real estate | In Principle

In the tough times of battling the coronavirus, many tenants are seeking ways to reduce their rent, release themselves from the obligation to pay rent, or avoid other obligations under their existing leases. What opportunities does the law offer them?

If execution or bankruptcy proceedings are commenced against the owner of leased or tenanted real estate, the lease or tenancy contract may be terminated early by the administrator or trustee. Rent paid in advance may then be deemed ineffective. How should lessees and tenants protect themselves when entering into a contract with an owner in poor financial condition?

Before the first contractors appear on the construction site, the investor must comply with many formalities, including obtaining a building permit. But what if the documentation filed with the construction authorities proves incomplete or does not comply with the regulations? Does this necessarily bar completion of the project?

The Act of 26 April 2019 Amending the Agricultural System Act and Certain Other Acts made changes to the trading in agricultural real estate in Poland. It also clarified the procedure and conditions for consent to acquisition of agricultural real estate by an entity not meeting the definition of an individual farmer, and not qualifying as a family member of the seller or other entity exhaustively listed in Art. 2a(3) of the Agricultural System Act.

The investor is the host of a construction project and, in practice, it is the investor who decides on the wording of the agreement with the general contractor, including the contractor’s activity in execution of the project. It is the investor who decides how the construction process is organised. But investors have different preferences: they do not always want to precisely track the course of works, and that may not be feasible. Therefore, the agreement with the contractor should be tailored to the adopted model of cooperation and take into account the possible level of control by the investor of the general contractor’s activities.

Art. 647¹ of the Civil Code, providing for the investor’s secondary liability for the contractor’s debts to subcontractors, was introduced into the Polish legal system in 2003. In April 2017, the parliament amended it thoroughly in adopting the Act Amending Certain Acts to Facilitate Debt Recovery. Two years after implementation, we try to answer the question whether the title of the amending act corresponds to reality and subcontractors really have a better chance of receiving payment for their work.

Art. 6491–6495 of the Civil Code is intended to ensure that the security in the form of a payment guarantee for construction works provided at the investor’s request secures timely payment of the contractor’s fee. However, one may suspect that in practice this instrument is used for a completely different purpose.

The Public Procurement Law provides for rules autonomous from the Civil Code for settlements with subcontractors. The regulations apply independently of each other, but they are applied in parallel to contracts concluded under the public procurement regime.

Od czasu wprowadzenia do Kodeksu cywilnego, a później również do Prawa zamówień publicznych, przepisów o solidarnej odpowiedzialności inwestora za zapłatę należną podwykonawcom robót budowlanych, generalni wykonawcy znajdują się w swoistym potrzasku – między koniecznością nadzoru i dyscyplinowania podwykonawców a presją inwestora, by ich rozliczać.

When assessing the post-war legal status of buildings erected on land subject to the Warsaw Decree, there is currently greater focus on the circumstances surrounding wartime destruction of buildings and the fact that decree-related proceedings are ongoing. This is intended to take away or restrict ownership title to “budynki piątkowe” – buildings fulfilling requirements under Art. 5 of the Warsaw (Bierut) Decree. Meanwhile, the structure of a “decree building” is a refined legal concept that needs to be viewed in the context of laws and case law in effect at the time.

The authorities have 12 months to issue certificates confirming the conversion of perpetual usufruct into ownership (2 January 2020 is the deadline for issuing them). Therefore, the parliament has established a transitional provision according to which the fee for 2019 is to be paid by 29 February 2020. However, is it worth taking advantage of this extension? And will the high discount for conversion continue to be applicable? What about the property tax—will it also change?

An amendment to the Construction Law of 27 March 2003 that came into effect as of 11 July 2003 was intended to simplify building permit proceedings, and thus speed up investment projects. One of the ways in which this was to be done was reducing the number of entities that were parties to the proceedings. A party is entitled to take an active part in the proceedings, and can therefore file motions or appeals. This clearly prolongs the proceedings.