A commercial property transaction in Poland involves at least four separate registers. Each register answers a different question about the asset. Before a foreign buyer or lender commits capital, the collateral position must be established from those registers — not from the seller's representations.
- What the land register shows
- Legal owner, mortgage entries, easements, and usufruct rights. Source: Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste (EKW), Ministry of Justice · verified 02.06.2026
- Access condition
- The EKW number is required. Without it, the register cannot be searched by address or owner name.
- What the cadastral register shows
- Parcel boundaries, area, land-use classification, and building footprint. Source: Geoportal / Starostwo Powiatowe · verified 02.06.2026
- What the KRS shows
- Corporate status of the selling entity, registered capital, representation rules, and whether insolvency proceedings have been filed. Source: Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy (KRS) · verified 02.06.2026
- What the KRZ shows
- Whether the seller or any related entity is subject to restructuring or bankruptcy. Source: Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) · verified 02.06.2026
What the land register reveals — and what it conceals
The Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste is the primary collateral instrument in Poland. Every mortgage over real property must be entered here to be effective against third parties. The register is divided into four sections: ownership, rights encumbering the property, mortgages, and the description of the property itself.
Section IV carries mortgage entries. Each entry states the creditor, the secured amount, the currency, and the rank. Rank matters: in enforcement, senior mortgages are satisfied first. A property carrying two mortgages may have no residual value for a junior creditor after the senior claim is paid.
Section III carries limited property rights and other encumbrances. Perpetual usufruct, transmission easements, and pre-emption rights appear here. A transmission easement granted to a utility operator does not prevent sale, but it restricts redevelopment and affects value.
The register does not show informal arrangements, undisclosed options, or side agreements. It shows what has been formally entered. An entry can also be outdated: a mortgage may have been repaid but the discharge not yet filed. The register reflects the last completed entry, not the current economic reality.
Cadastral data and the gap between registers
The cadastral register (ewidencja gruntów i budynków) is maintained by the district starostwo. It records parcel area, boundary coordinates, land-use classification, and the building footprint with year of construction and permitted use.
Discrepancies between the land register and the cadastral register are common. The area recorded in the EKW may differ from the area in the cadastral record. The owner in the EKW may differ from the person shown in the cadastral register. Polish law requires that the land register take precedence for ownership purposes, but the cadastral record governs planning and construction matters.
A buyer relying on one register without reconciling the other is working with incomplete data. The report maps both and identifies any gap.
The seller's corporate status and authority to sell
Commercial property in Poland is typically held by a limited liability company (spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością, sp. z o.o.) or a joint-stock company (spółka akcyjna, S.A.). The KRS records the composition of the management board, the representation rules, and any restrictions on authority.
Polish corporate law requires shareholder consent for the disposal of assets that exceed a threshold set in the company's articles. If that consent is absent, the transaction may be voidable. The KRS discloses the articles of association as filed, but the threshold itself is set in the document text — not on the face of the register entry.
The KRS also shows whether insolvency proceedings have been opened. If a management board member has been replaced by a court-appointed administrator (zarządca), that appointment appears in the register. A transaction concluded after appointment without the administrator's consent has no legal effect.
Insolvency and restructuring — the KRZ layer
The Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych was introduced in 2021 as a consolidated insolvency register. It covers bankruptcy proceedings, restructuring proceedings, and debt enforcement proceedings against both companies and individuals.
A negative result in the KRZ does not guarantee the absence of a filed application. There is a lag between filing and registration. An application filed yesterday may not appear until next week. The report states the date of the search; any change after that date falls outside its scope.
The KRZ also records consumer bankruptcy proceedings against natural persons. Where a seller is an individual or where a guarantor is an individual, this layer is relevant to the collateral analysis.
Planning status and permitted use
Commercial value depends on permitted use. In Poland, permitted use is governed by the local spatial development plan (miejscowy plan zagospodarowania przestrzennego, MPZP) where one exists. Where no plan exists, a decision on development conditions (decyzja o warunkach zabudowy, WZ) is required for any construction.
The MPZP is a municipal act. Its content is publicly available at the relevant gmina office or on the municipal geoportal. The report extracts the zoning designation applicable to the parcel and states what uses are permitted, what uses require a variance, and whether the current use of the building is consistent with the plan.
An inconsistency between current use and zoning designation affects both value and lendability. A lender securing against a property whose current use is non-conforming faces enforcement risk if the use must cease.
The limit of what the sources allow
The EKW requires the land register number (numer księgi wieczystej). The register cannot be searched by address, by owner name, or by parcel identifier. A buyer who does not have this number from the seller cannot retrieve the register entry independently. The report identifies the correct register number from the cadastral parcel identifier and the notarial chain.
The cadastral register is not fully digitised across all districts. In some starostwo offices, parcel records are held on paper or in legacy formats that are not accessible remotely. Where digital access is unavailable, the report states that fact and identifies what was obtained and from which source.
The KRZ covers proceedings filed from 2021 onward. Proceedings opened before that date appear in the older Moniteur Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG) archive. The report searches both. A negative result across both sources means no recorded proceeding was found as of the search date — it does not mean no proceeding exists or has been filed since.
Informal encumbrances — side agreements, undisclosed options, verbal arrangements — do not appear in any register. The report establishes what the registers record. It does not establish what they do not record.
Where the sources disagree
Ownership discrepancies between the EKW and the cadastral register are a documented pattern in Polish real estate. The EKW reflects the last notarial act; the cadastral register reflects the last update submitted to the starostwo. These are separate update obligations, and they are frequently not synchronised.
Area discrepancies arise when parcels have been subdivided, merged, or remeasured without a corresponding update to both registers. A parcel shown as 2 400 m² in the EKW may appear as 2 310 m² in the cadastral record. Neither figure is necessarily wrong; each reflects a different moment in time and a different update process.
Where a discrepancy is identified, the report states the figure from each source, the date of each source, and the nature of the gap. Resolution of the discrepancy requires a formal reconciliation procedure — that is a legal step, not a factual one, and falls outside this report.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €590 |
EKW extract: ownership, mortgage entries (Section III and IV), easements. KRS status of the selling entity: board composition, representation rules, insolvency flag. KRZ search: bankruptcy and restructuring proceedings. Written summary in English, PDF delivery. |
Cadastral register data. Planning status (MPZP/WZ). Corporate document review (articles of association, shareholder resolutions). Cross-register reconciliation. Building permit history. |
| Standard | €990 |
Everything in Signal. Cadastral register extract: parcel area, land-use classification, building footprint. Cross-register reconciliation: EKW vs. cadastral area and ownership. Planning status: MPZP designation or WZ decision applicable to the parcel. Consistency check: current use vs. zoning designation. |
Corporate document review (articles of association text, shareholder resolutions). Building permit history and occupancy permit status. Environmental encumbrances. Valuation or appraisal. Legal qualification of findings. |
| Extended | €2,200 |
Everything in Standard. Corporate document review: articles of association, shareholder consent thresholds, any restrictions on disposal. Building permit history: permit issued, occupancy permit (pozwolenie na użytkowanie) obtained, any open enforcement proceedings by the building inspectorate (PINB). Environmental register check: contaminated land register (RDOŚ), REACH notifications where applicable. MSiG archive search for pre-2021 insolvency proceedings. Identified discrepancy log with source, date, and magnitude of each gap. |
Valuation or appraisal. Legal qualification of findings. Title insurance arrangement. Representation in any proceeding. Physical inspection of the property. |
Frequently asked questions
What is the EKW number and how is it obtained?
The numer księgi wieczystej is a unique identifier assigned to each land register entry in Poland. It consists of the court code, a sequential number, and a check digit. The seller is required to provide it. It can also be derived from the cadastral parcel identifier through the Geoportal database. The report identifies the correct number as part of the intake process.
Does a mortgage entered in the EKW automatically follow the property on sale?
Under Polish law, a mortgage is a right in rem and follows the property regardless of who owns it. A buyer acquiring a property subject to an undischarged mortgage acquires it subject to that mortgage. The EKW search establishes what mortgages are currently entered and in what rank. Whether those mortgages are economically discharged but administratively open is a separate question that requires contact with the creditor.
What happens if the seller's corporate authority to sell is defective?
The report establishes the representation rules as recorded in the KRS and the threshold for shareholder consent as stated in the articles of association (where available at Extended tier). Whether those rules were complied with in a specific transaction is a legal question. The report identifies the applicable rules; it does not qualify whether they were met.
How long does the report take?
Signal tier: three to five business days from receipt of the EKW number and KRS number. Standard tier: five to seven business days, subject to cadastral office response times. Extended tier: seven to twelve business days, depending on municipal planning office and building inspectorate processing times.
Is the report admissible in a Polish court or notarial proceeding?
The report is a factual compilation from official sources. It is not a certified extract, a notarial attestation, or an expert opinion within the meaning of Polish procedural law. Official extracts from the EKW and KRS carry their own evidentiary weight when obtained directly from the register. The report accompanies those extracts and contextualises them for a foreign reader.
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.