Occasional and Institutional Lease in Poland 2026 – How to Secure a Rental

An occasional lease (najem okazjonalny) is a fixed-term tenancy agreement (maximum 10 years) that can be concluded by a flat owner who is a private individual. Its greatest advantage: from the start the tenant submits to enforcement in a notarial deed (akt notarialny) and names the premises they will move to, so if problems arise you do not need a years-long eviction lawsuit. An institutional lease (najem instytucjonalny) gives similar protection, but is reserved for companies letting premises. Below we explain which documents are required, what it costs and how the two modes differ from an ordinary tenancy agreement.

Key facts

• Occasional lease: the owner is an individual not running a business in letting, the agreement is fixed-term up to 10 years, in writing on pain of invalidity (Art. 19a).
• Mandatory annexes: the tenant's statement submitting to enforcement in the form of a notarial deed, the designation of replacement premises and the consent of their owner.
• The agreement must be notified to the tax office within 14 days of the start of the lease – without notification you lose the simplified eviction (Art. 19b).
• Deposit in occasional and institutional leases: at most 6 times the monthly rent; in an ordinary lease – up to 12 times.
• Notary's fee for the statement submitting to enforcement: at most 1/10 of the minimum wage, in 2026 it is 480,60 PLN net (591,14 PLN with VAT).

What is an occasional lease and who can conclude it?

The occasional lease is governed by chapter 2a of the Act on the Protection of Tenants' Rights (Art. 19a–19e). It can be concluded by the owner of residential premises who is an individual and does not run a business in letting premises. So it is the mode for the typical private investor: you buy a flat from a developer, finish it and let it in your own name, taxing the rent at the private-letting flat rate.

The agreement must be concluded for a fixed term of no more than 10 years and requires written form on pain of invalidity – including every amendment. Besides rent you may charge only fees not dependent on the owner (utilities, waste collection), unless the agreement provides otherwise, and you may raise the rent only on the terms written into the agreement (Art. 19c). That is why it is worth writing an indexation clause, for example for inflation, in from the start.

Art. 19e is key: most provisions protecting tenants do not apply to an occasional lease – among others on the right to social housing and on the ban on carrying out evictions in winter. This works, however, only on condition that you notified the agreement to the tax office. If you are late with the notification, the tenant keeps full protection as under an ordinary lease.

Occasional lease – required documents (checklist)

The Act lists the annexes that are attached to the agreement "in particular" (Art. 19a(2)). Before signing, prepare:

• A written occasional lease agreement – with the term, the amount of rent and deposit, the indexation rules and the cases in which it can be terminated before the end date.
• The tenant's statement submitting to enforcement in the form of a notarial deed – the tenant undertakes to vacate and hand over the premises by the date stated in your demand.
• Designation of replacement premises – the address of another flat where the tenant will be able to live in the event of eviction.
• The consent of the owner of the replacement premises to the tenant and the people living with them living there. At your request the signature under this consent must be notarially certified – it is worth using this right.
• A handover protocol with meter readings and photos – the Act does not require it, but without it the deposit is hard to settle.
• Notification to the tax office within 14 days of the start of the lease and proof of its filing.

If during the agreement the tenant loses the ability to live in the replacement premises (for example the owner sells them), they have 21 days to name new premises and deliver new consent. If they do not, you can terminate the agreement in writing with at least 7 days' notice (Art. 19a(3) and Art. 19d(5)).

Notifying an occasional lease to the tax office – 14 days

You notify the conclusion of the agreement to the head of the tax office competent for your place of residence (not the location of the flat) within 14 days of the day the lease starts, not from signing the agreement. The Act provides no official form – a letter with the parties' details, the address of the premises, the date the agreement was concluded and the date the lease starts is enough. File it so that you have proof of filing: a copy stamped on receipt or a postal receipt. At the tenant's request you must show confirmation of the notification, and when applying for an enforcement clause the court will require it.

The notification under Art. 19b is an obligation separate from tax. You tax the revenue from private letting at the flat rate of 8,5% (up to 100 thousand PLN a year) and 12,5% on the excess – details, payment dates and the PIT-28 return are described in the article tax on flat rental. A refundable deposit is not revenue until you retain it against amounts owed.

Statement submitting to enforcement – notary cost and an example for a studio

The notary's remuneration for a statement submitting to enforcement is limited directly in the Act: no more than 1/10 of the minimum monthly wage (Art. 19a(7)). With the minimum wage of 4806 PLN applicable in 2026 this is at most 480,60 PLN net, and from 1 January 2027 (minimum wage 4950 PLN) – 495 PLN net. 23% VAT is added to the fee. For copies of the deed the notary charges up to 6 PLN per page begun, and for certifying the signature under the consent of the owner of the replacement premises – up to 20 PLN (§ 12 and § 13 of the regulation on notarial fees). We write more about the rates in the article notary fees.

Example: you buy a studio in Wroclaw for 595 638 PLN – this is the median price of a 1-room flat (median floor area 32,4 m²) according to TM Invest offer data as at 27.09.2026. For the calculation we assume monthly rent of 2 800 PLN (an assumption, not market data). For comparison we also show a 2-room flat in Warsaw for 755 824 PLN (the median in our offer, 39,4 m²) with an assumed rent of 3 800 PLN.

Item (maximum rates, 2026)	Studio Wroclaw, rent 2 800 PLN	2 rooms Warsaw, rent 3 800 PLN
Statement submitting to enforcement (480,60 PLN + 23% VAT)	591,14 PLN	591,14 PLN
Copies of the deed (assumed 2 copies × 3 pages × 6 PLN + VAT)	44,28 PLN	44,28 PLN
Certification of the signature of the owner of the replacement premises (20 PLN + VAT)	24,60 PLN	24,60 PLN
Notification to the tax office	no fee	no fee
Total cost of concluding	about 660 PLN	about 660 PLN
Maximum deposit (6 × rent)	16 800 PLN	22 800 PLN
Cost of concluding as % of annual rent	about 2,0%	about 1,4%

The Act does not decide who bears the cost of the notarial deed – it is a matter for agreement between the parties, so put it in the agreement. Regardless, about 660 PLN is a small price compared with the risk of several months of arrears on a flat worth 600–750 thousand PLN. How rent translates into rate of return we calculate in the article rental yield of a flat.

Looking for a flat to let that will hold up well on the rental market? We help select a unit from the offer of more than 100 developments in Warsaw and Wroclaw – for the buyer in most cases with no commission, because the developer usually pays our fee. Book a conversation about buying a flat from a developer or browse offers in new developments in Wroclaw and in Warsaw.

Deposit in an occasional lease – how much can you charge?

The deposit in an occasional lease secures amounts owed under the lease existing on the day the premises are vacated and any costs of enforcing the obligation to vacate. It cannot exceed six times the monthly rent calculated at the rate on the day the agreement is concluded (Art. 19a(4)). You return it within a month of the premises being vacated, after deducting your claims (paragraph 5).

In practice the size of the deposit is a compromise: the upper limit gives the best security, but with rent of 2 800 PLN it means 16 800 PLN of cash at the start, which narrows the pool of tenants. Remember also that in an occasional lease the deposit is settled after the lease ends – the provision allowing arrears to be covered from it during the agreement and a top-up to be demanded exists only in an institutional lease (Art. 19f(7–8)).

Simplified eviction – how does it work step by step?

When the agreement expires or is terminated and the tenant does not move out voluntarily, the procedure is as follows (Art. 19d):

1. You deliver to the tenant a written demand to vacate the premises with an officially certified signature – identifying the parties, the agreement, the reason it ended and a moving-out date of not less than 7 days from delivery.
2. After the date passes without result, you file with the court an application for an enforcement clause on the notarial deed. You attach the demand with proof of delivery (or of sending by registered post), a document confirming your legal title to the premises and confirmation of the notification to the tax office. The court fee is 50 PLN, and the court is to consider the application within 3 days (Art. 781¹ of the Code of Civil Procedure).
3. With the enforcement title you turn to the bailiff, who calls on the tenant to vacate voluntarily and then carries out the eviction to the premises named in the agreement.

There is no eviction lawsuit here, no ruling on social housing and no suspension of eviction between 1 November and 31 March. In an ordinary lease, Art. 16 of the Act prohibits carrying out eviction judgments in that period if the evicted person has not been given premises to move to – this provision does not apply to an occasional lease (Art. 19e). The time of the enforcement itself depends, however, on the bailiff, so do not assume you will recover the flat in a few days.

Institutional lease for a private person – is it possible?

An institutional lease (Art. 19f–19j) is concluded by an individual, a legal person or an organisational unit running a business in letting premises. A private person without a company therefore cannot use it. If you want to, you must let within a business – and then the rental income is business income, with its obligations (records, ZUS contributions, different rules on a later sale of the flat). When buying a flat through a company makes sense, we analyse in the article buying a flat through a company.

An institutional lease is simpler for the landlord: it does not require designating replacement premises or notifying the tax office. In a notarial deed the tenant submits to enforcement and acknowledges that in the event of eviction they are not entitled to social housing or temporary accommodation. The agreement is concluded for a fixed term, in writing, and the date in the demand to vacate cannot be shorter than 14 days. The fee for the notarial statement is limited in the same way – to 1/10 of the minimum wage (Art. 19g(2)).

Ordinary, occasional or institutional – a comparison

Feature	Ordinary lease	Occasional lease	Institutional lease
Who can let	any owner	an individual not running a letting business	an entrepreneur letting premises
Duration	fixed or indefinite	fixed, up to 10 years	fixed
Tenant's notarial deed	no	yes	yes
Replacement premises + owner's consent	no	yes	no
Notification to the tax office	no	yes, 14 days from the start of the lease	no
Maximum deposit	12 × rent	6 × rent	6 × rent
Eviction	court proceedings, social housing possible	enforcement clause on the deed, date min. 7 days	enforcement clause on the deed, date min. 14 days
Eviction ban 1.11–31.03 (Art. 16)	yes (where there are no premises to move to)	no	no

An ordinary tenancy agreement, concluded without these formalities, enjoys full tenant protection. An indefinite-term agreement you can terminate only on statutory grounds (Art. 11), for example for arrears of at least three full payment periods after written warning and setting an additional one-month deadline. A fixed-term agreement you can terminate early only in the cases provided for in the agreement itself (Art. 673 § 3 of the Civil Code). Nightly letting is governed by other rules – on them in the article short-term rental – regulations.

Frequently asked questions

Summary

For a private investor an occasional lease is the cheapest and most effective security: about 660 PLN of costs on conclusion, a deposit of up to 6 times the rent and eviction on the basis of a notarial deed instead of a years-long lawsuit. The condition is a complete set of documents and notification to the tax office within 14 days of the start of the lease. An institutional lease is even simpler formally, but only for those letting within a business. We write more on whether a flat to let pays off in the guide a flat as an investment.

Planning to buy a flat to let? Our experts will help choose a unit from the developers' offer in Warsaw and Wroclaw and guide you through the purchase – in most cases with no commission for the buyer, because the developer usually pays our fee. See how we help with buying a flat from a developer.

Legal position as at September 2026. The calculations are indicative, and the rents in the examples are assumptions. The article is not legal or tax advice – the content of a tenancy agreement is worth consulting with a lawyer or notary.

Sources

• Act on the Protection of Tenants' Rights, the Municipal Housing Stock and on Amendment of the Civil Code – consolidated text Dz.U. 2023 item 725 (Art. 6, 11, 16, 19a–19j).
• Regulation of the Council of Ministers on the minimum wage in 2026 – Dz.U. 2025 item 1242 (4806 PLN).
• Regulation of the Council of Ministers on the minimum wage in 2027 – Dz.U. 2026 item 1213 (4950 PLN).
• Regulation of the Minister of Justice on maximum notarial fee rates – consolidated text Dz.U. 2024 item 1566 (§ 12, § 13).
• Code of Civil Procedure – consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 468 (Art. 781¹, Art. 1046).
• Act on Court Costs in Civil Cases – consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 item 1228 (Art. 71).
• Civil Code – consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 795 (Art. 673).
• Settlement of rental revenue – recorded flat-rate tax – podatki.gov.pl.
• Flat prices: TM Invest development catalogue, as at 27.09.2026.