Due to ongoing work on the draft amendments announced by the Minister of Development and Technology, including the Act of 20 May 2021 on the protection of the rights of purchasers of residential premises or single-family houses and on the developer guarantee fund (hereinafter referred to as the "Development Act"), in today's article from the series entitled "Tuesday Mornings for the Construction Industry" we will discuss individual proposals for changes that have currently been submitted for public consultation.

Pursuant to Article 56a of the draft act amending the Developer Act ("Draft Amendment"), the DOM Portal (Housing Trade Data Portal) is to be operated by the Insurance Guarantee Fund. It will collect and process data and information regarding the trade in residential premises and single-family homes in the territory of the Republic of Poland, as well as:

a) creating, maintaining and developing, on their basis, an access point to information on transaction prices of residential premises and single-family houses;
b) generating or developing, on their basis, statistical information serving the implementation of a policy conducive to meeting the housing needs of citizens, including statistical information on participants in this trade.

The above data will be obtained from all transactions involving the transfer of legal title to real estate in the territory of the Republic of Poland, i.e.:

a) real estate constituting residential premises and single-family houses from the primary market, which are subject to the obligation to maintain a housing escrow account in accordance with the provisions of the Developer Act;
b) real estate constituting residential premises from the primary market, not subject to the obligation to maintain an escrow account;
c) and real estate from the primary and secondary markets transferred by the Head of the National Tax Administration based on information resulting from notarial deeds reported by notaries.

According to the justification for the Draft Amendment, the proposed changes are driven by the need to increase the transparency of the real estate market, thereby strengthening the protection of potential buyers and facilitating housing investment planning for professionals. The potential buyer protection mentioned above is intended to prevent buyers from making rash decisions regarding property selection, relying solely on bidder prices, excluding the possibility of a true price comparison of similar properties in a given area. At the same time, the drafter, justifying the introduction of the Draft Amendment, points out that collecting such data will enable public authorities to analyze the housing market in order to properly implement housing policy.

Pursuant to Article 56e of the Draft Amendment, the DOM Portal will publish data on the number of transactions and average transaction prices for residential premises and single-family homes, or their medians, in the location, period, and generic categories selected by the DOM Portal user. The above data will be published only if, in total, for the location, period, and generic category selected by the interested DOM Portal user:

a) the number of residential premises or single-family houses is not less than six;
b) the number of purchasers is not less than six.

According to the Draft Proponent's argument, limiting data searches when the number of transactions does not exceed six in a selected time-type breakdown, or when the same entity acquires, for example, six residential units, raises the question: what criterion was the basis for limiting data searches to the number indicated in the Draft Amendment? Consequently, whether the personal data protection requirement, which forms the basis for the argument in this regard for introducing such a limitation, is actually met in such a case.

At the same time, it should not be overlooked that the project initiator, together with the planned DOM Portal, proposes to expand the data on transactions that may be obtained by the Head of the National Revenue Administration for the purposes of obligations arising from the Act of 1 March 2018 on counteracting money laundering and terrorism financing.

Additionally, as stated in Article 4 of the Draft Amendment, based on amendments to the Tax Ordinance, the Insurance Guarantee Fund, as the operator of the DOM Portal, although not a public administration body, would have unlimited access to information collected by public administration bodies, constituting fiscal secrecy, for the purposes of operating the Portal.

Therefore, when analyzing the proposed regulations, it is important to consider: first, whether the proposed tool will actually protect future buyers based on the collected information, including property prices, and second, whether such an instrument can provide a genuine basis for improving the housing situation on the Polish market, including the development of housing policy. Regardless of whether the planned changes actually contribute to improving the housing situation in Poland, they will undoubtedly introduce additional, broad powers for public administration bodies, as well as the Insurance Guarantee Fund, to obtain information on real estate transactions.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

Legal status as of September 23, 2024

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Dr. Joanna Barzykowska

Attorney, partner
+48 502 677 504 | j.barzykowska@kglegal.pl