Legal Highlights for Real Estate – October 2024
DOM portal – proposed amendments to the development law
Back in September, a draft amendment (the “Draft“) to the Act of 20 May 2021 on the Protection of the Rights of the Buyer of a Dwelling or Single-Family House and the Developer’s Guarantee Fund (Journal of Laws of 2024, item 695) (the “Act“) was published on the website of the Government Legislation Center, which provides for, among other things, the creation of a Housing Data Portal, or the so-called “DOM Portal.”
According to Article 56a of the Draft, the DOM Portal is to be maintained by the Insurance Guarantee Fund (“UFG“). The portal is to collect and process data on the turnover of residential units and single-family houses in the territory of the Republic of Poland. The UFG’s task is also to create, maintain and develop, based on the above-mentioned information, a point of access to information on transaction prices of residential units and single-family houses, and to generate or develop, based on this information, statistical information for the purpose of conducting policies conducive to meeting the housing needs of citizens, including statistical information on the participants in this turnover.
The above data will be obtained from all transactions having as their object the transfer of title to real estate in the territory of the Republic of Poland, both in the primary and secondary markets. The data will be provided by developers and the Head of the National Fiscal Administration based on information resulting from notarial deeds reported by notaries.
As the Project’s justification indicates, the proposed changes are prompted by the need to increase the transparency of the real estate market and strengthen the protection and negotiating position of potential buyers of real estate. At the same time, the project proponent points out that the collection of such data will enable public authorities to analyze the housing market in order to properly conduct housing policy.
The Draft has already gone to public consultation, opinion and inter-ministerial consultation.
The Draft was published on the website of the Government Legislation Center: https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/projekt/12389503/katalog/13080853#13080853
Another amendment to the Ordinance on technical conditions – relaxation of requirements on playgrounds
Further work is currently underway on another draft amendment (the “Draft“) to the Ordinance on technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location, published in July on the website of the Government Legislation Center (Journal of Laws 2022, item 1225; the “Ordinance“). The next amendment to the Ordinance is expected to deal with the relaxation of requirements on playgrounds, which were introduced by the previous amendment to the Ordinance, which came into force on August 1, 2024 (the “Previous Amendment“).
The previous Amendment imposed obligations on developers to build playgrounds. As the law currently stands, a playground must be provided by the developer already in the case of the construction of a multi-family residential building in which the number of apartments will be greater than 20, or a complex of multi-family residential buildings in which the number of apartments exceeds 20. The new regulations also increased requirements for the safety of equipment, its durability and accessibility for children. The technical requirements and location of the playground were also precisely defined, including location, sun exposure, fencing, minimum area, equipment or paving.
The development community has pointed out that the Previous Amendment quite significantly reduces investment opportunities on a given property, which will translate directly into financial issues on both the developer’s and future user’s side.
The amendments currently under way are aimed at relaxing the recently introduced requirements. The drafters plan to make changes aimed at facilitation by introducing exemptions from the obligation to build playgrounds in the situations specified in the draft, including when there is another publicly accessible children’s playground nearby or the implementation of a playground on a different plot of land than the building or complex of buildings under construction (subject to compliance with the requirements indicated in the Ordinance).
In September, a summary of comments following public consultations and feedback was published. At this point, the Project is still being processed in government committees.
The project is available at: https://legislacja.rcl.gov.pl/projekt/12387401/katalog/13071107#13071107
