Is a three-month deposit legal?

Yes, for an ordinary lease. The cap is 12 times the monthly rent (art. 6 sec. 1 of the Tenant Protection Act, ustawa o ochronie praw lokatorów), so three months fits. For najem okazjonalny the cap is lower, 6 times the rent (art. 19a sec. 4). The law sets a ceiling, not a norm, and it is the same for every tenant: nationality is not mentioned. The amount is agreed before signing. Position as of 7 October 2026.

Do I pay an agent before the lease is signed?

That is set by the brokerage contract, so before signing ask how much, when and on what amount. With us the fee is paid once, after the rental agreement (umowa najmu) is signed, and nothing is due in advance for the search, the viewings or the negotiations. A brokerage contract has to be in writing or in electronic form (art. 180 sec. 3 of the Real Estate Management Act).

Is the service charge (czynsz administracyjny) included in the advertised price?

It varies, so ask the landlord for the total monthly amount. Otodom lets a landlord enter the price, an additional rent and the deposit as separate fields, but not everyone fills them in, and some amounts appear only in the description (checked on one listing on 7 October 2026). The Otodom Analytics averages do not say whether service charges and utilities are included.

When is the deposit returned?

Within one month of you vacating the flat, after the landlord deducts what you owe under the lease (art. 6 sec. 4 of the Tenant Protection Act). Under art. 6 sec. 3 an ordinary-lease deposit comes back indexed to the rent in force on the day of return, but never below the amount you paid; details are in our article on the deposit. The same one-month period applies to najem okazjonalny (art. 19a sec. 5). The month runs from the day you vacate, not from the end date of the contract. Position as of 7 October 2026.

Is tenant liability insurance (OC najemcy) compulsory?

The law does not require it from a tenant: the Tenant Protection Act contains no such obligation (checked on 7 October 2026). A landlord can write it into the lease as a condition, and then it is worth finding out what the policy costs before you sign.

What does the up-front budget look like for a flat at 4,000 zł?

First month 4,000 zł, deposit 4,000 to 8,000 zł (one to two months, an estimate) and the allproperty fee of 2,800 zł (70% of the 4,000 zł rent; service charge and utilities are not counted): 10,800 to 14,800 zł in total. Add the first month of utilities and service charge if they are paid separately. For najem okazjonalny add the notary: up to 480.60 zł plus VAT and the cost of copies (wypisy).

How much money you need up front to rent a flat in Warsaw

Q: Do I need a second address for najem okazjonalny if I have UKR status?

No. For a beneficiary of temporary protection the rules on naming another address and on the consent of its owner do not apply (art. 112e of the Act on granting protection to foreigners, Dz.U. 2026 item 203, in force since 5 March 2026). The tenant's notarial declaration and the cap of 6 months' rent on the deposit still apply. More in our article on najem okazjonalny with UKR status.

Before you get the keys you need the first month of rent, a deposit (kaucja), an advance for utilities and the building service charge if they are paid on top of the rent, and an agent fee if an agency finds the flat for you. For a flat with a rent (czynsz najmu) of 4,000 zł that comes to about 10,800 zł with a one-month deposit and about 14,800 zł with a two-month deposit, before utilities and the service charge. A fixed-term lease of the najem okazjonalny type adds a notary: by law no more than one tenth of the minimum monthly wage, which is 480.60 zł in 2026, plus VAT and the cost of copies.

This article is written by allproperty, an agency that searches for rental flats for tenants, so our own terms sit in a separate section. The legal provisions were checked against the published texts on eli.gov.pl on 7 October 2026. “Estimate” means market practice, not a rule of law.

How much money do you need up front?

The formula is: first month of rent + deposit + utilities and service charge for the first month (if they are not part of the rent) + agent fee (if you use an agent) + notary (only for najem okazjonalny).

To get a sense of scale, take one source. According to Otodom Analytics, as published by Bankier.pl on 15 July 2026, the average asking rent for a 40–59 m² flat in Warsaw was 3,888 zł a month in June 2026 (3,897 zł in May). Those are landlords’ asking prices in listings, not the rents of signed leases, and the report does not say whether service charges and utilities are counted. In the example below we rounded the figure to 4,000 zł: it is a round number for the arithmetic, not a market price.

A newer Otodom report, published on 24 September 2026, puts the average asking rent in Warsaw in August 2026 at 4,900 zł. It is measured on a different basis (no breakdown by flat size), so do not compare it with the figures above. If your flat costs 4,900 zł, apply the same arithmetic to that amount. We did not find a later Bankier report for the 40–59 m² group, so those figures are three months old.

What makes up the first payment?

An example for a flat with a rent of 4,000 zł:

Item	Amount	Notes
First month’s rent (czynsz najmu)	4,000 zł	Usually due at signing or before the keys are handed over, as the lease says (estimate)
Deposit (kaucja)	4,000–8,000 zł	One to two months (estimate); the legal cap is 12× and 6× for najem okazjonalny
Utilities (media) and service charge (czynsz administracyjny)	see the listing	If paid on top of the rent, add the first month; not in the totals below
allproperty fee	2,800 zł	70% of 4,000 zł (rent only), once, after the lease is signed
Notary (najem okazjonalny only)	up to 480.60 zł + VAT	About 591 zł with 23% VAT (calculation, estimate), plus copies (wypisy)

Totals without utilities and the service charge:

ordinary lease, one-month deposit: 4,000 + 4,000 + 2,800 = 10,800 zł;
ordinary lease, two-month deposit: 4,000 + 8,000 + 2,800 = 14,800 zł;
najem okazjonalny, two-month deposit: about 15,400 zł (14,800 zł plus the notary).

Anything you pay monthly on top of the rent also goes into the first payment: count the first month of it.

How much deposit do landlords take, and what is the legal cap?

The deposit may not exceed 12 times the monthly rent, calculated at the rate on the day the lease is signed (art. 6 sec. 1 of the Tenant Protection Act). For najem okazjonalny the cap is 6 times the rent (art. 19a sec. 4). The cap is the same for every tenant: nationality is not mentioned in the provision. The landlord has to return the deposit within a month of you vacating the flat, after deducting what you owe under the lease (art. 6 sec. 4; for najem okazjonalny art. 19a sec. 5). For an ordinary lease the deposit comes back indexed to the rent in force on the day of return, but not below the amount you paid (art. 6 sec. 3).

We found no official statistics on deposit sizes. A rule of thumb (estimate): one to two months of rent is more common, so 4,000 to 8,000 zł for a 4,000 zł flat. A Rankomat guide for landlords dated 14 May 2026 mentions two to three months, but that is advice to owners, not a rule and not an average. More on returns, indexation and deductions in our article on the rental deposit.

What are czynsz administracyjny and media?

Czynsz administracyjny is the monthly charge for running the building. The landlord pays it to the manager, the owners’ association (wspólnota) or the housing cooperative (spółdzielnia) and usually passes it on to the tenant. What it covers depends on the building, so ask the landlord for a breakdown. The Act calls the payments for supplies “charges independent of the owner” (opłaty niezależne od właściciela): the supply of energy, gas and water to the flat, and the removal of sewage and waste (art. 2 sec. 1 point 8 of the Tenant Protection Act). Internet is not one of these charges: it is either included by the landlord or arranged under a separate contract.

The Act has no separate term “czynsz administracyjny”. In a lease it is usually shown either as part of the rent or as a separate payment, so the lease should state which it is and how much. For najem okazjonalny the lease may also provide for payments other than rent and these charges (art. 19c sec. 1). If you have a direct contract with a supplier, the landlord may not charge you for that supply (art. 9 sec. 6). If the utility charges go up, the landlord has to show the calculation in writing, and you pay only what covers their costs (art. 9 sec. 2).

In practice utilities are settled in one of three ways: a flat monthly sum (ryczałt), advance payments (zaliczki) with a final settlement by meter reading, or paying the suppliers directly under contracts in your name. Before you sign, ask what the monthly total comes to and how it is calculated.

How much does the notary cost for najem okazjonalny?

An ordinary lease needs no notary. For najem okazjonalny the lease comes with the tenant’s declaration in the form of a notarial deed (akt notarialny), in which you agree to enforced eviction if you do not leave voluntarily (art. 19a sec. 2 point 1). The notary’s fee for that deed may not exceed one tenth of the minimum monthly wage (art. 19a sec. 7).

The minimum monthly wage in 2026 is 4,806 zł (Council of Ministers regulation of 11 September 2025, Dz.U. 2025 item 1242), so the ceiling is 480.60 zł. That is a figure before tax. Notaries usually add 23% VAT, which gives about 591 zł (calculation, estimate). Copies of the deed (wypisy) are charged separately: up to 6 zł per page begun (§ 12 sec. 1 of the Minister of Justice regulation on maximum notarial rates, consolidated text Dz.U. 2024 item 1566). A ceiling does not have to equal the real price, so ask the notary.

If the landlord asks for it, the signature of the owner of the other address you name for najem okazjonalny is notarised too (art. 19a sec. 2 point 3). That is a separate cost, and the notary quotes it. If you hold Ukrainian temporary protection (UKR), you do not need another address or its owner’s consent (art. 112e of the Act on granting protection to foreigners, Dz.U. 2026 item 203, in force since 5 March 2026), so this cost does not arise; see najem okazjonalny with UKR status. How this kind of lease works is covered in our guide to najem okazjonalny.

Do tenants pay an agent’s fee, and how much is it with us?

That depends on the brokerage contract. The articles of the Real Estate Management Act on brokerage (art. 179a–181a, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 399) set no rate and no cap for the commission. The law requires the contract to be in writing or in electronic form and to define what the agent will do (art. 180 sec. 3). The price and how it is paid are information a business has to disclose in advance (art. 6 sec. 4 points 3–4 of the Unfair Market Practices Act). So before signing, ask how much, when, and on what amount.

Our terms are as follows. If you commission us to find a flat, the fee is 70% of the monthly rent (czynsz najmu), paid once, after the rental agreement (umowa najmu) is signed, invoiced as a faktura bez VAT. For a rent of 4,000 zł that is 2,800 zł (at 3,500 zł it is 2,450 zł). The 70% is calculated on the rent itself (czynsz najmu) only, not on czynsz administracyjny or utilities (media). Help with PESEL and with the registration office (urząd) is included in the 70%. We take nothing in advance for the search, the viewings or the negotiations. The amount and how it is paid are written into the brokerage contract before you sign it. We sign that contract on paper or with a qualified electronic signature, and as a consumer you can withdraw from it within 14 days (the conditions are on the tenant page). A copy of the agent’s liability insurance policy (OC) is attached to the contract (art. 181 sec. 3a of the Real Estate Management Act).

What do you pay, and when?

The usual order is this (an estimate, so read the dates in your own lease):

At signing or just after. The notary, if it is najem okazjonalny: the deed is attached to the lease.
At signing or before the keys. First month’s rent and the deposit, to the account named in the lease. Do not send a “reservation” or advance before there is a lease; the order of payments is covered in our article on paying before you arrive.
After the lease is signed. The allproperty fee, once.
Every month. Rent, service charge and utilities as the lease sets them out: as one sum, as advances, or directly to the suppliers.

If you come for a viewing tour, our nightly apartment for those days is paid separately, on the terms of nightly rental; it is not part of the 70% fee.

To start, fill in the tenant brief: budget, move-in date and number of rooms. The fee is 70% of the monthly rent (czynsz najmu, not of the service charge or utilities), paid after the rental agreement is signed. Our agents speak Ukrainian, Russian, English, Polish, German, Italian, Turkish and Spanish. Phone: +48 666 866 468.

Sources (checked 7 October 2026)

Otodom Analytics as published by Bankier.pl: published 15 July 2026, June data; published 22 June 2026, May data. Type of figure: asking rent (stawka ofertowa).
Otodom, report for August 2026, published 24 September 2026: Warsaw average 4,900 zł, no breakdown by flat size.
Act of 21 June 2001 on the protection of tenants’ rights, the municipal housing stock and amending the Civil Code (ustawa o ochronie praw lokatorów), consolidated text Dz.U. 2023 item 725: art. 2 sec. 1 point 8, art. 6, art. 9 sec. 2 and 6, art. 19a sec. 2, 4–5 and 7, art. 19c sec. 1.
Act of 23 January 2026 on phasing out the solutions resulting from the Act on assistance to Ukrainian citizens and amending certain other acts, Dz.U. 2026 item 203: art. 112e inserted into the Act on granting protection to foreigners on the territory of the Republic of Poland.
Council of Ministers regulation of 11 September 2025 on the minimum wage in 2026, Dz.U. 2025 item 1242: 4,806 zł from 1 January 2026.
Minister of Justice regulation of 28 June 2004 on maximum notarial rates, consolidated text Dz.U. 2024 item 1566, § 12 sec. 1. The 23% VAT on top of the rate is notaries’ practice, not a rule of this regulation.
Real Estate Management Act (ustawa o gospodarce nieruchomościami), consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 399: art. 179a–181a, in particular art. 180 sec. 3 and art. 181 sec. 3a.
Act of 23 August 2007 on counteracting unfair market practices, consolidated text Dz.U. 2023 item 845: art. 6 sec. 4 points 3–5.
Rankomat, guide for landlords renting to foreigners, 14 May 2026.

Cover image: AI-generated illustration.