Before a commercial property deal closes in Poland, the collateral picture must be established from official registers — not from seller representations. Księgi Wieczyste, the Polish land and mortgage register, is the statutory source for encumbrances on real property. What it shows, what it conceals, and where the chain breaks are facts that can be established before payment is authorised.
- What the register shows
- Owners of record, mortgage entries (hipoteki), easements, and any other encumbrances on a specific property. Source: Elektroniczne Księgi Wieczyste (EKW) · verified 2026-06-08
- Access condition
- Search is by KW number only. Search by owner name is prohibited for private parties. The path runs: ewidencja gruntów → plot number → KW number → register entry.
- Cost of access
- Free of charge. No login required once the KW number is known.
- What it does not show
- Registered pledges over movables, fiscal pledges, VAT enforcement actions, insolvency proceedings, or the seller's corporate structure. Each requires a separate register.
What the land register records — and what it does not
The Księgi Wieczyste system holds four divisions per property. Division I records the property description and associated rights. Division II records ownership. Division III records encumbrances other than mortgages: easements, rights of perpetual usufruct, pre-emption rights, and any pending legal actions affecting title. Division IV records all mortgages (hipoteki), including their amount, currency, creditor, and ranking.
For a foreign lender or buyer assessing collateral, Divisions III and IV carry the most direct relevance. A mortgage ranking (kolejność hipotek) determines recovery sequence in enforcement. An entry in Division III indicating a pending court claim (wzmianki o wnioskach) signals that the register is not yet current — a state that can persist for weeks after filing.
The register is constitutive for mortgages: a mortgage over Polish real property exists legally only from the moment of entry. However, the date of filing and the date of entry differ. A filed but not yet entered mortgage does not appear in Division IV but blocks the register with a notice (wzmianka). That notice appears in Division III.
The access barrier: KW number is required before the search begins
The EKW system does not permit name-based searches for private parties. The KW number must be known before any enquiry can proceed. That number is held in the ewidencja gruntów i budynków (land and buildings register), administered by the relevant starostwo powiatowe. Obtaining the KW number from the ewidencja requires identifying the plot by its geodetic reference (numer działki, obręb, arkusz mapy).
For a foreign buyer who holds only an address, the path runs: address → geodetic parcel number → ewidencja gruntów → KW number → EKW. Each step requires a separate query or local knowledge. The ewidencja is not uniformly digitised across all counties; access conditions vary by starostwo.
This register is publicly accessible and free of charge. What a pre-deal report provides is the removed path: locating the correct KW number from a street address or cadastral reference, querying all linked KW books for a single commercial property (which may comprise multiple plots), reading Polish-language entries, and cross-referencing wzmianki against pending filings.
Registered pledges: two separate systems
Encumbrances over movables and receivables do not appear in Księgi Wieczyste. Two separate pledge registers must be checked.
| Register | Authority | Covers | Search fee | Certificate fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rejestr Zastawów | Ministry of Justice, Centralna Informacja | Registered pledges over movables and rights; civil-law pledges | Paid | DW-1 (by pledgor): 20 PLN · DW-2 (by collateral item): 20 PLN · DW-4 (full extract): 15 PLN |
| Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych | Ministry of Finance, e-Urząd Skarbowy | Fiscal pledges arising from tax arrears | Free (search by collateral item) | 50 PLN for wypis/zaświadczenie |
A complete pledge profile for any Polish commercial entity requires both registers. A clean result in one does not substitute for a query in the other. A fiscal pledge (zastaw skarbowy) arises by operation of law when a tax liability exceeds a statutory threshold — it does not require a separate registration act by the creditor.
Insolvency and restructuring proceedings
The Krajowy Rejestr Zadłużonych (KRZ) is the public, free, login-free register of insolvency and restructuring proceedings in Poland. It is searchable by NIP, KRS number, PESEL, or case signature at krz.ms.gov.pl.
A critical limitation applies: KRZ contains only proceedings opened on or after 1 December 2021. Proceedings commenced before that date were published in the Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy (MSiG). The MSiG archive is searchable from 1996 at wyszukiwarka-msig.ms.gov.pl, free of charge. A negative result in KRZ alone does not exclude a pre-2022 insolvency or restructuring. Both registers must be queried against the seller entity and any intermediate holding company.
Seller's corporate status and filed financials
The Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy (KRS) records the seller's legal form, registered address, management board, supervisory board, share capital, and — for sp. z o.o. entities — the shareholder list (lista wspólników). KRS is free to query. A certified extract (odpis) costs approximately 30–60 PLN. The register is searchable by company name, KRS number, or NIP.
Filed financial statements are held in the Repozytorium Dokumentów Finansowych, accessible free of charge through the KRS portal. Coverage and completeness vary by entity type and filing year. Statements are in Polish; translation and ratio analysis are not provided by the register.
VAT status and enforced bank accounts
The Biała Lista (White List of VAT Taxpayers), maintained by the Head of KAS at podatki.gov.pl, shows the seller's current VAT registration status, declared bank accounts, and the history of deregistration or reinstatement with dates. The list can be queried for any past date. Payment to a bank account not on the Biała Lista triggers joint VAT liability for the buyer — a direct collateral risk that the register makes verifiable before any transfer.
Beneficial ownership: CRBR
Poland's Central Register of Beneficial Owners (CRBR) is public, free, and accessible without an account. It records the ultimate beneficial owners of Polish legal entities, including sp. z o.o. and S.A. companies. The register is self-reported by the entities: entries reflect what the company declared, not an independently verified ownership structure. Discrepancies between CRBR entries and the KRS shareholder list are themselves a finding.
The limit of what the sources allow
Księgi Wieczyste shows only encumbrances that have been entered in the register. A mortgage filed but not yet entered appears only as a wzmianka in Division III — the register is technically open but the Division IV entry is absent. The gap between filing and entry can span weeks. During that window, the register presents an incomplete collateral picture.
The register does not show: unregistered contractual encumbrances, off-balance-sheet arrangements, unperfected security interests, enforcement actions by tax authorities that have not yet produced a fiscal pledge, or any encumbrance over assets that are not real property. Each of those requires a separate source — and some have no public register at all.
KRZ covers proceedings from December 2021 forward. MSiG covers earlier proceedings but outputs PDF pages, not structured data. CRBR reflects declared ownership, not verified ownership. The Rejestr Zastawów and the Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych are separate systems with separate access paths; neither feeds the other. The combined register check establishes what is on record — it does not establish what has not been registered.
What is included at each tier
| Tier | Price (EUR) | Included | Not included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signal | €710 | KW register: all four divisions of identified property books, including wzmianki check. Seller entity: KRS status and shareholder list. VAT status: Biała Lista query with account verification. KRZ insolvency check (post-2021). Summary of findings in English. | MSiG archive (pre-2022 insolvency). Rejestr Zastawów and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych. CRBR beneficial ownership. Filed financial statements. Multiple-plot or portfolio properties. Translation of source documents. |
| Standard | €1,500 | All Signal items. MSiG archive search (proceedings from 1996). Both pledge registers (Rejestr Zastawów and Rejestr Zastawów Skarbowych), with certificates. CRBR beneficial ownership check with cross-reference to KRS shareholder list. Filed financial statements: three most recent years available. Properties comprising up to five cadastral plots. | Analysis of financial ratios or solvency indicators. Verification of ownership beyond the declared CRBR layer. Properties comprising more than five cadastral plots. Movable asset registers (vehicles, CEPiK). Translation of source documents. |
| Extended | €3,400 | All Standard items. Ownership chain analysis: CRBR cross-referenced against KRS, historical shareholder lists, and available corporate filings. Vehicle and equipment check via CEPiK/historiapojazdu.gov.pl where asset identifiers are supplied. Portfolio properties: up to fifteen cadastral plots. English-language summary with source extracts and register screenshots. Discrepancy log: all conflicts between sources identified and described. | Legal qualification of findings. Advice on enforceability of security. Verification of off-register arrangements. Representation before any authority. Properties comprising more than fifteen cadastral plots (available on request at additional cost). |
All tiers are delivered as a written report in English. Delivery time is confirmed at the time of instruction. Payment is by invoice to info@kordeckipartners.com.
Frequently asked questions
The seller has provided a KW extract. Is a separate report still necessary?
A seller-supplied extract is a snapshot on the date the seller chose. It does not include the pledge registers, the insolvency registers, the VAT status check, or the CRBR. It also does not check for wzmianki that may have been filed after the extract date. An independent query establishes the position as of the report date, not as of the seller's chosen date.
How is the KW number obtained if only a street address is available?
The path runs from address to geodetic parcel reference (numer działki and obręb) via the geoportal.gov.pl cadastral viewer, then from parcel reference to KW number via the relevant starostwo powiatowe or the ewidencja gruntów database. Some starostwa provide online access; others require a written request. This path is included in all report tiers.
Does a clean KRZ result confirm the seller is not insolvent?
No. KRZ covers proceedings opened from 1 December 2021. Earlier proceedings are in the MSiG archive. A filed insolvency petition that has not yet produced a court order will not appear in either register. A clean result in both registers establishes the absence of recorded proceedings — not the absence of proceedings altogether.
What if the property is held by a foreign entity?
The KW register records the property regardless of the owner's nationality or place of incorporation. The property entry is the same. The seller-entity checks (KRS, CRBR, insolvency registers) apply to the Polish-registered entity that holds title. If the holding entity is incorporated outside Poland, the applicable corporate and insolvency registers are those of the jurisdiction of incorporation — those checks are outside the scope of a Poland-only report.
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.