Najem okazjonalny for foreigners: when you need a substitute address and when you don't (UKR status)

With UKR status you do not need a substitute address: since 5 March 2026 this is stated directly in art. 112e of the act on granting protection to foreigners. Without that status you usually need the address of another dwelling and the written consent of its owner (art. 19a of the tenant protection act). The tenant’s notarial declaration and a deposit of up to six months’ rent apply in both cases.

Checked on 7 October 2026 against the acts as published in Dz.U. and gov.pl pages; sources at the bottom.

What is attached to the lease	With UKR status	Without UKR status
Tenant’s notarial declaration (oświadczenie o poddaniu się egzekucji)	required	required
Address of another dwelling (lokal zastępczy)	not required	required
Consent of that dwelling’s owner	not required	required
Replacing the address within 21 days if it falls away	does not apply	applies
Deposit	up to 6 months’ rent	up to 6 months’ rent

Does a foreigner need a substitute address for najem okazjonalny?

Yes, unless you are covered by temporary protection. The tenant protection act makes no exception for foreigners, so the rules are the same whether you come from Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, the EU or anywhere else. We explain what najem okazjonalny is in our general guide; here we cover only the address question.

This type of lease is available when the owner is a private individual who does not run a business renting out flats; it is concluded for a fixed term of up to 10 years (art. 19a para. 1). Three things are attached (para. 2):

1. the tenant’s declaration in the form of a notarial deed, agreeing to compulsory enforcement of the duty to vacate;
2. the address of another dwelling (lokal zastępczy) where the tenant could live after an eviction;
3. a declaration by the owner of that dwelling, or a person with a legal title to it, consenting to the tenant and the people living with them living there. If the landlord asks for it, the signature on that declaration must be notarially certified.

The law does not ask for relatives in Poland. What it asks for is the consent of someone who owns the dwelling or holds a legal title to it. So having no family here blocks nothing by itself, but you do need a person who is willing to sign.

UKR status: why is no substitute address needed (art. 112e)?

Art. 112e of the act on granting protection to foreigners provides that, when a beneficiary of temporary protection signs a najem okazjonalny, art. 19a para. 2 items 2 and 3, para. 3 and art. 19d para. 5 of the tenant protection act do not apply. In plain terms: you do not name another dwelling, you do not need its owner’s consent, the 21-day duty to replace the address does not apply, and the landlord cannot terminate the lease because the address is missing.

This is not news from 2026. A similar rule, for Ukrainian citizens covered by the special act, was in art. 69 of that act from 12 March 2022. The act of 23 January 2026 winding down the special act (Dz.U. 2026 item 203) removed that article and added art. 112e, in force from 5 March 2026 (art. 54 of the act). Leases signed under art. 69 are governed by art. 112e (art. 51).

What remains: a written lease (art. 19a para. 6), the tenant’s notarial declaration, a deposit of up to 6 months’ rent (para. 4), and the owner’s duty to notify the tax office within 14 days of the start of the lease (art. 19b). Ask the owner for proof that the notification was filed: without it arts. 19c and 19d do not apply, and with them the simplified eviction route.

Art. 2 item 1a defines a beneficiary as a foreigner belonging to a group of displaced persons named in an EU Council decision; in practice this is a person whose PESEL carries the UKR status. People most often show it through the Diia.pl document in the mObywatel app or an extract from the PESEL register on gov.pl; check the current method on gov.pl.

Temporary protection runs until 4 March 2028: the EU Council extended it in Implementing Decision 2026/1912 of 30 July 2026, and UdSC announced this on 6 August 2026. Older pages and some provisions of Polish acts still give 4 March 2027, so check the date on gov.pl before you sign.

What changes after CUKR, a residence card or leaving Poland for over 30 days?

Temporary protection ends by operation of law in the cases listed in art. 109b para. 1. The ones that matter for renting:

• leaving Poland for more than 30 days (item 2);
• being granted a permanent or temporary residence permit, EU long-term resident status, refugee status or another title from the list in item 4;
• missing the 30-day deadline for PESEL UKR (item 1), renouncing protection, applying for international protection, receiving protection in another EU state, or acquiring citizenship (items 3, 5-7).

There is one more route, outside art. 109b, that is current right now. If your PESEL UKR was issued on a declaration and you did not confirm your identity with a travel document at a gmina office by 31 August 2026, your status was changed to NUE from 1 September 2026 and you lost the right under art. 106 para. 1 (art. 25 paras. 1-3 of the act of 23.01.2026). Our reading: such a person is no longer covered by art. 112e. If that may apply to you, check your status in mObywatel or at your gmina office.

CUKR (a residence card for Ukrainian citizens) is issued for 3 years. Under art. 42r of the special act (consolidated text, Dz.U. 2026 item 1293), from the day you collect the card your earlier right of stay becomes, by law, a temporary residence permit for the card’s validity period, and UdSC states plainly that UKR status changes into CUKR status. Our reading: receiving CUKR therefore falls under art. 109b para. 1 item 4(c).

For renting, this means the following. Art. 112e applies to a beneficiary of temporary protection. Our assessment: if you are no longer a beneficiary, the exemption does not cover a new najem okazjonalny, and the general rule on the substitute address applies. The act does not say what happens to a lease signed earlier, and we did not check court practice, so ask a notary or a lawyer. Whether to apply for CUKR or another card is your decision and a matter for gov.pl and MOS, not for this article.

Who can be the “substitute address”, and what do they sign?

The act names the owner of the dwelling or a person with a legal title to it (art. 19a para. 2 item 3). That could be a relative, a friend, a colleague, anyone who genuinely has the right to dispose of the dwelling and agrees. They sign a declaration consenting that the tenant and the people living with them may move in if the eviction is enforced. This is not a lease, and the act puts no duty on that person to pay for you. But the consent is real, so they should understand what they are signing.

If the landlord requires it, a notary certifies the signature. The act does not name a city or country where the dwelling must be. Our assessment: a landlord may not accept an address that is far away or abroad, because it is their safeguard, so ask them before you start collecting documents.

Can everything be done remotely, and who translates at the notary?

Not entirely. The tenant’s declaration is a notarial deed: signatures are made in the notary’s presence (art. 88 of the Notary Act), the deed is read out before signing (art. 94 para. 1), and the notary works at the office, elsewhere only in special circumstances (art. 3 paras. 1-2). We found no provision in the current text of the Notary Act for making such a deed online. Searching, viewings and agreeing terms can be done from abroad, but the notary visit has to be planned around your arrival and booked in advance. The person giving consent for the substitute address also has to certify their signature at a notary if the landlord requires it.

Who translates? Notarial acts are done in Polish. If a participant does not know Polish and no translation into a language they understand is attached, the notary must translate the deed personally or with a sworn translator (art. 87 para. 1 item 1 with art. 2 para. 3). On your request the deed can also be drawn up in a foreign language, either on the notary’s own language skills proven in the way required of sworn translators, or with a sworn translator (art. 2 para. 3). An agent’s summary is not a sworn translation and does not replace translation at the notary. Ask the office in advance about terms and the cost of translation.

How do you check a commercial “address” service?

The market offers paid services: a company supplies an address and a signed consent from the “owner”. The law mentions such services neither as allowed nor as forbidden, and we found no court rulings on them. Our assessment: a purely formal address may be challenged by the landlord or in enforcement; that is an assessment, not a rule. Before you pay, check:

1. Whether the dwelling exists and who signs. The signer must be the owner or hold a legal title. Ask for the land and mortgage register number (księga wieczysta) and look it up free of charge at ekw.ms.gov.pl.
2. Whether the consent matches the law: consent for the tenant and the people living with them to live in that dwelling, with a notarially certified signature if the landlord requires it.
3. What exactly you are buying, for how long and at what price, in writing. Does it cover the whole lease, and what happens if the address falls away: a replacement must be found within 21 days (art. 19a para. 3).
4. Whether your landlord accepts such an address. Ask before paying; the decision is the landlord’s.
5. Where you are sending your passport and scans. It is your personal data. Be wary of sites that ask for prepayment without a contract; we describe the warning signs in how to recognise a fake rental ad.

What is najem instytucjonalny, and when is no substitute address needed?

Najem instytucjonalny (arts. 19f-19j) is a separate form for landlords who run a business renting out dwellings: a sole trader, a company or another organisation. Najem okazjonalny, by contrast, is available only when the owner is a private individual without such a business (art. 19a para. 1), so for any given owner it is one form or the other.

In najem instytucjonalny no substitute address is needed: it is not among the attachments. What remains is the tenant’s notarial declaration (art. 19f para. 3, with an extra clause that no right to social housing or temporary accommodation arises on eviction), a deposit of up to 6 months’ rent (para. 5), written form (art. 19g para. 1) and the same cap on the notary’s fee, 1/10 of the minimum wage (art. 19g para. 2). The lease is for a fixed term.

Whether a particular landlord uses this form is up to the landlord: not everyone who rents out many flats does. Ask directly which type of lease you are being offered.

How do you find a landlord who agrees to an ordinary lease?

An ordinary najem needs neither a substitute address nor a notary. The deposit is capped at 12 months’ rent (art. 6 para. 1) and is returned within a month of vacating (tenant’s rights on the deposit). Some landlords choose okazjonalny because an ordinary eviction goes through the courts; that is an assessment, not a statistic, and we found no recent data on how common this requirement is.

Ask about the type of lease before the viewing, not after. A sample message in Polish: “Dzień dobry, czy umowa ma być najmem okazjonalnym? Jeśli tak, czy akceptuje Pan/Pani adres lokalu zastępczego od osoby trzeciej? Czy możliwy jest zwykły najem?” If you have UKR status, add a reference to art. 112e of the act on granting protection to foreigners.

When we search, we usually ask the owner up front about the type of lease and whether an ordinary najem is possible. We cannot promise the owner will agree; that decision is theirs. Our flat-finding service for tenants costs 70% of one month’s rent (czynsz najmu only, without czynsz administracyjny and utilities; for example PLN 2,450 at a rent of PLN 3,500), payable after the lease (umowa najmu) is signed, on an invoice without VAT. Our agents speak Ukrainian, Russian, English, Polish, German, Italian, Turkish and Spanish. The search form is on the page for tenants, and you can call +48 666 866 468.

Sources (checked 7 October 2026)

• Act of 21.06.2001 on the protection of tenants’ rights, consolidated text Dz.U. 2023 item 725: arts. 6, 19a, 19b, 19d, 19f, 19g. Text
• Act of 13.06.2003 on granting protection to foreigners, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 862: art. 2 item 1a, arts. 106, 109b, 112e. Text
• Act of 23.01.2026 winding down the Ukraine special act, Dz.U. 2026 item 203: arts. 4, 25, 51, 54. Text
• Act of 12.03.2022 on assistance to Ukrainian citizens: art. 69 in Dz.U. 2022 item 583, arts. 42c and 42r in consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 1293. Dz.U. 2022 item 583
• Notary Act (Prawo o notariacie), consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 item 614: arts. 2 para. 3, 3, 87, 88, 94. Text
• Council of Ministers regulation of 11.09.2025 on the 2026 minimum wage (PLN 4,806), Dz.U. 2025 item 1242; Minister of Justice regulation on maximum notarial fees, Dz.U. 2024 item 1566, § 12.
• UdSC, Extension of temporary protection to 4 March 2028 (06.08.2026); UdSC, CUKR procedure; the UdSC notice cites Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1912 of 30.07.2026 (we could not open the EUR-Lex text, so the UdSC page is the source we checked).

This is general information, not legal or immigration advice. Questions about your right to stay are for gov.pl, MOS or a lawyer.

The cover illustration was generated with AI.