How to check a developer in Poland before you sign

To check a Polish developer, read its prospekt informacyjny (information prospectus), inspect the documents it must show you on request, look at the land register for the plot, review the company register and financial statements, search for insolvency notices, and confirm the escrow type and the bank. No single source proves a developer is safe, but together they show whether your money and your flat are legally protected. A risk score, such as the one on our developer pages, helps you prioritise; it does not replace these checks.

This guide is information, not legal advice. Allow about a week to go through it properly.

What you are protecting against

When you buy off-plan you pay for a flat that does not exist yet. The Developer Act protects you mainly through the escrow account and the Developer Guarantee Fund (Deweloperski Fundusz Gwarancyjny, DFG). The checks below answer three questions:

1. Is the money I pay protected, and how?
2. Is the land owned by the developer and free of claims that could block my ownership?
3. Is this company likely to finish on time, and what happens if it does not?

1. Read the prospectus with a purpose

The developer must give you the prospectus free of charge, on a durable medium, before you sign a reservation or a developer agreement. Focus on these parts:

Prospectus section	What to look for
Developer and experience	Up to three completed projects; visit one or read reviews of it
Land	Land register (księga wieczysta) number, owner, mortgages
Planning	Local zoning plan or planning conditions for the site and plots within 100 m; planned investments within 1 km
Permit	Building permit, whether it is final, any appeal
Financing	Own funds, bank loan, buyers' money
Protection	Open or closed escrow, the bank
Schedule	Start and end of works, stages

If the developer will not give you the prospectus before asking for a reservation fee, stop there.

2. Ask to see the documents at the office

The act gives you the right to inspect, at the developer's office:

• the current land register;
• the company register (KRS) extract;
• the building permit, or the construction notification with no objection;
• the last two years of financial statements;
• the building design;
• the occupancy permit, if the building is finished;
• the certificate that your flat is a separate unit, if already issued;
• the mortgage creditor's consent to release the flat from the mortgage.

Ask by email so you have a record. A developer who makes this difficult is giving you useful information.

3. Check the land register

Use the land-register number from the prospectus to read the online register. The four sections tell you different things:

Section	Contents	What you want to see
I-O	Location and area of the plot	Matches the project address and plot numbers
II	Owner or perpetual usufructuary	The developer (or project company) named in your contract
III	Easements, claims, restrictions	No claims that could block the project; later, buyers' claims
IV	Mortgages	Any bank mortgage must come with a release consent for your flat

If the plot is mortgaged to the developer's bank, the developer must attach to your contract that bank's consent (or promise) to release your flat free of the mortgage. If it is missing, you can withdraw within 60 days.

4. Look at the company

The company register (KRS) and filed annual accounts are available free online at ekrs.ms.gov.pl. Check:

• who the shareholders and board members are, and how long the company has existed;
• whether the seller is a special-purpose company created only for this project (common; then look at the group behind it too);
• whether the latest financial statements were filed on time;
• revenue, profit, debt and equity trends over two or three years.

A young project company with little equity is normal in this market. What matters is whether the escrow and DFG protect you, and whether the group has finished projects before.

5. Search for insolvency and restructuring notices

Restructuring and bankruptcy announcements can be searched in the National Debtor Register (KRZ) and the court and business gazette (Monitor Sądowy i Gospodarczy). Search for the project company and its parent. Private debtor databases also exist; they are paid and give only a signal, not proof.

6. Confirm the escrow type and the DFG

Every developer agreement must come with a mieszkaniowy rachunek powierniczy (housing escrow account). There are only two types:

• Open (otwarty): the bank releases money to the developer stage by stage after checking progress.
• Closed (zamknięty): the bank releases money only after ownership is transferred to you.

The developer pays a DFG contribution on your payments: 0.45% for open escrow and 0.1% for closed escrow. With an open escrow, the DFG can refund your payments if the developer becomes insolvent or does not repay you within 30 days of a valid withdrawal. Press reports in October 2026 citing UFG data said most payouts so far concerned missed transfer dates rather than bankruptcy. Our guide to open vs closed escrow explains the difference in detail.

7. Check the prices are transparent

Since July 2025 every developer must publish on its own website the price per m², the total price, the prices of parking and storage if extra, and other payments, all with VAT, together with the price history. The same data is sent daily to the state and published as open data on dane.gov.pl. If the price at signing is higher than on the website, the act lets you demand the contract at the price more favourable to you. A developer with no compliant website is breaking the rules.

8. Use the risk score, and know its limits

Each developer page on /en/developers shows our developer risk score, built from public data. The method is explained on /en/methodology. Use it to decide where to dig deeper and to compare developers on the same basis.

A score cannot see the real costs of a project, whether a specific bank loan is in trouble, or private agreements inside a group. It also lags behind, because annual accounts are published months after the year ends. Read what a developer risk score can and cannot tell you before relying on it.

Red flags

• No prospectus before the reservation fee.
• A request for a deposit on top of the capped reservation fee (at most 1% of the prospectus price), or, once you have a developer agreement, any payment outside the escrow account. If this happens, talk to a lawyer before paying.
• Refusal to show the documents listed in section 2.
• No release consent from the bank that holds a mortgage on the land.
• A building permit under appeal, with the contract silent about it.
• Pressure to sign today, or a contract draft you cannot take away to read.
• Prices that do not match the developer's website.

The rules on reservation fees and withdrawal are in reservation and developer agreements, and the whole purchase is mapped in buying from a developer step by step.

Check before you sign

1. Prospectus received before any payment, and read.
2. Land register sections II and IV checked, release consent attached.
3. KRS and latest accounts reviewed, insolvency registers searched.
4. Escrow type, bank and account number confirmed in the contract.
5. Building permit final, or the appeal status explained.
6. Website price saved with the date.