Up to 98 percent discounts when purchasing an apartment. These rules may become history
Discounts up to 98%. the value of the apartment may be liquidated. However, there is an amendment in the Sejm that is important for long-term tenants.
Tenants of municipal apartments may lose the opportunity to buy the premises they occupy for a small part of its value. The Sejm is working on a project that will deprive municipal councils of the right to apply discounts when selling apartments belonging to the municipal resource. Today, such discounts can reach up to 80, 90 or 98 percent. real estate values.
Currently, the commune decides whether a municipal apartment is intended for sale. The tenant cannot demand the purchase of the premises. However, if the local government decides to sell it, the person renting the apartment for an indefinite period has priority in purchasing it.
Discounts for municipal apartments reach 98%.
Municipalities may reduce the price of the premises based on its value. Granting the relief is not obligatory – local governments decide themselves whether to apply it and in what amount.
The amount of the discount may be influenced by, among others: length of the lease, age and technical condition of the building, simultaneous sale of all premises and method of payment. According to the source, some municipalities apply discounts of 80, 90 and even 98 percent. apartment value.
The project is expected to complete the sale with high discounts
The bill submitted to the Sejm by a group of Left MPs assumes the abolition of the right of municipalities to grant such discounts. The provisions allowing local governments to reduce the price of municipal apartments sold would be removed from the Real Estate Management Act.
The authors of the project argue that the change is intended to stop the privatization of municipal resources and increase the availability of premises for low-income families. The justification indicated that the number of municipal apartments decreased from almost 2 million to less than 800,000.
Exception after 25 years of lease
However, during the second reading of the bill, an amendment important for long-term tenants was submitted. According to it, the elimination of the possibility of applying the discount would not apply to persons who have rented a given premises continuously for at least 25 years.
If the amendment was accepted and the act was adopted in this form, tenants who meet this condition could still count on purchasing the apartment with a discount. However, this is not binding law for now.
Protection for initiated redemptions
The project also includes a solution for persons who completed negotiations with the commune before the entry into force of the new regulations and signed a protocol of agreement specifying the terms of sale, including the relief they were entitled to.
The amendment adopted by the committees provides for maintaining the existing rules in such cases. This would mean that the discount previously agreed on in the protocol with the commune would not be covered by the new ban.
The changes would come into force in 2027
The project assumes that the new regulations will enter into force on January 1, 2027. This date, however, does not mean that the changes are already certain.
After the second reading, the project was referred to the Parliamentary Infrastructure Committee and the Local Government and Regional Policy Committee. If it is finally adopted by the Sejm, it will go through further stages of the legislative process.
