Barbara Wiśniewska | In Principle

There are many indications that as of 16 March 2024, the City of Warsaw will no longer be vested with a pre-emptive right to purchase real estate in the degraded area and revitalisation area of the city designated by Resolution LX/1967/2022 of 17 February 2022.

The private rented sector in Poland is on the radar of foreign institutional investors.  Investments in residential rental properties are in vogue in Western Europe. Despite the global crisis caused by COVID-19, investors actively seek opportunities in friendly foreign markets, including Poland. The Polish market is considered promising, even though historically in Poland there has been a tradition of owning rather than renting.

The programme is a synthesis of important current events in the Polish economy and changes to Polish law, especially those that may concern management board members and affect the risk of serving on boards.

First a warning, then possibly repeated fines on investors and owners for illegal use of structures: this is one of the effects of recent changes in the Construction Law.

Amended regulations governing claims by former owners under the Warsaw Decree entered into force on 20 October 2020. Consequently, the only form of reprivatisation in Warsaw admissible in practice will be damages pursued through complicated, time-consuming and costly judicial proceedings, while a large portion of claims will be extinguished without compensation.

In February 2017, the first notices began to appear in nationwide Polish newspapers and on the City of Warsaw website summoning legal successors of former owners of Warsaw properties to appear in reprivatisation proceedings and prove their rights—or the proceedings will be discontinued.

Under regulations in force from 15 February 2017, reopening of a civil proceeding ended in a legally final judgment can be sought within 10 years after the judgment became legally final. The previous regulations provided for a 5-year period for seeking reopening of proceedings.

The liability of public authorities for unlawful acts or omissions also extends to delay in the functioning of the courts, infringing the individual’s right to have his case heard without undue delay. A finding of excessive length of proceedings enables a party to pursue redress of the resulting loss through the courts.

In a case led by Wardyński & Partners, the firm obtained a ruling from the Supreme Court favourable to owners of buildings as well as communal tenants, establishing the rule of the liability of the City of Warsaw for non-contractual use of the property.

After reprivatisation proceedings lasting many years, the legal successors of the former owners of real estate manage to regain the property that was once lost. But often the current value is grossly low, which justifies pursuing compensatory damages.

Entry in the land and mortgage register of the heirs of the former owner of nationalised or expropriated real estate does not always end the battle to regain the property.

After developed real estate is restored to the heirs of the former owners, it is usually necessary to divide the regained property among its co-owners. This often raises both legal and tax issues.