A foreign buyer or lender verifying Polish commercial property faces one core question before any other: what encumbers this asset, and what is it actually worth as collateral? Poland's land register — Księgi Wieczyste — answers part of that question. The rest comes from four additional registries that the register itself does not reference. This page maps each source, states its access conditions, and names the ceiling of what the combined picture allows.
- What the land register shows
- Ownership, legal basis of acquisition, mortgages (hipoteki), easements, and other encumbrances by section. Source: Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste (EKW) · verified 12.06.2026
- Access condition
- Search by Księga Wieczysta number only. Name-based search is not available to private parties. The number must be obtained first — typically from ewidencja gruntów i budynków.
- Cost
- Free of charge. A certified extract (odpis) costs 20–30 PLN per section through Centralna Informacja Ksiąg Wieczystych.
- What it does not show
- Registered pledges (zastawy rejestrowe), fiscal pledges (zastawy skarbowe), insolvency proceedings, VAT status of the seller, or UBO structure of the owning entity.
Why the land register is not enough for collateral analysis
A mortgage registered in Division IV of Księgi Wieczyste is visible to any party who holds the KW number. That is the collateral layer most buyers check. It is not the only layer. A pledge registered under the Civil Code — a zastaw rejestrowy — attaches to movable assets and receivables, not to real property, and does not appear in the land register. A fiscal pledge — zastaw skarbowy — secures tax debts and is held in a separate Ministry of Finance registry. Neither appears in EKW. A lender relying on EKW alone cannot confirm that the borrower's other assets are unencumbered.
The ownership entity's own solvency matters equally. An asset can be clean in the land register while its owner is mid-restructuring in KRZ — the National Restructuring and Insolvency Register. Proceeds from a sale in that condition may be subject to challenge. The collateral picture requires all five registries described below.
The five registries and what each one shows
| Registry | What it covers | Access | Cost | Key limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EKW — Księgi Wieczyste | Ownership, mortgages, easements, other real-property encumbrances | KW number required; name search not available to private parties | Free (view); 20–30 PLN per section for certified extract | Does not show pledges, fiscal pledges, or insolvency |
| Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) | Registered pledges on movables and receivables | Paid query via Centralna Informacja; DW-1 (by pledgor) or DW-2 (by object) | 20 PLN per certificate (DW-1 or DW-2); certified extract DW-4 15 PLN | Covers civil-law pledges only; fiscal pledges are in a separate registry |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance) | Fiscal pledges securing tax debts | Free search by object; wypis/zaświadczenie via e-Urząd Skarbowy | Free search; 50 PLN for official certificate | Only fiscal-authority pledges; civil pledges are not here |
| KRZ — Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych | Insolvency and restructuring proceedings | Public, free, no login; search by NIP, KRS, PESEL, or case number | Free | Contains only proceedings opened after 1 December 2021; earlier cases are not here |
| Biała Lista (KAS — Chief of National Revenue Administration) | VAT status, declared bank accounts, dates of exclusion or reinstatement | Public, free, no login; retroactive check on any past date | Free | Covers VAT-registered entities only; does not show income-tax status |
Obtaining the KW number — the step before the land register
EKW search requires the Księga Wieczysta number. The number is not derived from the address or cadastral parcel number automatically. The standard path runs through ewidencja gruntów i budynków — the land and buildings cadastre — held by the relevant starost's office (starostwo powiatowe). The cadastre record links the parcel identifier (działka) to the KW number. For urban commercial property, the municipal office (urząd miasta) holds the same data. Access to the cadastre is subject to a demonstrated legitimate interest; the request is made in writing to the competent authority.
A seller or developer will normally provide the KW number directly. When the number is withheld, or when the asset changes hands through a corporate transaction rather than a direct title transfer, the cadastre path is the verified route. The time to obtain the number from the cadastre varies by office and workload.
What the pledge registries require in practice
A complete pledge check requires queries to both the Ministry of Justice registry (Rejestr Zastawów) and the Ministry of Finance registry (Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych). These are separate systems with separate query procedures. The MoJ registry is queried by pledgor (DW-1) or by object description (DW-2). The MoF registry is queried by object through e-Urząd Skarbowy; the free search confirms presence or absence, and the 50 PLN certificate provides official confirmation suitable for transaction documentation. Running only one registry produces an incomplete picture.
The insolvency register and its temporal limit
KRZ (krz.ms.gov.pl) is public and free. It replaced the former Rejestr Dłużników Niewypłacalnych. The registry contains proceedings opened from 1 December 2021 onward. A clean result in KRZ does not exclude an insolvency proceeding opened before that date. For proceedings predating December 2021, the relevant source is the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG), available through wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl. MSiG archives run from 1996. Since December 2021, insolvency and restructuring announcements have been published in KRZ, not MSiG. A complete temporal check covers both systems.
VAT status and bank accounts — why this matters for collateral
The Biała Lista (White List) maintained by the Chief of National Revenue Administration shows the VAT registration status of every Polish entity, the bank accounts declared to the tax authority, and the dates and reasons for any exclusion or reinstatement. A payment made to a bank account not listed on the Biała Lista on the payment date triggers joint and several VAT liability for the buyer. This is a direct financial risk attached to the transaction, not a theoretical one. The list can be queried for any past date, which allows verification of account status at the moment a prior payment was made.
The KRS — Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy — provides the corporate record of the owning entity: legal form, registered address, management board, supervisory board, and filed financial statements through the Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych. Both KRS and the financial statements repository are free of charge and publicly accessible.
CRBR — beneficial ownership
The Central Register of Beneficial Owners (CRBR) is public, free, and accessible without an account. It records the ultimate beneficial owners of Polish legal entities as declared by the entity itself. The register shows name, nationality, PESEL (if assigned), nature and extent of control, and the date the entry was made. The register does not verify the declarations it holds. A discrepancy between the CRBR entry and the actual ownership structure — as revealed by corporate documents — is itself a finding.
The limit of what the sources allow
Across all five registries, the combined picture has defined ceilings. EKW shows encumbrances on real property as registered; it does not show unregistered claims, pending registration applications that have not yet been processed, or encumbrances arising by operation of law that are not subject to registration. The pledge registries show what has been registered; an unregistered pledge may still be effective between the parties. KRZ covers post-December 2021 proceedings; the MSiG archive covers earlier ones, but MSiG does not produce machine-readable data — outputs are PDFs and scanned images. The Biała Lista covers VAT; it does not cover income tax arrears, social insurance (ZUS) arrears, or customs debts. CRBR records self-declared beneficial ownership; the declaration is not verified by the registrar at the time of filing.
The ceiling of what the sources allow is stated before payment. No report produced from these registries can confirm the absence of unregistered encumbrances, the accuracy of self-declared UBO data, or the existence of off-balance-sheet liabilities. The report names what each registry shows, what it does not show, and where the chain of verifiable facts ends.
Where the sources disagree
Discrepancies between registries are findings in their own right. A company whose KRS filing shows one registered address and whose Biała Lista entry shows a different bank account address is a discrepancy worth documenting. An entity appearing in CRBR with one beneficial owner while its KRS Gesellschafterliste equivalent — the lista wspólników — shows a different shareholding structure is a discrepancy that affects collateral analysis directly. These are not editorial notes; they are the output of the cross-registry comparison that a single-registry check cannot produce.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €290 | EKW extract (all four divisions) with mortgage and easement schedule; KW number retrieval path from ewidencja gruntów; KRZ insolvency check; Biała Lista VAT and account status on transaction date; one-page summary of findings | Pledge registry queries (MoJ and MoF); MSiG historical insolvency search; KRS corporate record; CRBR beneficial ownership; financial statement review; cross-registry discrepancy analysis |
| Standard | €470 | Everything in Signal, plus: Rejestr Zastawów query (DW-1 by pledgor, DW-2 by object); Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych query with official certificate; KRS corporate record extract; CRBR beneficial ownership record; MSiG historical insolvency search (post-1996); cross-registry discrepancy table | Financial statement analysis; valuation; legal qualification of findings; representation |
| Extended | €960 | Everything in Standard, plus: three-year financial statement review from Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych; analysis of declared versus actual UBO structure against corporate documents; full cross-registry discrepancy memo with source citations; identified gaps and recommended next steps | Legal advice; valuation opinion; representation in proceedings; verification of facts not available in official registries |
Frequently asked questions
Can the land register be searched by address or owner name?
No. EKW search is by KW number only. Name-based search is restricted to specific authorities by statute. The standard path for a foreign buyer is to obtain the KW number from the cadastre (ewidencja gruntów i budynków) using the parcel identifier, or to request it from the seller.
Does a clean KRZ result confirm the seller is solvent?
No. KRZ contains proceedings opened after 1 December 2021. An earlier insolvency or restructuring proceeding does not appear there. The MSiG archive covers earlier announcements back to 1996. Both systems must be checked for a complete picture. A clean result in both confirms the absence of a published proceeding — it does not confirm absence of a filed application that has not yet been announced.
Are these registries free? What is the report fee for?
Several registries — EKW view, KRZ, Biała Lista, CRBR, KRS — are public and free of charge. The pledge registries charge per certificate. The report fee covers the removed path: identification of the correct KW number, national identifiers (NIP, KRS, PESEL where applicable), language, cross-registry coordination, and a structured output that places findings in transaction context.
How long does the report take?
Signal tier: two to three business days from receipt of the KW number and entity identifiers. Standard and Extended tiers: four to six business days. Timeline may extend if the KW number must be retrieved from the cadastre independently.
What identifiers are needed to commission the report?
At minimum: the KW number or cadastral parcel identifier, and the NIP or KRS number of the owning entity. For the Extended tier, corporate documents (articles of association, shareholding list) are required for the UBO comparison.
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.