MSWiA Permit Checker 2026 – Buying Property in Poland

The result applies art. 7 and art. 8 of the 1920 Act to your answers. It is not a decision: only the Ministry of the Interior and Administration (MSWiA) issues or refuses a permit, and the notary checks your status before you sign the deed. One detail catches apartment buyers most often. The exemption covers the flat and its share in the common land, but a share in a separately registered access road or other estate land sold in the same deal is a separate property that can need its own permit (MSWiA FAQ). An acquisition made without a required permit is void under art. 6 ust. 1. A court can declare it void at the request of the municipality head, the starosta, the voivodeship marshal, the voivode or the Interior Minister (art. 6 ust. 2).

What changes in 2026: electronic notary reports from 19 November

The Act of 24 March 1920 on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners has not been amended since 1 January 2017, so the permit rules and exemptions in 2026 are the ones in the consolidated text Dz.U. 2017 poz. 2278 (Dziennik Ustaw, the Polish Journal of Laws, 2017, item 2278). The only 2026 change is procedural: from 19 November 2026, notaries report foreigners' acquisitions to the Interior Minister electronically.

The amending Act of 17 July 2026 (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1099) moves the notarial reports under art. 8a onto the notaries' Central Repository of Electronic Excerpts of Notarial Acts and updates how the ministry is named in art. 2 and art. 5. It does not change who needs a permit, and it does not change any exemption. Despite the political debate about foreign buyers, the 2026 reform tightens monitoring, not access.

Demand for permits is growing. In 2025, MSWiA received 2,582 applications for permits and promises, 11.77% more than in 2024, according to the ministry's report to the Sejm (druk 2420). It issued 1,508 permits for 2,136 land properties, 618 permits for 669 residential and commercial units, and 117 promises, and it refused 162 applications. The refusal reasons listed first in the report were failures to show durable ties to Poland. That is the art. 1a condition that every applicant must prove, so the ties evidence deserves more care than any other part of the file.

Who needs an MSWiA permit: the exemptions in the 1920 Act (2026)

The widest exemption is art. 8 ust. 2 of the 1920 Act: an EU, EEA or Swiss citizen or business needs no permit for any property in Poland in 2026. The art. 7 ust. 2 exclusion frees every statutory heir (osoba uprawniona do dziedziczenia ustawowego) who inherits the property or receives it by legacy. All other exemptions sit in art. 8 ust. 1, and art. 8 ust. 3 switches every one of them off in the border zone and for agricultural land over 1 ha.

Who needs an MSWiA permit - exemptions under the 1920 Act (2026)

Situation	Permit needed?	Legal basis
EU/EEA or Swiss citizen or business, any property	No	art. 8 ust. 2
Statutory heir inheriting (or by legacy)	No	art. 7 ust. 2
Separately owned apartment, outside border zone	No	art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 1 and ust. 3
Garage unit or share linked to housing needs, outside border zone	No	art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 1a and ust. 3
5 years since permanent or EU long-term residence permit	No (not in border zone or agricultural land over 1 ha)	art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 2 and ust. 3
Spouse of Polish citizen, 2 years since that permit, into joint marital property	No (same limits)	art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 3 and ust. 3
Buying from someone you would inherit from by law who owned it 5+ years	No (same limits)	art. 8 ust. 1 pkt 4 and ust. 3
Buying or receiving any property in the border zone (non-EEA buyer, not inheriting as a statutory heir)	Yes	art. 8 ust. 3
Agricultural land over 1 ha (non-EEA buyer, not inheriting as a statutory heir)	Yes	art. 8 ust. 3

Source: Act of 24 March 1920 on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners, consolidated text Dz.U. 2017 poz. 2278. The border-zone list is annex 1 to the MSWiA regulation of 29 August 2005; it includes Gdańsk, Sopot, Gdynia, Szczecin, Świnoujście, Kołobrzeg and Cieszyn.

Permit fees, deadlines and limits in 2026

The stamp duty (opłata skarbowa) for an MSWiA permit is 1,570 zł in 2026 under the Stamp Duty Act (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1154), annex part III item 8. You pay it to the Taxpayer Service Centre of the City of Warsaw (Centrum Obsługi Podatnika, ul. Obozowa 57) by transfer or in cash, and you attach the original proof of payment to the application. MSWiA refunds the duty whenever the proceedings end without a permit.

MSWiA permit: fees, deadlines and limits (2026)

Item	Figure	Legal basis
Permit stamp duty	1,570 zł	Stamp Duty Act, annex part III item 8
Promesa stamp duty	98 zł	Stamp Duty Act, annex part I item 20
Permit validity	2 years from issue	art. 3 ust. 2 of the 1920 Act
Promesa validity	1 year from issue	art. 3d ust. 2 of the 1920 Act
Statutory decision time	2 months from a complete file	art. 35 § 3 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, per MSWiA; often longer in practice
Will-heir application deadline	2 years from the opening of the succession	art. 7 ust. 3 of the 1920 Act
Notary report to MSWiA	7 days from the deed	art. 8a ust. 1 of the 1920 Act
Living-needs area cap	0.5 ha	art. 1a ust. 5 of the 1920 Act; MSWiA allows 1 ha for a married couple
Border zone depth	15 km, counted in whole municipalities	art. 12 ust. 1 of the State Border Protection Act
Cooperative ownership right to a flat	No permit, border zone included	art. 1 ust. 4 of the 1920 Act; art. 17[2] ust. 1 of the Act on Housing Cooperatives

A promesa (a promise of a permit) is useful when the deal is not final: for its 1-year validity the permit cannot be refused unless material facts change (art. 3d ust. 4). The 0.5 ha cap applies to property bought for living needs; a larger area is allowed only for business or farming activity. A spółdzielcze własnościowe prawo do lokalu (cooperative ownership right to a flat) is a limited property right under the Act on Housing Cooperatives (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 889), not ownership, so the 1920 Act does not reach it.

How the checker decides

The MSWiA permit checker follows the order of the 1920 Act: first whether you are a foreigner under art. 1 ust. 2, then the EEA exemption in art. 8 ust. 2, the inheritance exclusion in art. 7 ust. 2, the border-zone and farmland override in art. 8 ust. 3, and only then the art. 8 ust. 1 exemptions.

The order matters. Because art. 8 ust. 3 cancels every art. 8 ust. 1 exemption in the border zone, the checker asks about the location before it asks what you are buying. Take a US citizen who wants a flat in Sopot. Sopot is on the border-zone list, so the answers lead straight to the permit outcome, and the apartment exemption never comes into play. The same flat in Kraków would need no permit, because Kraków is not on that list.

Where the official sources disagree, the checker says so. MSWiA, which issues the permits, treats UK citizens covered by art. 10 of the Withdrawal Agreement as exempt under art. 8 ust. 2. The Office for Foreigners (UDSC) states that art. 8 ust. 2 has not applied to UK citizens since 1 January 2021. That outcome is therefore marked as likely, with a notary check.

When you need a permit, MSWiA has no official form. You submit the application in person at ul. Rakowiecka 2a, by post, through the ePUAP e-government platform or e-Doręczenia, but never by e-mail, and documents in a foreign language need a sworn translation. Spouses may submit one joint application; other co-buyers each submit their own and each pay the duty. The application contents are on the MSWiA permit page. The ties that art. 1a accepts include Polish descent, marriage to a Polish citizen, a temporary residence permit or other residence permit, and business or farming activity in Poland.

This article does not replace professional legal advice.