Developer risk scores: what they can and cannot tell you about a Polish developer

A developer risk score is a quick summary of signals about a company: its filings, finances and track record. It is useful for spotting a developer worth a closer look, but it cannot tell you whether a particular project will be finished on time or whether your money is safe. That depends mostly on the contract, the escrow account and the documents for the specific project.

This page explains what a score of this kind can and cannot capture, how to use the score shown on our developer pages, and what to check alongside it. The judgement in this article is editorial, based on how such scores are built; it is information, not advice.

What a risk score summarises

Scores published by rating firms, credit-information bureaus and data sites like ours combine signals from public and semi-public records. Typical inputs are:

• Company filings: whether annual financial statements are filed on time in the company register (KRS), and what they show about revenue, debt and equity.
• Track record: how many projects the developer has completed, and whether they were delivered.
• Legal and insolvency signals: restructuring or bankruptcy announcements, court notices.
• Behaviour towards buyers: for example price-history changes or how the developer reports offers.

How our own score is built, what data it uses and how often it updates is explained on the /en/methodology page. You will find the score on each developer's page in our /en/developers directory.

What a score cannot see

Any score built from public data has blind spots. The most important for a buyer:

1. The project's real costs. Financial statements show a company, not the budget of the building you are buying in. A rise in construction costs or a delay in sales may not show up until the next annual report.
2. Time lag. Annual statements are filed months after the year ends. A score based on them describes the past.
3. Group structure. A developer may run each project through a separate special-purpose company. The company you sign with may have few assets of its own, and a strong or weak parent behind it. The score of one company in a group does not automatically describe the others.
4. Whether sales cover the build. A score does not know how many flats are sold, at what price, and whether that, plus any bank financing, covers the cost of finishing.
5. The quality of your contract. A score says nothing about the escrow type, the schedule of payments, penalties for delay or whether the developer agreement matches the information prospectus.

Watch out: a high score is not a guarantee, and a low or missing score is not proof of a problem. A new developer with a solid project and a closed escrow account may score lower than an established one simply because it has less history.

Read the score together with these protections

The Polish developer act gives buyers structural protections that matter more than any score. Check them for the specific project.

Escrow type

Every developer must offer one of two protection measures: an open or a closed housing escrow account (mieszkaniowy rachunek powierniczy).

	Open escrow	Closed escrow
When the developer gets your money	In stages, after the bank confirms each construction stage	In one go, only after ownership is transferred to you
Developer's contribution to the guarantee fund (DFG)	0.45% of each payment	0.1% of each payment
What protects you if the developer fails	Mainly the Developer Guarantee Fund (DFG)	Mainly the fact that the money is still at the bank

A score cannot change these mechanics. Our guide to open and closed escrow explains them in detail.

The Developer Guarantee Fund in practice

The DFG, run by the Insurance Guarantee Fund (UFG), refunds buyers' payments in defined situations, such as when a buyer lawfully withdraws and the developer does not repay within 30 days, or in insolvency scenarios for open escrow. Trade press reporting UFG data in October 2026 put total payouts since 2024 at about 28.2 million zł from 70 applications, with most cases involving a missed transfer date rather than bankruptcy. At the end of September 2026 almost 219,000 contracts were reported as protected. Check current figures with UFG.

Watch out: protection applies to contracts under the developer act. Structures where buyers purchase shares in a company, lend money to a developer or sign unusual agreements instead of a developer agreement can fall outside it. If the offer is not a standard reservation and developer agreement, get legal advice before paying.

Documents for the project

The developer must give you the information prospectus (prospekt informacyjny) free of charge before you sign a reservation or developer agreement, and on request let you inspect at its office:

• the current land and mortgage register (księga wieczysta) for the plot;
• a current KRS extract;
• the building permit and whether it is final;
• financial statements for the last two years;
• the building design;
• the mortgage lender's consent to release your flat from the developer's mortgage.

The last point is mandatory: the lender's consent, or a promise of it, must be attached to the developer agreement. Without it you may withdraw within 60 days.

A practical way to use the score

1. Screen. Use the score to decide where to dig deeper, not whether to buy.
2. Look at the project, not only the brand. Find out which company you will actually sign with and check its KRS entry and filings at ekrs.ms.gov.pl.
3. Check the escrow type in the prospectus and in the draft developer agreement.
4. Read the land register: who owns the plot, and what mortgages are registered in section IV.
5. Compare prices. Since July 2025 developers must publish prices and keep a dated price history on their websites. Unexplained jumps or vanishing offers are worth asking about.
6. Search insolvency notices for the developer and its parent company in the national debtor register (KRZ) and court notices.

Our guide to checking a developer sets this out as a step-by-step procedure, and the reservation and developer agreements explains what to look for in the contracts themselves.

Check before you sign

• Which company is the seller, and how does its score compare with the group's?
• Is the escrow open or closed, and at which bank?
• Is the building permit final?
• Is there a lender's consent to release your flat from the developer's mortgage?
• Does the contract match the prospectus, and are differences marked?