Before a foreign buyer or lender can rely on a Polish commercial property as collateral, two questions must be answered: what encumbers it, and what is the seller or borrower's legal standing. Both questions have official answers. Those answers come from registers that are largely free to access — but only if the requester knows the identifier, the language, and the exact path through each system.
- What KRS shows
- Legal existence, registered address, management board, share structure, and filed financial statements of a Polish entity. Source: Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy (KRS) · verified 2026-05-30
- Cost of access
- Electronic search and current printout: free of charge. Certified hard-copy extract (odpis): 30–60 PLN per entity.
- Access condition
- No registration required. Search by entity name, NIP, or KRS number at rejestr.io or the Ministry of Justice portal.
- What KRS does not show
- Registered pledges (zastawy rejestrowe), fiscal pledges (zastawy skarbowe), and mortgage entries in the land register (księgi wieczyste) are held in separate systems and require separate queries.
What the collateral check actually covers
A complete collateral profile for a Polish commercial asset requires queries across five registers. KRS is the starting point, not the endpoint. Each register answers a different question, and each has its own access path.
| Register | What it answers | Access cost | Access condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| KRS | Entity existence, management, share structure, financials | Free (electronic) | No registration; search by name, NIP, or KRS number |
| Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) | Registered pledges over movables and rights | 20 PLN per subject certificate (DW-1); 20 PLN per collateral item (DW-2); 15 PLN per extract (DW-4) | Application to Centralna Informacja; NIP or PESEL of pledgor required |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance) | Fiscal pledges arising from tax arrears | Free search; 50 PLN for certified wypis/zaświadczenie via e-Urząd Skarbowy | Item identifier (e.g. VIN, real property number) required |
| Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste (EKW) | Title, mortgages, easements, and encumbrances on real property | Free (electronic view) | KW number required; search by owner name is not available to private applicants |
| Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) | Insolvency and restructuring proceedings from December 2021 | Free; no login required | Search by NIP, KRS, PESEL, or case reference at krz.ms.gov.pl |
| Biała lista podatników VAT | VAT status, declared bank accounts, reinstatement history | Free; no login required | NIP of the entity; query at podatki.gov.pl |
The pledge layer: two systems, one check
Poland operates two separate pledge registers. The Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) records consensual registered pledges — the standard security instrument over movables, receivables, and enterprise assets. The Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance) records pledges that arise automatically when a taxpayer's tax arrears exceed a statutory threshold.
Neither register shows the other's entries. A certificate from Centralna Informacja confirming no registered pledge does not exclude a fiscal pledge, and vice versa. A full pledge check requires both queries. The fiscal pledge search is free; the Rejestr Zastawów certificates cost 15–20 PLN per document.
Land register: the KW number barrier
Mortgage entries, easements, and title encumbrances on Polish real property are held in the Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste (EKW). The register is free to view online. The barrier is structural: EKW does not allow search by owner name or entity name for private applicants. Access requires the KW (land register) number, which is held in the ewidencja gruntów i budynków (cadastre) or in the property documentation held by the seller.
In practice, a buyer or lender who does not yet hold the KW number must obtain it through the cadastre before the EKW query is possible. That step requires a Polish-language request to the relevant starostwo, identifying the parcel by address or cadastral identifier. The path exists; it is not direct from outside Poland.
Insolvency: the December 2021 boundary
The Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) is the current Polish insolvency register. It is public, free, and searchable without login at krz.ms.gov.pl. The register contains proceedings opened from 1 December 2021. Before that date, insolvency announcements were published in the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG).
A clean KRZ result for an entity with a long trading history is not a clean insolvency check. Proceedings opened before December 2021 appear only in MSiG archives, searchable at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl. Both queries are required for any entity established before 2021.
VAT status and bank accounts
The Biała lista podatników VAT (White List) is maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration. It shows current VAT registration status, all bank accounts declared to the tax authority, and the history of deregistration and reinstatement with dates. The list can be queried for any past date, which allows verification of VAT status at the time of any prior transaction.
Payment to a bank account not appearing on the White List at the date of payment triggers joint and several VAT liability for the payer. For a buyer or lender reviewing a counterparty's financial standing, the White List is a direct indicator of tax compliance status — not a guarantee, but a documented check point.
Financial statements: what the repository shows
Entities registered in KRS are required to file annual financial statements in the Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych (RDF). The repository is free to access and linked directly from the KRS entry. Filed documents include balance sheets, profit-and-loss accounts, and auditor reports where applicable.
The repository shows what was filed. It does not confirm that the filed accounts are complete, audited, or consistent with the entity's actual position. For entities not subject to statutory audit, the filed documents reflect management's own preparation. Gaps in the filing history are visible and are themselves a finding.
The limit of what the sources allow
Each register answers the question it was designed to answer. KRS confirms legal existence and current registered data — it does not show undisclosed beneficial owners, off-balance liabilities, or contractual encumbrances not required to be registered. CRBR (the beneficial ownership register) is public and free, but the accuracy of entries depends on the entity's own disclosure; the register does not independently verify the underlying ownership structure.
The EKW shows registered mortgages and easements. It does not show unregistered encumbrances, pre-emption rights arising from contract, or claims in proceedings that have not yet reached the registration stage. KRZ covers insolvency proceedings from December 2021 only — earlier proceedings require separate MSiG archive queries. The Rejestr Zastawów covers consensual registered pledges; fiscal pledges from the Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych are a separate layer that the first register does not reflect.
The registers are the floor of the check, not the ceiling. A negative result in each register confirms the absence of a registered entry as at the date of query. It does not confirm the absence of the underlying risk.
Where the sources disagree
Three common divergences arise in Polish collateral checks. First, the KRS registered address may differ from the address in the ewidencja gruntów for the same property — both are official, but they reflect different registration events and different update cycles. Second, the share structure in KRS reflects the last filed shareholders' list (lista wspólników); if a transfer occurred after the last filing, KRS may not yet show the current position. Third, financial statements in RDF may show a different debt figure than the sum of encumbrances visible in EKW and the pledge registers — because not all financial liabilities are secured, and not all security is fully drawn.
Each divergence is a finding, not an error. The report records what each source shows and where the figures do not align.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price (EUR) | Included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €290 | KRS current extract; KRZ insolvency check; Biała lista VAT status and bank accounts; MSiG archive search (entity name); summary of findings in English | Pledge register queries (Rejestr Zastawów, Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych); EKW land register review; RDF financial statement review; CRBR beneficial ownership chain; divergence analysis across sources |
| Standard | €470 | All Signal items, plus: Rejestr Zastawów certificate (DW-1 and DW-2); Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych search; EKW review for up to two KW numbers; RDF financial statements for the last two filed years; findings table with source references | CRBR beneficial ownership chain; cross-source divergence analysis; certified hard-copy extracts; queries beyond two KW numbers |
| Extended | €960 | All Standard items, plus: CRBR beneficial ownership chain to ultimate natural persons; cross-source divergence analysis with written commentary; certified KRS odpis; RDF financial statements for up to five filed years; queries for up to five KW numbers; report in English with source documents as attachments | Legal qualification of findings; representation before any authority; queries outside Poland; court file review |
Each tier is a fixed-scope document. The scope is stated before the order is placed. Queries outside the stated scope are not added silently — they are identified and quoted separately.
Frequently asked questions
Is a KRS printout sufficient for a lender's due diligence?
A KRS printout confirms the entity's current registered data. It does not show pledges, mortgages, fiscal claims, or insolvency proceedings. Lenders routinely require the full set of register queries described in this report before committing to a facility secured on Polish assets.
How long does the check take?
Electronic registers (KRS, KRZ, Biała lista, EKW) return results within one to two business days once the required identifiers are confirmed. Pledge register certificates from Centralna Informacja typically take three to five business days. The Extended report, including certified documents, is normally delivered within seven business days of receiving the order and identifiers.
What identifiers are needed to start?
For the entity: KRS number or NIP. For the real property: KW number or cadastral parcel identifier. For pledged movables: the item identifier (e.g. VIN for vehicles). If identifiers are not available, the report scope includes the path to locate them — but that step adds time.
Does a clean result guarantee no encumbrances?
No. A clean result confirms no registered entry as at the query date in the queried register. Unregistered contractual encumbrances, claims not yet filed, and proceedings not yet entered in the register are outside the scope of any register-based check. The report states what each source shows and where the check ends.
Are the registers free? What is the fee for?
Several of these registers are public and free of charge. The fee covers the removed path: identifying the correct identifier for each register, navigating Polish-language interfaces, obtaining certified documents where required, cross-referencing results across five separate systems, and delivering a single English-language report with source documents attached.
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.