Buying a house or land in Poland as a foreigner: when you need an MSWiA permit and what to check before the deal

In short. Foreigners buy flats in Poland without a permit, except in the border zone. For a house or land, non-EEA, non-Swiss citizens generally need one from MSWiA, the Ministry of the Interior and Administration: 1,570 zł stamp duty, valid two years. Buying without it is void. Before any deposit, check the land register, zoning, land class and border zone.

The exemptions are few, and all of them except statutory inheritance stop working in the border zone and for farmland over 1 ha. For housing the law allows up to 0.5 ha, and for spouses the Ministry applies a limit of 1 ha. Co-owners who are not married file separate applications, and each of them pays the stamp duty. The steps at the notary are covered in our guide on how to buy an apartment in Poland, and prices in our market overview.

Can foreigners buy land in Poland: who needs a permit and who does not

Citizens of countries outside the EEA and Switzerland need a permit for anything that comes with land. That means a house with a plot, a building plot, farmland or forest. Citizens of the EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland do not need one, wherever the property is. A flat and the garage that goes with it can be bought without a permit everywhere except in the border zone.

For this law a foreigner is any person without Polish citizenship, a foreign company and a Polish company controlled by foreigners. A karta pobytu (the Polish residence permit card), a PESEL number and the length of time you have lived in the country do not by themselves remove that status.

UK citizens have needed a permit on the general terms since 1 January 2021. The exception is those who lived in an EU country before that date and remain protected by the Withdrawal Agreement.

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Ukrainian citizens get no special treatment. Temporary protection and a karta pobytu do not count as an exemption, so the general rule for countries outside the EEA applies. Citizens of Belarus, Kazakhstan and the United States buy on the same terms.

The Karta Polaka (Pole’s Card) does not exempt you from the permit. It is attached to the application as one of the arguments showing your ties with Poland.

When non-EEA citizens do not need a permit

The law gives five exemptions. They are tied to long residence in Poland, marriage to a Polish citizen or kinship with the seller. Each condition is read literally, and meeting it in part does not count.

• Five years with permanent residence. You have lived in Poland for at least 5 years after obtaining a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status. The Ministry specifies that the residence must be continuous. Years spent on a temporary karta pobytu do not count towards the period.
• Spouse of a Polish citizen. The period is cut to 2 years after the same kind of residence permit. The property must then become part of the spouses’ joint property under the statutory regime, with no marital agreement on separate property.
• Buying from a relative. On the day of the purchase you are the seller’s statutory heir, if Polish inheritance rules are applied. The seller must also have owned the property for at least 5 years.
• Inheritance. Statutory heirs need no permit, including when they receive the property under a will. An heir under a will from outside that circle applies for a permit within two years of the day the succession opens. Otherwise the property passes to the statutory heirs.
• A flat and a garage. A self-contained flat and a garage linked to the home can be bought without a permit.

Important. All the exemptions except statutory inheritance do not apply in the border zone or to farmland over 1 ha. Five years with permanent residence will not let you buy either a flat in Sopot or two hectares of arable land without a permit.

The border zone

The border zone is a belt of municipalities (gminas) along the state border and the sea coast. Where that belt comes out narrower than 15 km, the neighbouring municipalities are included as well. A citizen of a country outside the EEA needs a permit here for any property, including a flat.

The usual mistake is about geography. People picture the zone as villages along the eastern border, yet because of the sea coast it takes in Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot, Szczecin, Świnoujście and Kołobrzeg. In the south the list includes Zakopane and Jelenia Góra, and in the east Przemyśl and Chełm.

The list of municipalities was approved by a ministerial regulation of 2005, linked in the sources. Check the municipality against the list before you view the property, because the town in the listing and the municipality in the documents do not always match.

Buying land in Poland: farmland and forest

Trade in farmland is governed by a separate law, and for a foreigner it applies on top of the MSWiA permit. A plot of 1 ha or more can be bought only by a farmer, a close relative of the seller or a buyer with the consent of KOWR, the state’s National Support Centre for Agriculture. EU citizens do not need an MSWiA permit, but these restrictions apply to them too.

The stumbling block here is the word “farmland”. Under this law a plot stops being farmland when the local zoning plan (MPZP) designates it for other purposes. A warunki zabudowy decision, the building-conditions decision that stands in for the plan where there is none, does not have that effect under the text of this law. In an MSWiA permit case the Ministry assesses the character of the land itself, from the documents filed with the application.

A farmer under this law is a person with agricultural qualifications who has lived for at least 5 years in the municipality where one of their plots lies and has farmed personally throughout that time. KOWR’s consent is valid for a year, and under it the buyer undertakes to run the farm.

The right of pre-emption works like this. The parties sign a conditional agreement at a notary, the notary notifies KOWR, and KOWR has a month to buy the plot on the same terms. A purchase that bypasses these rules is void.

Forest. When the plot being sold is recorded as forest in the cadastral register (the land and buildings register) or is designated for afforestation, the State Forests (Lasy Państwowe) have a right of pre-emption. They have a month to respond from the notary’s notice. The rule does not apply if the buyer is the seller’s spouse or close relative.

How to get the MSWiA permit

The application is filed by the buyer with the Ministry in Warsaw, and there is no ready-made form. The stamp duty is 1,570 zł. The permit is granted if the purchase poses no threat to defence or security and you have shown your ties with Poland. The final agreement at the notary is signed only after the permit.

The law describes ties with Poland through examples. They are Polish origin, marriage to a Polish citizen, a karta pobytu (temporary, permanent or EU long-term resident), a seat on the management board of a Polish company under foreign control, and a business or a farm in Poland. A temporary card issued to victims of human trafficking or because of short-term circumstances does not count as a tie. The list is open, and the Minister assesses the circumstances.

1. Check the area. For housing it is up to 0.5 ha, and up to 1 ha for spouses. A larger plot is possible only for business or farming, and you will have to justify the area.
2. Agree with the seller in writing. The Ministry needs a statement from the seller that they are willing to sell the property to you specifically. A preliminary or conditional agreement will do. The seller’s willingness must hold until the day of the decision, so set the date of the final agreement with a margin.
3. Collect the documents. A copy of your passport and proof of your ties with Poland. For the property you need an extract from the księga wieczysta (land and mortgage register), an extract from the cadastral register with a section of the cadastral map, and an extract from the local plan or a certificate that there is no plan. None of these may be older than 6 months. The source of the money is documented separately, with tax returns, an employment contract, the bank’s loan decision or the sale agreement for your previous home. How to move money from abroad is covered in our guide on bringing money into Poland.
4. Certify and translate. Documents are filed as originals or as copies certified by a notary, and the passport and karta pobytu only as certified copies. Foreign documents are translated by a sworn translator from the Ministry of Justice list.
5. Pay the stamp duty. The 1,570 zł is transferred to the account of the taxpayer service centre of Warsaw City Hall, and the account details are on the MSWiA page. If the permit is not granted, the duty is refunded on request, and from 1 October 2026 without a separate decision, within 2 months.
6. File the application. In person at the registry office at ul. Rakowiecka 2a, by post to ul. Stefana Batorego 5, 02-591 Warszawa, or through ePUAP or e-Doręczenia. Applications are not accepted by email.
7. Wait for the decision and go to the notary. The permit is valid for two years from the date of issue.

Important. Only spouses can file one application together. A brother and sister, unmarried partners, or a parent and an adult child file separate applications for their shares, and each of them pays 1,570 zł.

Who can object. The Minister of Defence, and for farmland the Minister of Agriculture as well. They have 14 days, and the period can be extended to two months.

How long it takes. The law on the acquisition of real estate by foreigners sets no time limit. In a 2022 answer on its website the Ministry says that under the administrative procedure code a case takes no longer than two months if the documents are complete. The same answer says that in practice it comes to two, three or four months, and sometimes longer. Nobody can guarantee the timing.

A promesa is a promise to issue the permit. It costs 98 zł and is valid for a year. While it is in force the permit will not be refused, provided the circumstances have not changed. It is useful before an auction or negotiations, but it gives no right to buy.

The same procedure is outlined briefly in our guide for Belarusian citizens. If you are not sure how to prove your ties with Poland, our real estate team will help you put the documents together and prepare the application. The decision is made by the Minister.

What happens if you buy without a permit

A purchase made without a required permit is void. It rarely gets that far, because a notary will not draw up the deed without the permit and the court will not enter the new owner in the księga wieczysta. The risk remains where the parties got the buyer’s status, the municipality or the type of land wrong.

A court can declare the purchase void at the request of, among others, the head of the municipality, the starosta of the district, the marshal of the voivodeship, the voivode or the Minister himself. Oversight is built into the procedure, since within 7 days the notary sends MSWiA a copy of every deed under which a foreigner has bought real estate.

If you are in doubt, ask the notary to confirm before the preliminary agreement whether this property needs a permit given your citizenship and status. Write into the agreement a condition on obtaining the permit and how the deposit is returned if it is refused.

Buying through your own Polish company

Do not count on a Sp. z o.o. (a Polish limited liability company) as a way to do without the permit. By law, a Polish company controlled by foreigners from outside the EEA is itself treated as a foreigner. For a house, a plot or any land it needs, as a rule, the same MSWiA permit and pays the same stamp duty.

A company counts as controlled when foreigners hold, directly or through other companies, more than 50% of the votes at the shareholders’ meeting. The second test is a dominant position, for example the right to appoint the majority of the management board.

• A company controlled by citizens or companies from the EEA and Switzerland buys without a permit, just like those citizens themselves.
• Small plots in towns. A controlled company buys undeveloped plots for its statutory purposes without a permit, as long as their total area across the whole country is no more than 0.4 ha within town boundaries. The exemption does not apply in the border zone.
• Buying shares. A permit is also needed for shares in a company that owns real estate, if the company becomes controlled after the purchase. It is required as well when the company is already under foreign control and the shares are bought by a new foreign shareholder.

The Ministry’s guidance also contains another reading, under which any company with an address in Poland is treated like an EU entrepreneur. So before the preliminary agreement, ask the notary to confirm whether your company needs a permit for this property. How the company itself is set up is covered in our guide to the Sp. z o.o.

How much does buying a house in Poland cost on top of the price?

On a 900,000 zł house from the secondary market, a buyer from a country outside the EEA pays 22,457.55 zł on top of the price if they have owned a home before. Almost all of it is the 2% PCC tax, which comes to 18,000 zł. The rest goes to the notary, the court and the stamp duty for the permit.

Example. A house for 900,000 zł, bought without a mortgage. PCC is 18,000 zł. The notary’s scale fee is 4,370 zł, half of it is 2,185 zł, and with VAT that makes 2,687.55 zł. The entry of ownership is 200 zł and the stamp duty for the permit 1,570 zł. The total is 22,457.55 zł, plus copies of the deed and translations. With the first-home exemption, 4,457.55 zł remains. If you own or have ever owned a home, including one abroad, budget for 22,457.55 zł.

The notary amounts are maximum rates, and a notary may charge less. From 19 November 2026 the notary will upload deeds with a foreign buyer to an electronic repository for MSWiA and charge the parties for doing so. The amount will be set by a ministerial regulation, which is why it is not in the example.

Annual taxes. The property tax rate is set by the municipal council within upper limits. For 2026 these are 1.25 zł per m² of a residential house, 0.77 zł per m² of the plot and 12.00 zł per m² of a garage and outbuildings. A 150 m² house on a 1,000 m² plot will cost no more than 957.50 zł a year. The limits for 2027 have already been announced: 1.29 zł, 0.80 zł and 12.33 zł. Farmland and forest are subject to different taxes, the agricultural tax and the forest tax.

Figures are as of 1 October 2026. Rates are revised, so before the purchase check the current versions through the links at the end and ask for the notary’s own calculation. The PCC exemption and the buyer’s other taxes are covered in our guide to saving on a property purchase.

What to check in a plot and a house before paying a deposit

Whether you have found a plot or a house for sale in Poland, land takes longer to check than a flat. The księga wieczysta shows the owner and the debts, but not whether you can build here. The designated use of the land, the road and the utilities are checked elsewhere, and all of it is done before the deposit.

The rules for building without a local plan changed in 2026. The municipalities’ old general planning documents (studium) lost force no later than 31 August 2026. For applications filed from 1 September 2026, a new warunki zabudowy decision is issued only where the municipality’s general plan has been adopted. If a plot has neither a local plan nor a valid decision, ask the municipal office whether the general plan has been adopted and what it provides for this location.

Important. An “arable land” entry in the cadastral register does not prohibit the purchase, but it changes the deal. If the plot has 0.3 ha or more of agricultural land and the local plan does not designate it for development, KOWR’s right of pre-emption comes into play. From 1 ha you will need its consent.

How to read the księga wieczysta and when it is better to stop the deal is covered in our guide to the risks of buying property.

A mortgage on a house for a foreigner

A foreigner gets a mortgage on a house under the same rules as on a flat, and the bank decides by its own method. The difference is in the order of the steps. The mortgage is entered in the księga wieczysta after the deed, and the deed is possible only after the permit. MSWiA, for its part, accepts a loan agreement or the bank’s decision as proof of the source of the money, so you go to the bank in parallel with the application. The details are in our guide to getting a mortgage in Poland.

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We check the plot and the house against the księga wieczysta, the plan and the cadastral register. We tell you whether your property needs an MSWiA permit and KOWR consent, help prepare the application and support you through the transaction at the notary. We do not promise the outcome of the application, as the decision is made by the Minister. Enquiries are handled by our real estate team.

This article is for information only and does not replace advice from a lawyer, notary, tax adviser or mortgage specialist. It touches on the MSWiA permit procedure, trade in farmland and forest, civil law and the notarial form of transactions, taxes (PCC, VAT, property tax), planning and building law, and foreigners’ residence rights. Figures are as of 1 October 2026. Laws, rates and the Ministry’s practice change, so check the primary sources below before the purchase.