A foreign buyer verifying commercial property in Poland faces two distinct collateral questions: what encumbers the asset, and who actually owns the entity selling it. Both answers come from Polish official registers. The registers are named, the access conditions are fixed, and the ceiling of each source is stated below before any engagement.
- What CEIDG shows
- Name, NIP, REGON, registered address, and suspension or deletion status of a sole trader. Source: CEIDG (ceidg.gov.pl) · retrieved August 2026
- Cost of access
- Free of charge, no login required.
- What CEIDG does not show
- CEIDG covers sole traders only. It does not cover limited liability companies (sp. z o.o.), joint-stock companies (S.A.), or partnerships — those appear in KRS.
- Collateral profile
- Pledges over assets of a CEIDG entity appear in two separate registers: Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance). Both must be checked. Source: Centralna Informacja / e-Urząd Skarbowy · retrieved August 2026
What the collateral check covers
Commercial property in Poland transfers encumbrances with the asset, not with the seller. A buyer or lender must establish three things before settlement: the ownership chain recorded in the land register (KW), the pledge profile of the selling entity, and the insolvency status of that entity. Each source is separate. No single query covers all three.
The land register (EKW) is the primary collateral instrument. It records mortgages, easements, and ownership. Access is free but requires the KW number — that number is not searchable by owner name for private parties. The path runs through the cadastral register (ewidencja gruntów) to obtain the KW number, then to EKW. Source: EKW (ekw.ms.gov.pl) · retrieved August 2026
Pledges over movable assets and receivables of the selling entity sit in the Rejestr Zastawów, maintained by the Ministry of Justice. A search certificate per subject (DW-1) costs 20 zł; a certificate per pledged object (DW-2) costs 20 zł; a certified extract (DW-4) costs 15 zł. Tax pledges (Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych, Ministry of Finance) are searchable free of charge; a written statement costs 50 zł through e-Urząd Skarbowy. Both registers must be queried: a clean result in one does not clear the other. Source: Centralna Informacja / e-Urząd Skarbowy · retrieved August 2026
Ownership structure: CEIDG versus KRS
CEIDG (Centralna Ewidencja i Informacja o Działalności Gospodarczej) registers sole traders. It shows the trader's full name, NIP, REGON, registered address, and whether the entry is active, suspended, or deleted. It does not show partners, shareholders, or beneficial owners. It does not show pledges or court proceedings.
If the seller is a company — sp. z o.o., S.A., or a partnership — the relevant register is KRS (Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy). KRS is free to search and free to download. A certified extract costs approximately 30–60 PLN. KRS shows the management board, supervisory board, share capital, and filed financial statements through the linked Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych. Source: KRS (rejestr.io / ms.gov.pl) · retrieved August 2026
Beneficial ownership for companies is declared in CRBR (Centralny Rejestr Beneficjentów Rzeczywistych). CRBR is public, free of charge, and requires no account. It shows the declared ultimate beneficial owner, the basis of control, and the percentage of shares or voting rights. CRBR data is self-reported; it is not independently verified by the registry. Source: CRBR (crbr.podatki.gov.pl) · retrieved August 2026
VAT status and bank accounts
The Biała lista (White List of VAT Taxpayers) is maintained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration (szef KAS). It is free, requires no login, and shows VAT status, registered address, the bank accounts declared by the entity, and the history of VAT registration changes with dates. It supports queries on any past date. A payment made to a bank account not on the list creates joint and several VAT liability for the buyer. Source: podatki.gov.pl · retrieved August 2026
Insolvency and restructuring
KRZ (Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych, krz.ms.gov.pl) is the current insolvency register. It is public, free, and requires no login. Search runs by NIP, PESEL, KRS number, or case signature. KRZ contains proceedings opened from 1 December 2021 onward. It replaced the former Rejestr Dłużników Niewypłacalnych.
For proceedings before December 2021, the search moves to MSiG (Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy). MSiG's search tool is free and covers the archive from 1996. Bankruptcy and restructuring announcements from December 2021 are published in KRZ, not MSiG. The outputs are PDFs; no machine-readable data is available. Source: KRZ (krz.ms.gov.pl) · MSiG (wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl) · retrieved August 2026
The limit of what the sources allow
CEIDG covers sole traders. It does not cover the ownership structure of companies, and it does not show pledges. The KW number for a property is not searchable by owner name — the path through the cadastral register adds a step that requires a Polish national identifier or a formal request. KRZ contains only proceedings from December 2021; an entity with no KRZ record may have an open pre-2021 proceeding visible only in MSiG or closed court files. CRBR data is self-declared; the register does not verify the accuracy of the reported beneficial owner. The two pledge registers are maintained by different ministries and are not cross-linked: a search in Rejestr Zastawów does not return tax pledges, and vice versa.
The ceiling of each source is stated here. No report produced from these sources can go beyond what the source discloses. Where the source stops, the report states that it has stopped and at which point.
Where the sources disagree
CRBR may show a beneficial owner whose share percentage conflicts with the shareholding structure visible in KRS. That conflict is itself a finding. It does not resolve automatically: it may reflect a lag in CRBR filings, a disputed structure, or an error in one register. The report records both figures and identifies the gap.
The Biała lista may show a bank account that does not match the account stated in a purchase contract. That discrepancy carries a direct VAT consequence for the buyer. The report flags the mismatch; it does not qualify its legal effect.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price (EUR) | What is included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €590 | CEIDG or KRS status check; CRBR beneficial owner extract; Biała lista VAT status and declared accounts; KRZ insolvency check (from December 2021); MSiG keyword search (from 1996); written summary with source badges and dates | No land register (EKW) query; no pledge register search (Rejestr Zastawów or Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych); no financial statement analysis; no cadastral path to KW number |
| Standard | €990 | Everything in Signal; cadastral register path to KW number; EKW land register extract (ownership, mortgages, easements, encumbrances); both pledge register searches (Rejestr Zastawów DW-1/DW-2 and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych); filed financial statements from Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych (last two available years) | No financial ratio analysis or trend commentary; no review of underlying pledge agreements; no review of pre-2021 court file contents; no legal qualification of findings |
| Extended | €2,200 | Everything in Standard; three years of filed financial statements with line-item comparison; MSiG deep archive search for the entity and key individuals; certified extracts (DW-4 from Rejestr Zastawów; KRS certified odpis; EKW certified extract); cross-source conflict table identifying all discrepancies found; written limit-of-knowledge statement per source | No legal qualification of findings; no representation in proceedings; no review of contracts or agreements not filed in a public register; no site inspection |
Frequently asked questions
Does a clean KRZ result confirm the entity is solvent?
No. KRZ contains proceedings opened from December 2021. An entity may have a closed pre-2021 bankruptcy not visible in KRZ. A negative KRZ result is one data point; it is not a solvency confirmation. The report states this limit explicitly.
Is CRBR reliable for identifying the actual controller?
CRBR records the declared beneficial owner. The declaration is made by the entity's management; the registry does not verify it against share transfer agreements or nominee arrangements. The report records the declared figure and flags any conflict with KRS shareholding data.
Why are two pledge registers needed?
Rejestr Zastawów (Ministry of Justice) covers contractual pledges over movables and receivables under the Civil Code. Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych (Ministry of Finance) covers tax security pledges arising from unpaid tax liabilities. They are maintained separately and are not cross-linked. A clean result in one register does not clear the other.
What if the KW number is not known?
EKW is searchable only by KW number. The KW number is obtained from the cadastral register (ewidencja gruntów i budynków), which requires the plot identifier (numer działki). That path is included in Standard and Extended tiers. Signal does not include the land register query.
Are these registers public and free?
Several are: CEIDG, KRS, CRBR, KRZ, MSiG, Biała lista, and EKW are all public and free to access. The pledge registers charge per certificate. What the report provides is the completed path: obtaining the correct national identifiers, navigating access conditions in Polish, retrieving certified outputs, cross-referencing results across sources, and producing a written summary with source dates. The cost of the underlying certificates is included in the quoted tier price.
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.