If you’re not a citizen of an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, buying a house, a plot of land, or shares in a company that owns property in Poland can require a permit from the Ministry of Interior and Administration before you’re allowed to close the deal. Skip this step, and the purchase can be declared void – no matter how much you paid or how long ago you signed.
The basic rule
Poland’s rules on foreign property ownership go back to a 1920 law – the Act on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners – and it’s still fully in force. The starting point is simple: if you’re a foreigner buying real estate in Poland, you generally need a permit before the purchase can go through. The permit is granted, by administrative decision, by the Minister of Interior and Administration, and the Ministry of National Defence gets a say too (as does the ministry for rural affairs if the land is agricultural).
This isn’t limited to a straightforward purchase of a house or a plot. It covers any way you might end up owning real estate or a perpetual usufruct right, and – under a separate set of rules – buying shares in a Polish company that owns or leases real estate long-term.
📌 The one thing to remember
If you need a permit and don’t have one, a notary shouldn’t finalise the deal at all. And if a transaction somehow goes through anyway, it’s void from day one – as if it never happened.
Does this apply to you?
The permit requirement is aimed at anyone from outside the European Economic Area (the EU, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) or Switzerland. In practice, that includes:
- individuals who don’t hold Polish citizenship,
- foreign companies and partnerships set up under the laws of another country,
- Polish companies that are, directly or indirectly, controlled by people or entities from outside the EEA and Switzerland.
If you’re a citizen or a business based in the EEA or Switzerland, none of this applies to you, you can buy property in Poland freely, whatever the source of your capital. The transitional restrictions that existed for a while after Poland joined the EU (on farmland, forest land, and „second homes”) expired years ago, so they’re no longer relevant.
The main exceptions – when you don’t need a permit
Even if you’re squarely in the „foreigner” category above, the law carves out several common situations where no permit is needed at all:
You’re buying a flat
An ordinary residential apartment — one that’s legally a separate unit — plus a garage that goes with it, doesn’t require a permit. This applies no matter where you’re from.
You’ve lived in Poland for years
If you’ve held a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status for at least 5 years and lived here continuously since, you’re exempt.
You’re married to a Polish citizen
If you’ve held permanent residence or EU long-term resident status for at least 2 years, and you’re buying property that will become joint marital property with your Polish spouse, you don’t need a permit for that acquisition.
You’re inheriting, not buying
Statutory inheritance is exempt outright. Inheriting under a will is also exempt, as long as you’d have inherited anyway under statutory succession rules.
⚠️ Where the exceptions stop working
None of these exemptions apply if the property sits in a designated border zone, or if you’re buying agricultural land over 1 hectare. In either case, you’re back to needing a permit 0 full stop.
One thing that catches people out: dividing marital property through the courts (for example, after a divorce) is not covered by any of the exemptions above if one spouse is a foreigner. Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court confirmed this in a 2023 ruling (case II OSK 2262/22), holding that the list of exemptions is closed and courts can’t read it more broadly than it’s written.
What you’ll need to prove to get one
If none of the exemptions apply to you, you’ll need to apply for a permit and satisfy two conditions:
- your purchase won’t threaten Poland’s defence, state security, or public order, and doesn’t run against public health or social policy considerations, and
- you can show a genuine connection – a „tie” – to Poland.
You can demonstrate that tie in several ways, including:
- Polish nationality or Polish heritage,
- marriage to a Polish citizen,
- holding a temporary or permanent residence permit, or EU long-term resident status,
- running a legitimate business or farming activity in Poland.
📏 There’s a size limit, too
For personal use, the property can’t exceed 0.5 hectares (1 hectare if you’re buying as a married couple). Anything bigger is only allowed if you can show it’s genuinely needed for a business or agricultural activity you actually run. Farmland purchases bring in an extra layer of rules under Poland’s agricultural land law.
How the process actually works
File the application
Your application has to be in Polish, and needs to identify you, describe the property precisely (address, land register number, area), and explain why you’re buying it — backed up with documents proving your ties to Poland and your residence status.
Other ministries weigh in
The Ministry of National Defence reviews the application, and — for farmland or forest land — so do the relevant agriculture or environment authorities.
You get a decision
If there’s nothing standing in the way, the Ministry grants the permit. Expect this to take several months at minimum — start the process well before you want to close.
Sign at the notary
Only once the permit is final can you safely go ahead with the notarial deed transferring ownership.
Getting a „promesa” first
Before committing to a specific property, you can apply for a promesa — essentially a binding promise that a permit will be granted, valid for one year. While it’s valid, the Ministry can’t refuse your permit unless the underlying facts materially change. This is handy if you’re bidding at auction or negotiating with a developer before the exact details of the unit are locked in.
| Fee | Amount |
| Permit to acquire real estate | PLN 1,570 |
| Promesa (promise of a permit) | PLN 98 |
| Certificate | PLN 17 |
| Power of attorney | PLN 17 |
One practical note: only married couples can file a joint application. If you’re buying with someone you’re not married to — a partner, a business associate, a relative — each of you files a separate application for your own share, and pays the fee separately.
What happens if you skip it
🛑 The deal is void — not just risky, void
If you buy property that required a permit without getting one, the purchase is void from the moment you signed. Not voidable, not fixable after the fact — void. Getting the permit later doesn’t retroactively save the transaction.
And it’s not only you or the seller who can raise this. A court can declare the sale void at the request of local authorities — the mayor, the county governor, the regional governor, the voivode — or even the Ministry itself. The same rule applies if you acquired shares in a property-holding company without the required permit.
This is where people get caught out: a property bought as a shortcut, without checking whether a permit was needed, can be taken away by court order years later — regardless of how much was paid or how settled everyone assumed the ownership was.
The bottom line
If you’re buying real estate in Poland from outside the EEA or Switzerland, don’t assume the deal is as simple as signing a contract and wiring the money. The law gives you several ways to avoid needing a permit – buying an ordinary flat, having lived in Poland for years, or being married to a Polish citizen among them – but those exemptions disappear entirely near a border zone or with larger farmland purchases.
Whether you need a permit depends on your residence status, why you’re buying, and exactly where the property is – and getting that wrong doesn’t just cause delays, it can unwind the entire purchase. Before you sign a preliminary agreement or show up at the notary, it’s worth having a real estate lawyer in Poland confirm where you stand.
Buying – or selling to a foreign buyer in Poland?
We’ll check whether your transaction needs a permit from the Ministry of Interior and Administration, and handle the process from application to closing – as a Łódź-based law firm working with international clients.
Get in touch
KANCELARIA SWB
ul. Piotrkowska 211 lok. 6/6A,
90-451 Łódź