Property Register in Poland

The Land and Mortgage Register:

What is the Land and Mortgage Register?

Land and Mortgage Register is a public register carried out by relevant Departments of District Courts. Land and Mortgage Register is carried on only for immovable properties.

Each real property has its own land registry files. These files are divided into four sections – each of them refers to a different aspect of legal status of the real property:
– The first one includes designation of the real property and entries of rights, which are related to ownership, e.g. servitudes,
– The second one includes entries relating to ownership and perpetual usufruct,
– The third one includes entries relating to: limited property rights (with the exception of mortgages), limitations on disposal of the real estate or perpetual usufruct, other rights and claims (with the exception mortgage claims),
– The fourth is designed for disclosing mortgages.

The principles governing the functioning of the Land and Mortgage Register:

The principle of:
– openness of the Register to the public – everybody has access to them,
– entry – entry confirms only the existence of the right (it is only of declarative character),
– presumptions states that “the right revealed in the Land and Mortgage Register is entered in accordance with the actual state of legal affairs, and the right deleted does not exist” (the presumption is challengeable),
– reliability of the Register – the person, who, in the course of a paid legal act, acquires in good faith the property right entered into the Register, acquires this right even if the person transferring the right did not, in fact, have the right to transfer it, but the transferor was entered into the Register as the entitled person,
– priority of limited property rights entered into the Register – such rights have priority over rights not entered into the Register.

What if the real property does not have its files in Land and Mortgage Register?

It can happen that the real property does not have files in Land and Mortgage Register, because the Register has lost, been destroyed or it has never existed. In such a case, the District Court keeps for the real property so-called “document archive”. Nevertheless, under the Act of 6th July 1982 on Land and Mortgage Registers and on Mortgage, the owner of the property is obligated to set the Land and Mortgage Register. If the owner did not fulfil this obligation, he would be liable for damage resulting from his negligence.

The Land and Property Register

The Land and Property Register is a public register, which contains detailed information on lands, buildings and apartments and their owners (or entities, who dispose these real properties). Data, which are included into the Register, are basis for town planning or for determining the amount of property tax.

The Area Development Plan

the Land Utilisation Plan/Spatial Development Plan a document (in the form of resolution), which is adopted by the commune council. It determines conditions of land development and localisation of public-purpose investments. The Plan consists of a text part and a graphic part (maps). The provisions of the Plan are binding on the buyer of real estate. For example, if the purchaser buys a land, which according to the Plan is assigned for industrial facilities, he could not built a house thereof.

Expert team leader DKP Legal Marcin Kręglewski
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