liability insurance · +48 692 649 839 · infojawno@gmail.com
This text is for information only and is not legal advice. Legal position as of October 2026.