A commercial property transaction in Poland involves more than title. The asset may carry registered charges, tax arrears, insolvency proceedings, or encumbrances that do not appear on the face of the deed. Collateral value depends on what already encumbers the asset — and on how much of that encumbrance is visible before closing. This report maps every relevant Polish register, states what each one shows and what it does not, and sets out the cost and timeline for a systematic check.
- What the registers show
- Charges registered under Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance); VAT status and declared bank accounts via Biała lista; insolvency proceedings opened after 1 December 2021 via KRZ; KRS corporate data; filed financial statements via RDF. Sources: Centralna Informacja, e-Urząd Skarbowy, krz.ms.gov.pl, podatki.gov.pl, KRS, RDF · verified August 2026.
- Cost of public access
- Most registers are free to query. Certified extracts from Rejestr Zastawów cost 20 PLN per subject (DW-1) or 20 PLN per collateral object (DW-2); certified copy DW-4 costs 15 PLN. Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych issues wypis/zaświadczenie at 50 PLN via e-Urząd Skarbowy.
- Access condition — land register
- EKW (electronic land and mortgage register) requires the KW number. Search by owner name is not permitted for private parties. The KW number must be retrieved from ewidencja gruntów first.
- What the registers do not show
- Insolvency proceedings opened before 1 December 2021; beneficial ownership beyond what CRBR discloses; vehicle or equipment ownership identity; off-register contractual encumbrances.
Two pledge registers — both must be checked
Poland operates two separate pledge registers. Rejestr Zastawów, administered by the Ministry of Justice through Centralna Informacja, records civil-law pledges on movables and rights. Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych, administered by the Ministry of Finance, records tax-authority pledges arising from unpaid tax liabilities. Neither register feeds the other. A check of one register alone does not produce a complete pledge profile.
For Rejestr Zastawów, a DW-1 certificate confirms whether a named entity appears as pledgor. A DW-2 certificate covers a specific collateral object by description. Each costs 20 PLN from Centralna Informacja. A certified extract (odpis DW-4) costs 15 PLN per entry. For Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych, a free object-level search is available; a formal wypis or zaświadczenie costs 50 PLN and is obtained through e-Urząd Skarbowy.
| Register | Administrator | What it covers | Free search | Certified document |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rejestr Zastawów | Ministry of Justice · Centralna Informacja | Civil-law pledges on movables and rights | No | DW-1 / DW-2: 20 PLN each · DW-4: 15 PLN |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych | Ministry of Finance · e-Urząd Skarbowy | Tax-authority pledges on assets of tax debtors | Yes (object search) | Wypis / zaświadczenie: 50 PLN |
Land and mortgage register — the title layer
The electronic land and mortgage register (EKW, Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste) discloses ownership, easements, and mortgages registered against a specific property. Access is free. The search requires the KW number — a property-specific identifier. Search by owner name is not available to private parties.
The KW number is not always known to the buyer at the outset. It must be retrieved from the land and buildings register (ewidencja gruntów i budynków), which is administered at the district (powiat) level. That step requires the cadastral parcel number (numer działki). The path is: parcel number → ewidencja gruntów → KW number → EKW.
EKW is divided into four sections. Section IV shows mortgages: creditor, principal amount, currency, and rank. A property may carry multiple mortgages in ranked order. The register shows the registered amount, not the current outstanding balance. The current balance requires a separate statement from the creditor.
VAT status and bank accounts — Biała lista
Biała lista (the White List of VAT taxpayers), maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration (szef KAS) at podatki.gov.pl, is free to query without login. It shows current VAT registration status, the entity's declared bank accounts, and the reasons for any refusal, removal, or reinstatement — each with dates. A query can be run against any past date, which allows verification of status at the time of a prior transaction.
For a lender or buyer, the bank account data is material. A payment made to an account not appearing on the list creates joint and several liability for the payer's VAT obligations. Confirming that the seller's account is listed is a pre-closing step, not a post-closing one.
Insolvency proceedings — KRZ
The National Insolvency Register (Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych, KRZ) at krz.ms.gov.pl is public, free, and requires no login. It covers bankruptcy, restructuring, and debt proceedings. Search is available by PESEL, NIP, KRS number, or case reference.
KRZ contains only proceedings opened on or after 1 December 2021. That date is a structural limit, not a gap in the data. Proceedings opened before that date were published in the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG). MSiG has a free public search engine at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl covering publications from 1996. Insolvency announcements from December 2021 onward appear in KRZ, not MSiG.
A negative result in KRZ alone does not confirm the absence of insolvency proceedings. The pre-2021 MSiG archive must also be checked. A complete insolvency check covers both systems.
Corporate structure and financials — KRS and RDF
The National Court Register (KRS) is free to query and discloses the company's legal form, registered address, management board, supervisory board, and — for limited liability companies — the shareholder list (lista wspólników) filed with the court. KRS does not disclose ultimate beneficial owners; that layer is in CRBR.
Filed financial statements are available free of charge through the Repository of Financial Documents (Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych, RDF), linked to KRS. Availability depends on whether the entity has filed. Not all entities subject to filing obligations have complied.
CRBR (Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych) is open and free to query without an account. It discloses the reported ultimate beneficial owner. The register contains what the entity has declared; it does not independently verify the declaration.
The limit of what the sources allow
Each register is authoritative within its own scope. No single register covers the full encumbrance profile of a Polish commercial asset. The structural limits are as follows.
EKW shows registered mortgages, not outstanding balances. Rejestr Zastawów covers civil-law pledges; tax pledges are in a separate register under a different ministry. KRZ covers insolvency from December 2021 only; earlier proceedings require an MSiG search. CRBR shows declared beneficial ownership, not verified ownership. Biała lista shows declared bank accounts, not undeclared ones. Ewidencja gruntów — the gateway to EKW — is administered locally at powiat level; retrieval requires the cadastral parcel number.
Off-register encumbrances — contractual pre-emption rights, unregistered usufructs, side agreements — do not appear in any public source. Their existence can be indicated by document review, not by register search alone. This report covers what the registers show. Document review is a separate scope.
Where the sources disagree
Discrepancies between registers are themselves a finding. A shareholder list in KRS that does not match the CRBR beneficial owner declaration warrants explanation before closing. A registered mortgage amount in EKW that exceeds the figure in the seller's financial statements requires a current creditor statement. A VAT status shown as active in Biała lista that conflicts with a KRS entry showing the company in liquidation requires resolution before any payment is made.
These discrepancies are not errors to be set aside. They are the output of a systematic register check — and the reason a register check is conducted before, not after, a transaction.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price (EUR, excl. VAT) | Included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €590 | KRS extract · CRBR beneficial owner · KRZ insolvency check · MSiG insolvency search (pre-2021) · Biała lista VAT status and bank accounts · RDF financial statements (last available filing) | Pledge register certificates (Rejestr Zastawów DW-1/DW-2 · Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych wypis) · EKW mortgage section · ewidencja gruntów parcel retrieval · document review |
| Standard | €990 | All Signal items · Rejestr Zastawów DW-1 (pledgor) and DW-2 (object) · Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych object search and wypis · EKW sections I–IV (title, encumbrances, mortgages) · ewidencja gruntów parcel and KW number retrieval | Current outstanding mortgage balance (requires creditor statement) · off-register contractual encumbrances · document review · legal qualification of findings |
| Extended | €2,200 | All Standard items · multi-parcel or multi-unit property coverage · RDF financial statements (three-year series) · discrepancy analysis across all registers · written summary of register conflicts · timeline reconstruction of ownership and encumbrance changes | Legal advice · document review · creditor balance statements · off-register encumbrances · representation in any proceeding |
Several registers used in this report are public and free of charge. What the fee covers is the removed path: identifying the correct national identifiers, navigating Polish-language portals, obtaining certified documents where required, and consolidating findings across six separate systems into a single report in English.
Frequently asked questions
How long does the report take?
Signal and Standard reports are delivered within five business days of receiving the property identifiers (KRS number or NIP, cadastral parcel number or KW number). Extended reports take up to ten business days, depending on the number of parcels and the depth of the financial statement series.
What identifiers are needed to start?
At minimum: the seller's NIP or KRS number, and either the cadastral parcel number or the KW number. If neither property identifier is available, the first step is parcel retrieval from ewidencja gruntów — this is included in Standard and Extended tiers.
Does the report cover CEIDG entities?
CEIDG (Centralna Ewidencja i Informacja o Działalności Gospodarczej) covers sole traders (jednoosobowa działalność gospodarcza). If the seller or pledgor is a sole trader rather than a company, the CEIDG entry replaces KRS. The pledge registers, EKW, Biała lista, KRZ, and MSiG apply regardless of legal form. The report scope adapts accordingly — the tier pricing does not change.
Does a clean KRZ result confirm no insolvency?
No. KRZ covers proceedings from 1 December 2021. A complete insolvency check requires an MSiG search for earlier proceedings. Both searches are included from Signal tier upward.
What does the report not do?
The report does not provide legal advice, does not qualify the findings legally, and does not establish what the findings mean for any particular transaction or position. It establishes what the registers show, what they do not show, and where the sources conflict. For legal qualification of the findings, contact info@kordeckipartners.com.
Disclaimer: This report is a factual compilation from official registers and public sources. It is provided for informational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and contains no legal qualification of the facts established. KORDECKI & Partners assumes no liability for actions taken or not taken based on this material. For advice regarding your particular situation, please contact info@kordeckipartners.com.