Permits and land rules: when a purchase in Poland falls through

If you are a citizen of an EEA country or of Switzerland, you do not need a permit to buy property in Poland. That includes a building plot.

The permit requirement itself still exists. It comes from an act dating from 1920 and applies to buyers from outside that area, which since Brexit includes UK citizens. For them a permit from the Ministry of the Interior (MSWiA) is generally needed to buy land, and so also a house with its plot. A flat that is a separate unit is generally exempt, and there are further exceptions, for example for people who have lived in Poland for a number of years. Whether you need a permit, and how long it takes to get one, is something to settle with a notary or lawyer before you sign anything or pay a deposit.

If the land is agricultural, the rules below apply on top of that. For everyone, Polish buyers included, the main risk lies there.

The Polish agricultural land act decides who may buy such land, and what the buyer must then do with it. If one of those rules is ignored, the transfer is void: legally it never existed, even if there is a deed. The act names three cases in so many words:

• the holder of the right of first refusal was not notified;
• the land was sold on within five years without KOWR’s consent;
• the purchase rests on false statements or forged documents.

KOWR is the Polish agency that manages agricultural land on behalf of the state.

The act works with two thresholds, and they do not measure the same thing. For the lower threshold what counts is the number of hectares of agricultural land within the plot, not the total area. A mixed plot with a small piece of arable land therefore stays outside the act more often. Below 0.3 hectares of agricultural land the act does not apply.

If the purchase does fall under the act, anyone may buy as long as the agricultural plot is smaller than 1 hectare, even without a farming background. For that limit the area of the whole agricultural plot counts. KOWR’s right of first refusal and a five-year ban on selling then do apply.

From 1 hectare you have to qualify as an individual farmer, or ask for consent. For that status you need, among other things, to have lived in the municipality for five years and to hold agricultural qualifications.

If the act applies, the purchase goes through two notarial deeds. First a conditional sale deed, then the deed that transfers ownership. The notary reports the first one to KOWR, which has a month to respond.

After the purchase you may not sell the land or let someone else use it for five years. If your agricultural land, together with what you already own, comes to 1 hectare or more, you also have to run the farm yourself during those five years. If the plot lies within town limits and is smaller than 1 hectare, that obligation falls away.

Getting out earlier is possible with KOWR’s consent, where the buyer has a serious reason or there is a public interest.

Even without a sale the agency keeps a way in. On a gift, exchange, inheritance or court ruling it can still claim the land by paying the price.

The exception in the agricultural land act mentions only the local zoning plan. If the plot is designated in it for non-agricultural use, the act does not apply. A decision on building conditions does not have that effect.

Polish specialist sources conclude that such a plot stays agricultural, including the right of first refusal and the obligation to farm it.

With agricultural land you look at the zoning plan. With forest you look first at the cadastral registration: if the land is registered as forest, the state may buy first, through Lasy Państwowe. That also applies to land designated for afforestation in the zoning plan or in a building conditions decision, and to forest covered by a simplified forest management plan.

Polish spatial planning is being rebuilt.

• Until 31 August 2026 at the latest: the old studium remains valid.
• From 1 September 2026: a series of provisions of the reform comes into force, and municipalities must by then have adopted a plan ogólny.
• For decisions from 1 January 2026: a building conditions decision expires five years after it became final.
• For applications made before 16 October 2025: the old, unlimited validity stays in place.

After that, a building conditions decision can only be issued for land that the plan designates as an infill area for building. If the plot lies outside it, you can no longer get building conditions for it.

The risk lies elsewhere: a month’s wait, an obligation to farm for five years and a ban on selling.

What to ask, word for word. Czy to jest lokal mieszkalny czy lokal użytkowy? Then check the land register, the register of buildings and units, the certificate that it is a self-contained unit, and the notary’s draft deed. If it turns out not to be a home on paper, do not compare the price with ordinary flats.

Three documents belong on the table before you sign anything:

• the extract from the land register, with the square metres registered as arable land or forest;
• the local zoning plan at the municipality, because only that removes the agricultural character;
• the state of the plan ogólny there, plus the expiry date of any building conditions.

That means a visit to the municipal office and the land registry, in Polish, with the map. We do that check for you, together with viewing the house and checking the seller.

The decision stays with you. Permits, taxes and the legal judgement belong with a Polish notary or lawyer.

The rules above come from the statutes themselves, supplemented with figures from KOWR.

• Act on the acquisition of property by foreigners and the spatial planning act, via lexlege.pl.
• Agricultural land act, consolidated text July 2026, via isap.sejm.gov.pl.
• Forest act, consolidated text May 2026, via api.sejm.gov.pl.
• Right of first refusal procedure, via gov.pl/web/kowr.
• Annual figures for 2024 from the KOWR annual report, via ukur.pl.
• Extension of the transition period, via the Ministry of Development and Technology.