This document is lying in many a drawer. You can get up to 10 thousand zlotys for it

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Just four decades ago, the housing book was a ticket to living “in blocks of flats”. The systemic transformation completely changed the rules of the game, and inflation ate up the money accumulated in the book. Few people know that you can still take money out of the book.

During the PRL period, and specifically in its second half, the housing booklet allowed one to accumulate funds for one’s own apartment – it was somewhat similar to today’s savings accounts. It was often set up for a child right after birth, so that at the age of twenty-something, with a bit of luck, they could buy a flat.

Housing book. You can still take money out of it

During the political transformation in 1989-1990, there was so-called hyperinflation. Because of it, the value of savings accumulated in housing books dropped significantly. Further devaluation occurred in 1995, when the złoty was redenominated. Earlier, in 1993, the Supreme Court ruled that funds accumulated in the book would not be subject to indexation.

It is estimated that about a million Poles still have their old savings books. They lie in drawers, in attics. Although they no longer function on the market as a financial product, the funds accumulated in them can still be used.

In the meantime, the housing booklet can still be useful! Although the value of the savings collected will be rather low – it can be only a few hundred zlotys – its owner can count on a guarantee premium from the state budget. To receive the premium, the booklet must meet one condition: it must be created before 24 October 1990.

Housing booklet – guarantee premium

The premium is a special financial supplement introduced by the Act of 30 November 1995 on state aid in the repayment of certain housing loans, granting guarantee premiums and refunding guarantee premiums paid to banks.

The guarantee premium is calculated based on the price index per square meter in residential construction. The data is published quarterly by the Central Statistical Office. The average amount of the guarantee premium is approximately PLN 9-10 thousand.

The funds from the liquidated booklet together with the guarantee premium must be allocated to one of the specific housing purposes. The money can be used for, among others:

  • buying or building a house,

  • buying a flat,

  • own contribution or mortgage repayment,

  • participation in TBS,

  • renovation of real estate, e.g. related to replacing windows.

  • fees for transforming perpetual usufruct into ownership rights,

  • thermal modernization renovations, e.g. house insulation,

  • replacing heat sources with ecological ones, including replacing old boilers with new devices, as well as installing or modernizing gas, electrical or water and sewage installations,

  • expenses related to concluding an institutional apartment lease agreement with the acquisition of ownership (this applies, among others, to the “Mieszkanie na start” programme and TBSs; in this case, the funds from the guarantee premium will be due after paying part of the apartment price, in an amount not lower than 3% of the replacement value of the premises).

The housing book can be transferred to another person

The housing booklet cannot be sold or bought. However, it can be transferred to a family member. The booklet can also go to an unrelated person. However, this will require more formalities and assignments.

To receive the money, you need to register the booklet. What next? “If the booklet is registered by December 31, 2022 – the rules for its liquidation and payment of the guarantee premium have not changed. If the booklet is registered after this date, its owner is entitled to submit an application for its liquidation and payment of the guarantee premium only on January 1 of the year following the year of registration,” we read on the government website.

The deadline for submitting an application for liquidation of the booklet is 90 days from 1 January of the year following registration, i.e. the date of acquiring the right to submit an application for liquidation of the housing booklet and payment of the guarantee premium.

Although the amount that can be obtained from the booklet is not high, according to the “grain for grain” principle, it can help with renovation or increasing the down payment. And if so, why not use it?

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