Umowa deweloperska — what to watch out for before you sign

The umowa deweloperska (developer agreement) is an akt notarialny (notarial deed) that binds the buyer to the developer usually for 2–3 years and concerns sums of several hundred thousand zloty. Before signing it is worth checking five things: (1) the type of rachunek powierniczy (escrow account) — open (the developer receives the money in stages, the DFG contribution is 0.45% of the payment) or closed (money only after ownership is transferred, contribution 0.1%); (2) specific rather than “approximate” dates for completion of construction and transfer of ownership, together with symmetrical contractual penalties for delay; (3) the rules for settling any difference in floor area after the as-built measurement — since 13 February 2026 the price must be the product of the usable floor area calculated in accordance with the Polish Standard and the price per m², without the “flexible” measurement methods used before the amendment; (4) consistency of the agreement with the information prospectus — every discrepancy is a statutory ground for withdrawal within 30 days; (5) the amount of the reservation fee (max. 1% of the price stated in the prospectus). All of this is governed by the act of 20 May 2021 on the protection of the rights of purchasers of residential units or single-family houses and on the Deweloperski Fundusz Gwarancyjny, in force since 1 July 2022 and most recently amended on 13 February 2026 — legal position as of August 2026.

What is an escrow account and how much is the DFG contribution?

Your payments do not go directly to the developer but into a residential rachunek powierniczy operated by a bank. The act provides for two variants:

Feature	Open account	Closed account
Release of funds to the developer	in tranches, after the bank confirms a stage of construction has been completed	only after ownership has been transferred to you
DFG contribution	0.45% of every payment	0.1% of every payment
Buyer’s risk	limited, but higher than with a closed account	minimal

In practice open accounts dominate. The schedule of the development must cover at least four stages, and the cost of none of them may be lower than 10% or higher than 25% of the whole — so the developer will not collect most of the money “up front”.

The second pillar of protection is the Deweloperski Fundusz Gwarancyjny (Developer Guarantee Fund). The contribution is paid by the developer, not by you: on a flat costing 500,000 zł it will be 2,250 zł (open account) or 500 zł (closed) — rates from the MRiT regulation of 21 June 2022, still current in August 2026. DFG protection has no upper limit and covers the whole of your payments, including in the event of the bankruptcy of the developer or the bank. In the agreement, check the name of the bank, the escrow account number and the rules for disposing of the funds — these are mandatory elements of the agreement listed in art. 35 of the act. We describe the escrow mechanism and the bank’s role as a third party in more detail in our guide to the escrow account when buying a flat.

What deadlines and contractual penalties must the agreement contain?

The agreement must contain two specific dates: the deadline for completing the construction works (and handing over the unit) and the deadline for transferring ownership. Pay attention to whether they are written “softly” (e.g. “planned date”) and whether contractual penalties for the developer’s delay are real rather than symbolic. Symmetry is good practice: if you pay interest for late payment, the contractual penalty for the developer should be set at a comparable level.

If the developer does not transfer ownership within the agreed deadline, art. 43 of the act gives you a clear procedure: you set an additional 120-day deadline, and once it passes without effect you may withdraw from the agreement — while retaining your claim to the contractual penalty for the whole period of delay. The developer then has 30 days to return all the funds paid in, and withdrawal may not involve any “withdrawal fee” for you.

What happens when the floor area of the unit differs from the design?

The floor area of a unit after the as-built measurement is rarely perfectly consistent with the design. The agreement should precisely define what happens then: the market standard is a proportional settlement of the price for every metre of difference and a right of withdrawal when the difference exceeds a defined threshold (most often around 2%). Watch out for one-sided clauses — for example, you pay extra for a larger floor area but get no refund for a smaller one.

Since 13 February 2026 an amendment to the developer act has been in force, signed by the president on 7 January 2026, which introduced art. 5a: the price of the unit must be calculated as the product of the usable floor area — determined in accordance with the Polish Standard in force on the day construction was notified or the application for a building permit was filed — and the price per 1 m². The developer may no longer use another, “flexible” measurement method (so-called settlement or saleable area); the new rule covers developments for which the permit was issued after that date.

As a rule the price should be fixed. Indexation clauses (e.g. for a rise in construction costs) are sometimes challenged as prohibited provisions; a change resulting from a change in the VAT rate is considered acceptable — but even then negotiate a right of withdrawal in case of an increase you do not accept. Before you decide on a particular development, it is also worth verifying the developer itself — see our guide on how to check a developer before buying a flat.

What is the information prospectus and what to watch for in a reservation agreement?

Before concluding the agreement the developer is obliged to deliver you the information prospectus together with its annexes free of charge, on a durable medium. In it you will find, among other things, data on the plot and its księga wieczysta (land and mortgage register), the building permit and planned developments in the neighbourhood. Compare the prospectus with the agreement — every inconsistency is a statutory ground for withdrawal.

If you first sign a reservation agreement, remember three rules from the act (as of August 2026):

• the reservation fee may not exceed 1% of the price of the unit stated in the prospectus (on a flat costing 600,000 zł — a maximum of 6,000 zł);
• after the developer agreement is concluded the fee counts towards the price and within 7 days goes into the escrow account;
• if the developer does not remove defects reported at handover and for that reason ownership is not transferred, the fee comes back to you at double the amount.

When can you withdraw from a developer agreement?

The catalogue of statutory grounds for withdrawal in art. 43 is closed. The most important cases in which you have 30 days from concluding the agreement:

1. the agreement does not contain the elements required by art. 35 of the act (including the price, deadlines and escrow account details);
2. the content of the agreement is inconsistent with the information prospectus or its annexes;
3. the developer did not deliver the prospectus to you at all;
4. the data in the prospectus are inconsistent with the factual or legal position on the day the agreement was signed;
5. the prospectus does not contain the information required by the statutory template.

The declaration of withdrawal itself requires written form with a notarially certified signature and consent to the removal of your claim from the księga wieczysta — it is worth knowing this in advance, because it means an extra visit to the notary.

What does the handover of the unit and the removal of defects look like?

The handover takes place by protocol and is governed by rigid deadlines: the developer has 14 days from signing the protocol to acknowledge or refuse to acknowledge the defects reported (silence means they are acknowledged) and 30 days to remove the acknowledged defects. If it fails to do so and does not indicate a justified new deadline, you set the deadline yourself — and once it passes without effect you may remove the defects at the developer’s cost, without a court’s consent.

In the case of a material defect you may refuse the handover altogether. If at the repeat handover the developer still does not acknowledge it, the opinion of a construction expert will be needed (apply for it within a month of the repeated refusal) — a confirmed material defect opens the way to withdrawal from the agreement. You will find the full checklist of steps at handover, including typical defects to check, in our guide technical handover of a flat step by step.

How much does the notarial deed cost?

For a developer agreement the notary may charge at most half of the standard fee, and the act splits the costs of the deed evenly between you and the developer. Example: at a price of 600,000 zł the maximum fee is 1,010 zł + 0.4% of the excess above 60,000 zł, that is 3,170 zł net — for a developer agreement a maximum of about 1,585 zł net. After adding VAT (23%), copies (up to 6 zł net per page) and the court charge for entering the claim in the land and mortgage register, the whole package usually comes to about 3,000–3,500 zł, of which you pay half: about 1,500–1,750 zł (notarial fee rates unchanged since 2004, current in 2026).

A developer agreement is not a document “to be signed in 15 minutes”, but it does not have to be beyond you either. As part of our support for purchases on the primary market we analyse developer agreements and information prospectuses before the reservation, point out provisions worth negotiating and accompany you at the handover of the unit. If you come across something worrying during the handover — do not wait until Monday, call straight away, even in the evening or at the weekend: we work around the clock on +48 666 866 468 (or +48 692 649 839). On the primary market our commission from the buyer is 0% — if you are planning a purchase from a developer in Warszawa, get in touch before you sign.