How to rent a flat in Poland as a foreigner

Where and how to search

Start with the listing search: you can filter by city, district, price, number of rooms and availability date. If you already know where you want to live, go straight to the city pages, for example flats for rent in Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław or Gdańsk.

Good flats in the big cities often go within days, especially in September and October when students arrive. Create a tenant profile and set up saved searches: you will get an alert as soon as a new listing matches your criteria, which often makes the difference between viewing a flat and reading "already rented".

• Send a short, specific message: who you are, where you work or study, your move-in date, how long you plan to stay and how many people will live in the flat. Landlords reply far more often to concrete enquiries than to "is it available?".
• If you don't speak Polish, write in English – many landlords in the larger cities use it. One opening sentence in Polish ("Dzień dobry, jestem zainteresowany/zainteresowana mieszkaniem") still goes a long way.
• Arrange a viewing (oglądanie, oględziny) in person. If you are still abroad, ask for a live video call walking through the flat, not just pre-recorded clips – or ask a friend in the city to go for you.
• Expect questions about your income or job. In practice landlords often ask for an employment contract, a university certificate or a bank statement. Having a PDF ready speeds things up.
• Check what is included in the price before the viewing: admin fee, utilities, parking space, cellar (piwnica, komórka lokatorska).

For more practical advice on the search itself, see the page for tenants. If you are weighing up a room against a whole flat, read our guide room or flat.

Documents: what you need and what you don't

Signing a lease does not require a PESEL number (the Polish national identification number). An identity document is enough – a passport, or an ID card for EU citizens – from which the landlord copies your details into the lease agreement (umowa najmu). A landlord may ask for more (a residence card, a visa, an employment contract), but that is their choice, not a legal requirement.

A separate matter is address registration (zameldowanie, colloquially meldunek) – reporting where you live to the local authority. Foreigners staying in Poland longer term usually have to register a temporary stay (pobyt czasowy) at the town or municipal office (urząd gminy / urząd miasta), usually within 30 days of arriving or moving in at the address. To register, you need a document proving your legal title to the flat – in practice, your lease.

Registration gives you no rights to the flat and is no threat to the landlord, although some landlords still believe it is. If you intend to register, say so before you sign. In some matters – for example certain residence procedures, getting a PESEL number or opening an account at some banks – a confirmed address or registration may be needed.

The rules for Ukrainian citizens (the special act, UKR status, the CUKR card) changed in 2025-2026. Don't rely on old forum posts – check the current rules on the website of the Office for Foreigners (UdSC).

• Passport or ID card – for the lease.
• Residence document (visa, residence card) – if the landlord asks.
• Proof of income or studies – often, though not always.
• The signed lease – for address registration and many other official matters. Keep your original copy safe and a scan on your phone.

Costs: how much to have ready

In Poland the price in a listing is often not your full monthly cost. It is usually made up of several parts, and the listing does not always make clear which are included:

• Rent (czynsz najmu) – what the landlord gets for the flat itself.
• Admin fee / service charge (czynsz administracyjny) – payments to the homeowners' association (wspólnota) or housing cooperative (spółdzielnia): building management, cleaning, the repair fund, often water and rubbish collection. Sometimes it is included in the price, sometimes added on top – always ask.
• Utilities (media) – electricity, gas, internet, sometimes heating and water, billed by meter or as advance payments settled later.
• Deposit (kaucja) – security for the landlord, returned at the end of the lease.
• Agency commission (prowizja) – if an agent rents out the flat; often 50-100% of one month's rent, but that is not a fixed rule. Renting directly from the owner costs nothing extra.

The figures are indicative (2026) and depend heavily on the city, district and standard of the flat. As a rule of thumb, have the equivalent of 2-4 months' rent ready for the move. Work out your own numbers with our rent and deposit calculators.

Ask the landlord how utilities are settled. With advance payments (zaliczki) you may get a top-up bill – or a refund – once a year, especially for heating. Write down the meter readings on the day you move in.

Lease types: standard or occasional

You will usually come across two types of lease. A standard lease (umowa najmu, fixed-term or open-ended) needs no formalities beyond signing. An occasional lease (najem okazjonalny) is a special type that a private landlord who does not run a rental business can use. It is always fixed-term (maximum 10 years), must be in writing, and the deposit can be at most 6 times the monthly rent.

An occasional lease comes with three annexes:

1. Your statement made before a notary (notariusz), in which you submit to enforcement and undertake to vacate the flat when the lease ends.
2. The address of another place (a substitute address, adres zastępczy) where you could live if you had to leave.
3. The consent of that place's owner for you to live there, with their signature certified by a notary.

The landlord then notifies the tax office within 14 days. For foreigners the hardest part is often the substitute address. The act does not say explicitly that it must be in Poland. In practice many notaries and landlords expect a Polish address, while some accept one abroad – practice varies, so agree on it with the notary and the landlord before the appointment.

If your Polish is limited, the notary has to make sure you understand the deed. This usually means a sworn translator (tłumacz przysięgły) attends, at extra cost – often a few hundred złoty. Notary fees themselves are capped by regulation; for the statement expect roughly 200-500 zł including VAT and copies, and tens of złoty per certified signature for the owner's consent. These are indicative amounts – ask the notary's office for a quote.

We cover this in detail in occasional lease for foreigners and occasional lease explained. What every lease should contain is in the flat lease agreement guide, and you can prepare a ready draft in the lease agreement generator.

Scams: red flags

Scammers deliberately target people who are just arriving in Poland and can't view a flat in person. The most common warning signs:

• A request for an advance payment, a "booking fee" or the deposit before you have seen the flat and signed the lease.
• "The owner lives abroad" and offers to send the keys by courier or to take payment through a supposed booking or escrow service.
• A price clearly below similar flats in the same area.
• Pressure and urgency: "five other people want it, pay today".
• No live video call, refusal to show an ID or to give the land register number.
• A lease that names someone other than the person you are dealing with, with no power of attorney.

Ask for the flat's land and mortgage register number (numer księgi wieczystej, KW) and check it free of charge in the electronic land registers. Section II shows the owner – their name should match the person signing the lease (or that person should hold a power of attorney).

Pay only after you have viewed the flat (in person, or on a live video call with someone on site) and signed the lease – ideally by bank transfer with a clear payment description. If you have been defrauded, report it to the police on the emergency number 112.

Language tips and a mini glossary

Leases are usually in Polish. You can ask for a bilingual version or a translation – never sign a document you don't understand. Translation apps are fine for a first read, but for anything unclear ask the landlord to explain it in writing. These are the words you will see most often:

Your rights as a tenant

Tenant protection in Poland does not depend on citizenship – a foreigner has the same rights as a Polish tenant. The key ones, simplified:

• Deposit return: the deposit cannot exceed 12 times the monthly rent and must be returned within one month of vacating the flat, minus what you owe under the lease (e.g. unpaid rent, damage beyond normal wear and tear).
• Termination by the landlord: under an open-ended lease the landlord can terminate only for reasons listed in the act, in writing and stating the reason – for example arrears of at least 3 full payment periods, after a written warning and an extra one-month deadline to pay.
• Fixed-term lease: it can be terminated early only in the cases set out in the lease itself – read that clause carefully, because it binds you too.
• Open-ended lease: if rent is paid monthly, the tenant can usually give notice at least 3 months ahead to the end of a calendar month, unless the lease says otherwise.
• Rent increases generally require written notice of the new amount at least 3 months in advance; you can challenge an increase in court within 2 months. Whether an indexation clause (e.g. by inflation) counts as an "increase" in this sense is debated.

When you move in and out, fill in a handover protocol with photos and meter readings – it is your best evidence when the deposit is settled. Our guide on the handover protocol shows how to do it. A fuller overview is in tenant rights in Poland, and if you are moving with a pet, see renting with pets.

Where to get help

• Free legal aid (nieodpłatna pomoc prawna) – a state network of advice points where you can talk to a lawyer by appointment; a simple statement that you cannot afford a paid lawyer is enough.
• Office for Foreigners (UdSC) – current residence rules, including those for Ukrainian citizens.
• Police – emergency number 112 if you have been defrauded.
• City foreigner support centres and NGOs – many large cities have them, often with help in Ukrainian, Russian or English. Check your city hall's website.

Sources and caveats

• Act of 21 June 2001 on the protection of tenants' rights (ISAP, in Polish) – deposit (art. 6), rent increases (art. 8a), termination (art. 11), occasional lease (art. 19a-19e).
• Civil Code (ISAP, in Polish) – termination of leases (art. 673, 688).

This guide is for information only and is not legal advice. Laws and office practice change – for your specific case, check the current rules or ask a lawyer. Amounts are indicative (October 2026).