Acquisition of property rights by a perpetual user of land

Publication / 31.08.2023

In August 2023, an amendment to the Act on Real Estate Management, introduced by the Act of May 26, 2023, amending the Act on Municipal Self-Government, the Act on Social Forms of Housing Development, the Act on Real Estate Management, the Act on Tax on Civil Law Activities and certain other acts, came into force ( Dz.U. 2023 item 1463).

The amendment particularly concerns the possibility of acquiring property rights by perpetual users of land, including entrepreneurs using real estate for business activities.

The amendments provide the perpetual user with the opportunity to request the sale of the landed property in his favor. However, this possibility is limited in time, as the legislator has set a 12-month deadline from the effective date of the amendments to request the sale of the property, which expires on August 31, 2024.

The legislator also specified several cases in which the possibility of requesting sale of real estate was excluded:

  • when the property was given in perpetual usufruct after December 31, 1997;

  • the perpetual usufructuary has not fulfilled the obligation stipulated in the agreement to grant the land for perpetual usufruct;

  • the land is located on the territory of seaports and harbors;

  • the land is used for running a family allotment garden;

  • the land property is undeveloped, and when proceedings are pending for termination of the agreement on giving this property for perpetual usufruct.