Developers selling completed apartments with “ordinary” preliminary contracts and outside Poland’s developer protection regime are not exempt from the law, the country’s consumer watchdog has warned, raising the risk of fines and forcing a rethink of how post-completion sales are structured.
Poland UOKiK Warns Developers on Finished Apartment Sales
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, or UOKiK, says the trigger for the developer law is not whether a project was financed with a bank loan or the developer’s own money, but whether the seller has started offering units to consumers and still owes them a transfer of title. That matters because some smaller developers have been marketing finished homes as if they can bypass requirements on notarial form, escrow accounts and the developer guarantee fund.
For buyers, the issue is not technical. UOKiK and legal experts say the law is meant to protect money paid before ownership is transferred — a period that can last months even after handover. If a developer becomes insolvent in that window, customers who paid in full but are not yet legal owners could be left with little more than a claim in bankruptcy proceedings.
The watchdog’s position also narrows a loophole that some market participants had used to argue that post-occupancy sales fall under ordinary civil-code rules. Przemysław Dziąg, a legal adviser cited in the debate, said proposals to sell completed apartments without the law’s safeguards should raise a “red flag” for buyers. Lawyer Piotr Jarzyński said UOKiK could treat the practice as harming collective consumer interests, exposing firms to penalties of as much as 10% of annual revenue.
The ruling matters for the housing market because it could force developers to keep using protected accounts and formal sales procedures even after a building is finished, potentially slowing some transactions but improving transparency for buyers. It also reinforces the broader push to tighten interpretation of Poland’s 2022 developer law as the sector works through a wave of completed inventory and rising scrutiny over consumer protections.
Investors and developers will now watch whether UOKiK starts enforcement actions against firms using the disputed model. Any crackdown would likely hit smaller developers hardest and could also influence pricing, cash collection and contract design across the sector if sellers are required to keep funds inside the statutory protection system until title transfer.
| Entity | Gains | Losses |
|---|---|---|
| Apartment buyers | ▲Stronger payment protection | ▼Fewer shortcut sales |
| UOKiK / regulators | ▲Clearer enforcement scope | ▼More disputes to police |
| Compliant developers | ▲Leveler playing field | ▼Higher compliance costs |
| Noncompliant developers | ▲None | ▼Fine risk, sales model pressure |
