A 10/90 flat and the developer's payment schedule in Poland (2026)

A 10/90 flat is a payment schedule in which you pay 10% of the price when you sign the developer agreement (umowa deweloperska) and the remaining 90% only at the end of construction – usually before the handover or the deed transferring ownership. As standard, the developer collects the money in instalments, after successive construction stages are completed. In this article we explain how both models work under the Developer Act, how the escrow account protects you and how much you really gain from 10/90 – on the example of a flat from our offer to be completed in 2027.

Key facts

• Payments for a flat under construction go into a residential escrow account and depend on construction progress – you pay after a stage in the schedule is completed (Art. 8 of the Developer Act).
• The project schedule has at least 4 stages, and the cost of each is from 10% to 25% of the total cost of the development (Art. 24(2)).
• The developer agreement must specify the amount, dates and manner of payments into the escrow account (Art. 35(1)(9)).
• The 10/90, 20/80, 30/70 variants are developer promotions: you pay less at the start and the rest at the end – the protection of the escrow account and the DFG works in the same way.
• In our example (a flat for 755 824 zł, 14 months to the end of construction) 10/90 gives about 7,2 thousand zł net of deposit interest when buying with cash, or about 13,8 thousand zł less mortgage interest during construction.

How does the developer's payment schedule work?

The Act on the protection of the rights of a purchaser (the so-called Developer Act) ties payments for a flat under construction to the progress of the works: the buyer pays money into the residential escrow account after a given stage is completed, and the developer is obliged to inform you of its completion on paper or another durable medium (Art. 8(1)–(3)).

The basis is the schedule of the development project, which the developer must draw up. It sets out the stages, their percentage share of the costs and the completion date of each stage. There must be at least four stages, and none may cost more than 25% or less than 10% of the total (Art. 24). That is why a typical payment schedule looks, for example, like this: 10% after signing the agreement (if the first stage is already completed), and then further instalments of 15–25% – after the open shell, the closed shell, the installations and the completion of the building.

The specific amounts and dates are written into the developer agreement – this is one of its mandatory elements, alongside the dates for starting and finishing the works and the date of transfer of ownership (Art. 35(1)(7), (9) and (12)). We write about the content of the agreement in detail in the article Polish developer agreement (umowa deweloperska).

A 10/90, 20/80, 30/70 flat – how do the schedules differ?

The 10/90 model (and its variants) is a promotional solution: the developer agrees that the buyer pays less than construction progress would allow, and pays the rest at the end. The Act does not force you to pay sooner – it only provides that payments cannot run ahead of completed stages. A comparison of the most common variants:

Schedule	How much you pay at the start	When the rest	Who it suits
Staged (standard), e.g. 10/20/25/25/20	about 10–25% (depending on how far construction has advanced)	in 3–5 instalments after stages are completed	buyers with a mortgage and most buyers
30/70	30%	70% before handover / the deed	people with cash who want to lock in the price
20/80	20%	80% at the end	borrowers with a 20% down payment – they pay it straight away
10/90	10%	90% at the end	buyers waiting to sell their current flat, investors, people with cash on deposit

The payment schedule, the escrow account and the DFG – are you protected with 10/90?

Yes, on the same terms. The developer must provide one of two protection measures: an open or a closed residential escrow account (Art. 6(1)). From an open account the bank pays the developer money according to the schedule – no earlier than 30 days after the agreement is concluded and after checking the completion of the stage; the funds for the last stage go to the developer only after the deed transferring ownership to you (Art. 5(9), Art. 16, Art. 17). From a closed account the developer receives everything in one go, only after ownership has been transferred (Art. 5(10), Art. 15).

The developer also pays a contribution to the Developer Guarantee Fund on each of your payments. The Act caps its maximum rate at 1% for an open account and 0,1% for a closed one, and the exact rates are set by a regulation (Art. 49). The DFG refunds payments from an open account, among other cases, on the developer's bankruptcy or the bankruptcy of the bank holding the account (Art. 48). The costs of running the account are borne by the developer and cannot reduce your payments (Art. 14). More: escrow account and the Developer Guarantee Fund.

With 10/90, until the end of construction the account holds only 10% of the price – the risk shifts to your ability to pay at the end.

Why does a developer offer 10/90 and what to ask about?

With 10/90 the developer finances construction to a greater extent from its own funds or a bank loan, because buyers' money arrives only at the end. The reasons vary: faster sales at an early stage, reaching buyers who first sell their current flat, or a favourable schedule instead of a discount. Financing costs money – check who pays for it.

Before you choose 10/90, ask the developer a few questions (you will find the full list in the article what to ask a developer at the sales office):

• Is the price with 10/90 the same as with the standard schedule? Can a discount be negotiated with the standard schedule?
• When exactly is the 90% payable – before handover, before the deed, or on a specific date – and does the date move if construction is delayed?
• What are the interest or penalties for being late with the last payment and can it be deferred if the bank pays out the mortgage later?
• Does the promotion combine with others (for example a parking space included in the price) and does it cover the flat you are interested in?

The most common pitfalls in agreements, including in the clauses on payments, are described in the article what to watch for when buying a flat from a developer.

Want to know which developments currently have a 10/90 or 20/80 schedule and whether it can be combined with a discount? We will help you buy a flat from a developer – we will compare the terms in several developments and ask about promotions on your behalf. For the buyer usually with no commission – the fee is typically paid by the developer.

10/90 or the standard schedule – what does it give you? A calculation on a flat completed in 2027

An example from our offer: a 2-room flat of 38,96 m² in the development Apartamenty Literacka etap II in Bielany, to be completed in Q4 2027, costs 755 824 zł – exactly the median price of a 2-room flat in Warsaw according to TM Invest offer data, as of 27.09.2026. We assume the agreement is signed in October 2026 and the last payment is made after 14 months, in December 2027.

We compare an example staged schedule of 10/20/25/25/20 with the 10/90 variant at the same price. With cash, the money waiting for the next instalment sits on a deposit paying 3% a year – the average interest on new household deposits in July 2026 according to the NBP – and after deducting 19% tax on the interest that is 2,43%. For a purchase with a mortgage: a 20% down payment (151 165 zł) is paid first, the bank pays out the loan of 604 659 zł in tranches, at an interest rate of 6,07% (the NBP average for new mortgage loans, July 2026), and during construction you repay only the interest.

Month	Staged schedule	Of which from the loan	10/90 schedule
0 (X 2026) – developer agreement	75 582 zł (10%)	–	75 582 zł (10%)
3 (I 2027)	151 165 zł (20%)	75 582 zł	–
7 (V 2027)	188 956 zł (25%)	188 956 zł	–
11 (IX 2027)	188 956 zł (25%)	188 956 zł	–
14 (XII 2027) – end of construction	151 165 zł (20%)	151 165 zł	680 242 zł (90%)
Cash: deposit interest at 3% up to the payment date (gross / net)	14 928 zł / 12 091 zł	–	23 808 zł / 19 285 zł
Mortgage: interest paid during construction (6,07%)	13 764 zł		none – the loan is paid out at the end

• You are buying with cash: 10/90 gives about 8,9 thousand zł gross, that is about 7,2 thousand zł net more deposit interest – about 0,95% of the price. If in exchange for 10/90 the developer does not give the discount you would get with the standard schedule, and that discount exceeds about 1%, the standard comes out better. You will find a comparison of deposits and bonds in the article flat or bonds (in Polish), and the whole purchase process without a mortgage – in the guide buying a flat for cash step by step (in Polish).
• You are buying with a mortgage: with the staged schedule you will pay about 13,8 thousand zł of interest during construction (plus about 2 thousand zł of lost interest on the down payment spent earlier). With 10/90 the loan is paid out in one go at the end, so there are no such costs.
• If 10/90 is more expensive: a surcharge of 1% of the price is 7 558 zł, and 2% – 15 116 zł. With a mortgage, a 1% surcharge eats half of the savings, and if you finance it with a 30-year loan, you will pay about 8,9 thousand zł of additional interest on it. So always compare the final price of both variants, not just the size of the first payment.

10/90 does not speed up handover: if you rent a flat, you pay the same rent for the same time in both variants.

Flats completed in 2027 in our offer

According to TM Invest offer data, as of 27.09.2026, we have 26 developments with a completion date in 2027 and 1 360 flats available in them: 17 developments and 865 flats in Warsaw and 9 developments and 495 flats in Wrocław. You will find the full list with dates and prices in the overview flats completed in 2027 (in Polish), and current offers in the catalogues of new flats in Warsaw and new flats in Wrocław. We will ask the developer for you about the availability of 10/90 in a specific development.

A 10/90 flat and a mortgage

With the staged schedule the bank pays out the loan in tranches directly into the escrow account, usually after checking construction progress, and you pay the down payment first. With 10/90 and a mortgage you can proceed in two ways: apply straight away and agree with the bank a single tranche at the end, or apply for the loan only a few months before the date of the last payment. In the second variant you risk that over more than a year your borrowing capacity, interest rates or banks' policies will change.

This matters because non-payment of the last instalment has consequences. The developer may withdraw from the agreement if you do not pay on time or in the amount set in the agreement, despite a written demand with a 30-day deadline (Art. 43(7)). A missing mortgage is not a statutory ground for the buyer to withdraw from the developer agreement – if you are financing with a loan, make sure the agreement contains suitable clauses and get a preliminary assessment of your capacity before signing. How the whole process works we describe in the article Mortgage in Poland step by step, and how much you need at the start – in the text on the down payment.

10/90 for an investor – assignment and resale before handover

10/90 attracts investors because during construction it ties up little capital. Since 2023 a buyer may transfer claims under the developer agreement to a third party (so-called assignment) if the agreement concerns no more than one unit and in the previous three years the buyer has not assigned another developer agreement; the restriction does not apply to a transfer to persons in tax groups I and II, for example close family (Art. 37a). An assignment agreement requires a notarial deed, and its tax treatment needs to be analysed individually.

If you do not resell your rights before the end of construction, you will pay the 90% of the price yourself or with a mortgage. We write about the profitability of buying to let in the article a flat as an investment (in Polish).

Frequently asked questions

Summary

The developer's payment schedule is tied to construction progress and written into the developer agreement. The 10/90, 20/80 and 30/70 variants let you pay most of the price at the end – without losing the protection of the escrow account and the DFG. On a flat of about 756 thousand zł to be completed in 2027 the difference is a few to a dozen or so thousand zloty, but only if the price is the same. Compare the final price, check the clauses on the last payment and plan how to finance it. You can read more about the whole process in the guide how to buy a new-build apartment in Poland.

Considering a 10/90 schedule? We will check the developer agreement – the clauses on payments, deadlines and penalties – before you sign it. And if you are only now looking for a flat, we will help you buy from a developer, usually with no commission for the buyer, as the fee is typically paid by the developer. We have worked in Warsaw and Wrocław since 2016.

Legal status as of September 2026. The calculations are indicative: the staged schedule is an example, simple interest, a fixed deposit and mortgage rate and no additional costs were assumed. The terms of a promotion are set by the developer. The article does not constitute legal, tax or financial advice.

Sources

• Act of 20 May 2021 on the protection of the rights of a purchaser of a residential unit or a single-family house and on the Developer Guarantee Fund, Dz.U. 2026 item 880 (in Polish) – Art. 5, 6, 8, 14–17, 24, 35, 37a, 43, 48, 49
• NBP – MIR interest rate statistics: new mortgage loans in PLN (July 2026) (in Polish)
• PAP Biznes citing the NBP – average interest on newly accepted household deposits in July 2026 (in Polish)
• Personal Income Tax Act, Dz.U. 2026 item 592 (in Polish) – Art. 30a(1)(3) (19% on interest)
• Flat prices: TM Invest developments catalogue, as of 27.09.2026