Księga wieczysta — how to read it before buying or renting

You can check a księga wieczysta (land and mortgage register) free of charge and without logging in at ekw.ms.gov.pl — all you need is the number in the format WA1M/00123456/7, which the seller or landlord should give you. The register consists of four sections: section I describes the property, section II identifies the owner, section III discloses the rights and claims of third parties (easements, life tenancy, enforcement), and section IV — mortgages. Reading it takes about twenty minutes and can save you from an apartment with a bailiff in the background, or with an occupant who legally cannot be moved out.

Viewing the register itself is free; an official ordinary extract has cost PLN 30 (e-document) or PLN 45 (paper version) since 31 March 2026. The most important red flags are a warning about enforcement, a hipoteka przymusowa (compulsory mortgage), dożywocie (life tenancy) in section III, and unexamined pending notes — each of them requires clarification before an agreement is signed. Below we go through the register section by section, exactly as we do at allproperty in every transaction.

What is a księga wieczysta and how do you check it online for free?

The księga wieczysta is a public register of the legal status of a property, maintained by the land register divisions of the district courts. The rules are set out in the Act of 6 July 1982 on land and mortgage registers and mortgages. Its art. 2 states plainly: the registers are public and no one may plead ignorance of the entries. In practice that means that if you buy an apartment with a life tenancy in section III, you will not defend yourself with the argument „I did not know”.

You view the content of the register free of charge at ekw.ms.gov.pl. All you need is the number in the format: division code / eight digits / check digit, e.g. WA1M/00123456/7 for registers kept by the court for Warszawa-Mokotów. Ask the seller or landlord for the number — a refusal to give it is in itself a red flag, because the owner has nothing to hide here. The system offers two views: „current content” (only the entries in force) and „full content” (together with deleted entries — useful when you want to trace the history of the property).

The second key principle is the rękojmia wiary publicznej ksiąg wieczystych, the public reliance warranty (art. 5 of the Act): if you buy from a person entered in the register as the owner, the law protects you even when the state of the register departs from reality. This protection does have exceptions — more on them in a moment.

What do sections I and II contain — what are you buying and from whom?

Section I-O (designation of the property) describes the object itself: location, cadastral plot number, area, manner of use (residential unit, building plot and so on). Compare the floor area with the listing and the agreement — discrepancies do happen and it is better to clear them up before the notarial deed. Section I-Sp lists the rights attached to the property: a share in the common property, perpetual usufruct of the land, easements established in favour of this property (for example a right of passage across a neighbouring plot).

Section II answers the question „whose is this”. Check whether the person you are negotiating with actually appears as the owner — compare the first name, surname, parents names or PESEL number with an identity document. Where there is co-ownership, the consent of all co-owners is needed for a sale. If the apartment comes from an inheritance and the deceased still appears in section II, the seller must first disclose their own right on the basis of a certificate of inheritance or a court declaration of acquisition of the estate.

With a rental the principle is the same: sign the agreement with the person from section II or with their proxy holding a written authorisation — that is the first point we verify as part of our help with renting an apartment, before the tenant even sees the draft agreement. Verifying the register is, incidentally, only one stage of a safe transaction — we described the whole process in our guide on buying an apartment step by step.

What rights and claims does section III hide?

This is the most „dense” section and the most common source of surprises. Here you may find:

• land easements (for example a necessary road) — they pass to the new owner and do not expire on sale;
• a personal easement of residence and the right of dożywocie (life tenancy) — the named person may live in the unit until the end of their life, regardless of a change of owner;
• claims arising from preliminary agreements — someone has already agreed to buy this property;
• a right of first refusal — a specified entity has priority in acquiring it;
• a warning about the commencement of enforcement — a bailiff has seized the property and it may go to auction;
• a warning that the content of the register is inconsistent with the actual legal status — and such a warning, under art. 8 of the Act, excludes the public reliance warranty, that is the protection of the buyer.

An empty section III is good news. Every entry is a signal to stop and establish with a lawyer or notary what exactly it means and whether it can be deleted before the transaction.

Does a mortgage in section IV rule out the purchase?

A mortgage is security for a debt over the property. The entry shows its type (contractual or compulsory), the amount, the currency and the creditor. A contractual bank mortgage in itself should not put you off — a large share of apartments on the secondary market were bought with a loan and are sold with a mortgage settled in the notarial deed. Just remember that the mortgage sum is usually higher than the actual loan balance, which is why the basis for the settlement is a current bank certificate of the outstanding debt.

A sample scenario: an apartment costing PLN 600,000 with a mortgage, the loan balance according to the bank certificate being PLN 320,000. In the notarial deed PLN 320,000 goes directly into the seller bank account, and the remaining PLN 280,000 — to the seller. The bank issues its consent to delete the mortgage, and the application for deletion costs PLN 100 in court fees (the rate in force in 2026 as well). You will find a full breakdown of the fees involved in a transaction in our text on the notarial costs of buying an apartment.

A hipoteka przymusowa (compulsory mortgage, art. 109 of the Act) is a different matter: it is entered by a creditor without the owner consent, on the basis of an enforcement title — this may be the tax office, ZUS or a creditor with a final judgment. It is a signal of real financial trouble on the seller side and a subject for a conversation with a lawyer. With a rental, in turn, a compulsory mortgage combined with a warning about enforcement means a risk that the apartment will go to auction during your agreement.

What does a wzmianka in the księga wieczysta mean?

On the cover of the register and next to individual sections there may be wzmianki (pending notes). A wzmianka means that an application for an entry, a change or a deletion has reached the court and has not yet been examined — and you will not see its content online. Until it is clarified, a wzmianka also excludes the public reliance warranty.

Sometimes it is nothing alarming (for example an application to delete a repaid mortgage), but it may also conceal enforcement or a dispute over ownership. The rule is simple: do not sign an agreement until you have established — with the notary, at the court or through the seller — what the wzmianka concerns.

How much does an extract from the księga wieczysta cost in 2026?

Viewing the register itself is free. Official documents from the Central Information Office of Land and Mortgage Registers are paid — and since 31 March 2026 a new regulation of the Minister of Justice has applied, raising the rates by roughly half:

Document	E-document to print	Paper version
Ordinary extract (current entries)	PLN 30	PLN 45
Full extract (with entry history)	PLN 75	PLN 90
Excerpt from a single section	PLN 10	PLN 25
Certificate that the register is closed	PLN 10	PLN 15

An electronic extract has the same legal force as a paper one and arrives immediately — banks providing a mortgage as a standard ask for an ordinary extract. An application to search for a register in the central database (a service available to notaries and bailiffs, among others) costs PLN 30.

How do you check a księga wieczysta step by step?

1. Ask for the land register number and open the current content at ekw.ms.gov.pl.
2. Compare section II with the identity document of the seller or landlord.
3. Verify the floor area and the designation of the property in section I-O.
4. Write down all the entries from sections III and IV — each one requires clarification.
5. Check whether there are any wzmianki about unexamined applications next to the sections.
6. Repeat the whole verification on the day the deed is signed — the register may have changed.
7. Consult a notary or lawyer about any entries you do not understand.

At allproperty the analysis of the land register is a standard element of every transaction we handle — we check the register at the start of our cooperation and again before the deed is signed. For tenants we additionally recommend our guide rental agreement — what to watch out for. The apartments we present in our offer catalogue go through the same verification. If you are planning to buy or rent in Warszawa and, while going through a land register in the evening, you came across a wzmianka, a compulsory mortgage or a warning about enforcement that you do not understand — do not wait until morning. We work 24/7, call at any hour: +48 666 866 468 or +48 692 649 839.