Trade in land and mortgage register data under the microscope. The resort is preparing new regulations

Anyone can view land and mortgage registers using a web browser. However, this is about to change – browsing will only be possible after logging in. This is what the Ministry of Justice is striving for in its draft amendment to the Land and Mortgage Registers and Mortgage Act.

Land and mortgage registers as a “source of extensive knowledge about citizens”

According to experts, the solutions proposed by the ministry may significantly impact the lives of Poles. Three ways of logging in will be available – using the Court Registers Portal, on your own behalf or through the national node.

According to the project, if you log in with your own data, the Ministry of Justice will store, among others: account identifier in the system, identity, name and surname, PESEL and the number of the viewed land and mortgage register. If the user uses an entity’s data to log in, the data of that entity will be saved. By using the national node, the following information will be saved: the user’s ID, name and surname and the number of the viewed land and mortgage register. This is to solve the problem of mass viewing of land and mortgage registers, often by bots that obtain data.

– The bill generally talks about data processing “for security purposes”, although the actual reason – the fight against illegal data trade – appears only in the justification. “Security” is a concept that can be used to justify almost everything, he said in an interview with “Gazeta Prawna” Dr. Mirosław Gumularz, legal advisor, chairman of the Social Team of Experts at the President of the Personal Data Protection Office.

The lawyer also pointed out that the ministry considers data collection to be its legitimate interest, but the GDPR prohibits public authorities from doing so.

– It is reserved for business, not the state. In this case, it will involve data processing in order to fulfill the obligations of public entities. Therefore, data processing and its description must meet the conditions of Art. 6 section 3 GDPR, which requires precision, among others: in terms of determining the purpose of processing at the level of national law – added attorney Gumularz.

Importantly, according to the bill, the Minister of Justice will be able, among others, to: at the court’s request, provide information about persons who review land and mortgage registers.

– Therefore, the question arises whether land and mortgage registers are treated only as a register of information about real estate, or as a source of broad knowledge about citizens used by public institutions – said Dr. Piotr Marquardt, notary, member of the National Notarial Council, quoted by “Gazeta Prawna”.

Changes regarding land and mortgage registers. Who stands to gain?

Experts also pointed out that people who use land and mortgage registers professionally may be treated by the system as bots. In this case, access to the browser may be blocked, and the project does not provide a procedure for unblocking the account. It was also emphasized that a positive aspect is that notaries will be able to use certificates to authenticate themselves in the system.