Buying a holiday home or second home in Poland
A house in Poland that will not be your main home raises different questions from a house you live in. You are not there most weeks of the year, you are more likely to buy in the countryside or a holiday area, and your own country may count it for tax.
The purchase itself works the same as for any other home. The route from preliminary contract to notarial deed does not change; it is on buying a house in Poland as a foreigner. Whether you need a permit depends on your nationality: citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland do not, other nationalities generally do for a house with land.
This page is about what is different: the land that comes with such a house, what months of standing empty do to a building, and how a home in Poland is taxed.
The purchase
The same route as for any home. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need no permit; others generally do for a house with land.
The land with it
Agricultural land within the plot can bring the purchase under a separate act.
Tax
Poland taxes the property. What your own country does depends on where you are tax resident.
Standing empty
Frost, supervision and the road to the house don’t show in the photos.
Is buying a second home in Poland a good idea?
That depends on what you want it for, and the question is sharper than it sounds.
If it is for holidays, what matters most is whether you will actually go. A house you use a few weeks a year costs money and attention in the other weeks too.
If it is for letting, you are not buying a holiday home but a small business: someone on the spot for keys, cleaning and complaints, plus a tax return in Poland.
If it is for return on investment, you are in the wrong place. We do not predict price rises, and anyone who does so about a market in another country deserves suspicion.
What we do: check whether the house is what the listing promises, and whether the papers are in order.
What makes a house you don’t live in different
Most setbacks come not from the deed but from the months when nobody is there.
- Frost. A house that is not heated in winter has to be left drained: pipes, heating and sometimes the toilet. In the Polish interior it freezes harder and for longer than in most of western Europe.
- Supervision. Someone has to see the post piling up, keep the grass short and go and look after a storm. Often that is a neighbour, but you arrange it before you leave, not after. If you have nobody, you can hand it over: see property management in Poland.
- The road there. A detached house in a holiday area is often on a road that does not belong to the municipality. Who maintains it, who clears the snow and whether you have a right of way is not in the listing, but it is in the land register.
- Connections. Mains sewer or septic tank, gas or solid fuel, and whether the house is on the water mains. With older rural houses you cannot assume any of it.
These are exactly the points that stay invisible in photos. Where to find houses for sale in Poland is about the listings themselves; what lies behind them only shows on the spot.
The land that comes with the house
A house in the countryside more often comes with a piece of land, and that can bring the purchase under a separate act. Whether that act applies depends on how much agricultural land lies within the plot, not on how big the plot is in total.
If that stays below 0.3 hectares, the agricultural land act does not apply. If the agricultural plot is smaller than 1 hectare, anyone may buy, even without a farming background, but KOWR’s right of first refusal and a five-year ban on selling apply. From 1 hectare you have to qualify as an individual farmer, or ask for consent.
In practice: a house with a garden is rarely a problem, a house with a meadow behind it sometimes is. The full rules, including forest and what happens if the notification is skipped, are on permits and land rules.
Tax: what Poland and your own country do with the house
Poland taxes the property where it stands. Every year you pay Polish property tax, which is based on floor area, not on value. If you let the house, the rental income is taxable in Poland too.
What your own country does with it depends on where you are tax resident, and for US citizens also on their citizenship. Some countries count a house abroad for income or wealth taxes, others leave it out. Where there is a tax treaty with Poland, it usually gives Poland the right to tax income from the property, and your own country then avoids taxing it twice in its own way.
General outline, not tax advice. Your own situation decides the outcome.
Two things to keep in mind. Tax rules change, so don’t count on today’s figures for years ahead. And your own situation decides the outcome: debts, allowances and your other assets can all play a part.
We are not tax advisers and this is not tax advice. Have it checked by someone who is, before you sign.
Letting makes it more complicated
As soon as you let the house, the picture changes. Income from a home may be taxed in the country where it stands, so you will have to deal with a Polish tax return. Then there is the practical side: handing over keys, cleaning between guests, and someone who picks up the phone when the heating fails. A manager on the spot can take on that practical part.
Short-term letting to guests counts as a hotel service under Polish law. The house then has to meet minimum requirements for equipment, hygiene and fire safety, and be entered in a register kept by the municipality. Ask the municipality what it requires before the first guest arrives.
Work this out before the purchase, not in the year after. The difference between using it yourself now and then and letting it out on a regular basis is big enough to change the decision.
An example of our own: Willa Juszczyn in the Beskids
Willa Juszczyn is in a village in the Beskids, south-west of Kraków. It is the holiday home of Tim van Corven, who does the viewings and the property management for this site. In 2020 he had it renovated in six months, and since then he has let it to guests.
One of the bedrooms. 
Room with a timber-beamed ceiling. 
Desk in one of the rooms. 
Bedroom with a poster of Babia Góra.
For this house, in this place, 40 to 50 percent of nights are booked over the year. What another house achieves depends on the area and the house itself. Busy periods are sometimes booked a year ahead, weekends outside the season often only a few days before. A few weekends a year he uses it himself.
What that takes in practice:
- Contact with guests goes through Booking.com, Airbnb and WhatsApp, and that can be done from anywhere. For cleaning and small repairs he has found reliable people locally. Without them it would not work.
- Juszczyn is not a tourist town. That means the house itself has to be the reason to come, and stand out from what else is available to rent.
If you want to buy a house to let, he helps with the search and the furnishing, and can arrange the people for cleaning and maintenance and, if you want, the bookings. More on that on property management in Poland.
If you want to see for yourself how such a house runs, you will find Willa Juszczyn on Booking.com and Instagram.
Where buyers from abroad tend to look
Most people start with the regions they know from holidays: the Karkonosze (Giant Mountains) in the south-west, the Masurian lake district in the north-east, and the Baltic coast.
That makes sense, but it has one consequence that is often underestimated: Poland is big. Those areas are hundreds of kilometres apart, and that decides how quickly someone can be there when something happens.
So ask early what a region means in practice, not just what a house costs there. We tell you beforehand whether we do viewings in a particular area and what that means for the planning.
Based on the Polish agricultural land act and Polish rules on local taxes. The tax section is a general description of how tax treaties usually work, not a summary of any one country’s rules. This is general information, not tax advice.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner buy a holiday home in Poland?
Yes. Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland need no permit for a house, a flat or a building plot. Other nationalities, UK and US citizens included, generally need a permit from the Ministry of the Interior for a house with land; a self-contained flat outside the border zone is exempt. Farmland and forest have separate rules that also apply to Polish buyers.
Do I pay tax at home on my house in Poland?
That depends on where you are tax resident. Poland taxes the property itself and any rental income. Your own country may count the house as well, and a tax treaty usually decides how double taxation is avoided. US citizens are taxed by the US on their worldwide income wherever they live. Have it worked out by a tax adviser in your own country.
Where can I buy a chalet in Poland?
Wooden holiday houses are found mainly in the mountain areas and near the lakes. With such a property, look at the registered use: a recreational building and a home are not the same in Poland, and that difference can matter for living there permanently, insurance and connections. That is one of the things we check on the spot.
Which costs are low in Poland?
For a buyer, mainly the notary fee, which has a legal maximum, and the yearly property tax, which in Poland is based on floor area rather than value. What a house really costs is on how much a house costs in Poland.
Can I let my holiday home in Poland?
You can, but it makes things more complicated: a Polish tax return comes into it and you need someone on the spot for keys, cleaning and breakdowns. Work it out before the purchase, because it can change the sums.
Is a second home in Poland a good investment?
We don’t make statements about that. What we do establish: whether the house is in the condition the listing suggests, and whether the ownership papers are in order. Anyone who promises you a return on a market in another country deserves suspicion.
A house in mind?
Send the link to the listing or describe what you are looking for. You will get an answer within two working days from someone who knows the area.
Or email us directly at info@huiskopeninpolen.nl.