After the deed is signed: what still has to happen

Ownership of a Polish flat passes at the notarial deed. The land-register entry that follows is a record of a transfer that has already taken place, which is why the wait does not leave you in limbo.

The notary does the filing. Where a deed transfers a right disclosed in a księga wieczysta, or transfers ownership of real property at all, the notary submits the application for entry through the courts' ICT system no later than on the day the deed is drawn up, and that filing counts in law as a filing by you. The court fee is 200 zł, or 300 zł where a new register has to be opened, and the notary collects it with the rest of the bill.

How long the court then takes varies a great deal between districts, and the Ministry of Justice publishes no national figure, so treat any number you are quoted as local anecdote. What you can do is watch it: the moment the application arrives, a note called a wzmianka appears on the register, and you can see it free at ekw.ms.gov.pl using the register number from your deed. When the entry is made, the note disappears and your name appears in section II.

The wait matters in one situation. A bank will not release a mortgage in full until its own charge is entered, so the sequence of entries, and who is chasing them, is worth confirming with the notary on the day.

For transactions in notarial form the notary is the statutory payer of the transfer tax, and is required to make the act conditional on the tax being paid first. So it comes off your bill on the day, and you file no PCC return at all. The notary then accounts for it to the tax office by the 7th of the following month.

The exception is small but real: if the deed applies the first-home relief, you make the statement in front of the notary, and it is your statement. Getting it wrong leaves you owing the tax with interest.

The one filing left to you is the property tax. Within 14 days of buying, you submit an informacja o nieruchomościach i obiektach budowlanych — form IN-1 — to the mayor of the gmina where the flat is, on paper or by electronic means. The liability itself starts on the first day of the month after the month of purchase.

You do not calculate anything. The office issues a decision setting the amount and pays it out over four instalments — 15 March, 15 May, 15 September and 15 November — or in a single payment if the year's tax comes to 100 zł or less. What you actually owe is small; the separate guide on running costs sets out the rates.

One document is easy to forget and easy to enforce. The seller must give the buyer the building's świadectwo charakterystyki energetycznej — the energy performance certificate — at the notarial deed, and this applies equally to a sale of a cooperative right. You cannot waive the right to receive it.

The notary records the handover in the deed, and where the certificate is not produced, warns the person who owed it that failing to provide it is punishable by a fine. That is a real offence rather than a formality, prosecuted under the petty-offences procedure.

The certificate is valid for ten years and carries the building's annual energy demand. It is the single most useful number you will be given about your future heating bill, so read it rather than filing it.

Meldunek is registration of residence in the population register. It is an administrative record of where you live, it is free, and it gives you no rights over the flat and takes none away from the owner.

The deadlines run from the day you arrive at the address, not from the day you bought. A Polish citizen, a citizen of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, and a family member of such a citizen, have 30 days. Every other foreigner has until the fourth day from arrival. Foreigners whose stay in Poland will not exceed 30 days are exempt altogether.

For a foreigner outside the EU there is a second condition worth knowing: the period of temporary residence you declare may not run beyond the period your residence document allows you to stay.

Registering in your own flat is straightforward. You complete the form at the gmina office or electronically, and show the document proving your title — the act names a land register extract from sections I and II, a contract, an administrative decision or a court ruling as examples. Where you are registering someone else in your flat, you as owner confirm their stay on the form and show your own title document.

The handover normally happens on the day of the deed or shortly after, and it is documented in a protokół zdawczo-odbiorczy: the state of the flat, the keys handed over, and the meter readings for electricity, gas, water and heat. Those readings are what divide the seller's bills from yours, so photograph the meters as well as writing the numbers down.

Electricity and gas contracts run in the previous owner's name until you change them, and the supplier will want the deed and the meter reading. Water and heating usually run through the building rather than through you, and are settled inside the monthly charge.

Tell the building's management too. Where you have bought a cooperative right, the statute is explicit: you become a member of the cooperative on acquiring the right, and you must notify the cooperative of the acquisition without delay. For a wspólnota mieszkaniowa there is no equivalent statutory deadline, and telling the manager promptly is simply how you make sure the charges, the settlements and the meeting notices reach you rather than the seller.

Two more housekeeping items that cost nothing and are missed regularly: check that the seller left no arrears on the monthly charge, and ask the manager to confirm in writing what the charge is and what the building has resolved to spend.

• Protokół zdawczo-odbiorczy with meter readings for every utility, signed by both sides
• Electricity and gas contracts transferred to your name, with the deed as evidence
• Notify the cooperative (a statutory duty) or the wspólnota's manager (practice)
• IN-1 to the gmina within 14 days
• Meldunek within 30 days, or by the fourth day if you are a non-EU foreigner

This page describes the position as at 19 August 2026 and explains the rules in general terms. It is not legal or tax advice about your purchase.

• Law on Notaries (Prawo o notariacie), article 92 §4 and §4¹, on filing the land-register application
• Act on court costs in civil cases, articles 42 and 44, for the 200 zł entry fee and the 100 zł fee to open a register
• Act on the tax on civil-law transactions (PCC), article 10, on the notary as payer of the tax
• Act on local taxes and charges, article 6, on the IN-1 deadline and the instalment dates
• Act on the population register (ustawa o ewidencji ludności), articles 27, 28, 41 and 42
• Act on the energy performance of buildings, articles 11, 14 and 41