There has been much media speculation in recent months over the details the government’s promised “energy voucher,” designed to soften the impact on households of the lifting of temporary caps on energy prices from 1 July. On 23 May the Sejm passed the “Act establishing the energy voucher and amending some existing acts with a view to limiting the prices of electricity, natural gas, and district heat” (henceforth the Act). The legislation is only awaiting the President’s signature to become law.

I.    Energy voucher – concept, eligibility criteria, amount

The energy voucher is a one-off cash benefit available to households who meet an income requirement. Eligible to receive it are households whose average monthly income[1] in 2023 was up to PLN 2,500 (€585) for one-member households and up to PLN 1,700 (€398) per person for larger households. Importantly, households that exceeded the relevant income limit in 2023 can receive the difference between the full voucher amount and the amount by which they exceeded the limit.

The following can count as household members when calculating income for the purposes of determining eligibility for the energy voucher: Polish nationals and EU Member State citizens permanently residing in Poland (obviously), but also e.g. foreigners from non-EU countries with a permanent residence permit, tolerated-stay permit, or residence permit for humanitarian reasons. (The Act specifies that in detail.)

The amount of the voucher is PLN 300 (€70) for one-member households, PLN 400 (€94) for 2- and 3-member households, PLN 500 (€117) for 4- and 5-member households, and PLN 600 (€140) for 6-member households and larger.

II.   Higher benefits for homes with electricity-based heating

These amounts are doubled in case the household’s main heating source is electricity, however (provided that the source has been entered or notified to the Central Register of Building Emissions, or CEEB[2]), and are: PLN 600 (€140) for one-member households, PLN 800 (€188) for 2- and 3-member households, PLN 1,000 (€234) for 4- and 5-member households, and PLN 1,200 (€280) for 6-member households and larger.

III.  Application – procedures, deadlines

Applications to receive the energy voucher are made to the relevant mayor or city president. They must be submitted between 1 August 2024 and 30 September 2024. The application can be submitted on paper or electronically with a secure electronic signature or via Trusted Profile (PZ). (The Act also permits submission via the mObywatel app, subject to prior implementation by the Minister of Digitisation of a relevant feature.)  The Act specifies in detail the contents of the application.

Applications must be processed within 30 days of submission. Award of the energy voucher does not require the issuance of an administrative decision, but refusal to award it does. Applicants who are awarded the voucher are entitled to request a change of the awarded amount within 14 days of its receipt. (Such a request can be submitted only once.) The voucher is paid in one lump sum by the commune. Payments will be made from 1 July to 31 December 2024.

It is worth noting that while the energy voucher has attracted the most media attention, the Act introduces more measures intended to cushion the blow for households from the unfreezing of energy prices, covering not just electricity but also natural gas and district heat. For example, it reduces the so-called capacity fee, an item on electricity bills, to PLN 0.00 for certain end-users[3].

To recapitulate, the much-trailed energy voucher has been put into legislative shape. It will be awarded per household, rather than per electricity bill payer. There is an income requirement. Applications must be submitted to the commune, not to the electricity provider.

By Jan Akimenkow, trainee attorney at law

Originally published in PMR Construction Insight: Poland, No. 6 (279), June 2024

[1] As defined by the Act of 28 November 2003 on family benefits (Journal of Laws 2024, item 323),

[2] As stipulated in the Act of 21 November 2008 on support for energy retrofits and renovations and on a central register of building emissions. CEEB is run and administered by the competent minister in charge of construction, spatial planning & development and housing. It contains data on buildings and premises, including their heating sources, such as district heating or electricity heating. Only authorised persons can enter data into CEEB. Access to CEEB and related public services is via a login screen on the General Office of Building Control (GUNB)’s website.

[3] Cf. the Act of 8 December 2017 on the capacity market (Journal of Laws 2023, item 2131)

It is only weeks now before the New Developer Act (NDA) comes into effect on 1 July. Having looked at what NDA means for developers and home buyers, in this third and final part of our series we focus on the role of banks, and finish with overall conclusions.

We begin, though, with a terminological point. When talking about housing projects, NDA distinguishes between a property development undertaking (“Undertaking”) and an investment task (“Task”). The former refers to the totality of activities, actual and legal, carried out by the developer aimed at transferring the title to a finished home to the buyer, in line with their agreement[1]. The latter refers to an individual building, or a group of buildings forming a whole in architectural-construction terms and which are to be completed at the same point in time. So Undertaking is a broader term than Task. A Task is part of an Undertaking. The developer can divide an Undertaking into two or more Tasks.

We now turn to the functions and powers that NDA entrusts to banks.

 I.   Operating escrow accounts

Developers contract with banks to operate escrow accounts (EA) for buyers relating to an Undertaking (or Task). These can be closed escrow accounts (CEA) or open escrow accounts (OEA). Banks are required to record, and to maintain records of, all payments going in and out of each buyer’s EA in fulfilment of their agreement with the developer, and to provide the buyer with detailed information about all incomings and outgoings in their account (dates, amounts) upon request. Developers will be required to maintain EA for an Undertaking or Task until the day the last buyer receives the title to their property. As for the release of EA funds to the developer, in the case of CEA the bank will release the funds upon receipt of a copy of the notarial deed transferring the title to the buyer. In the case of OEA, the bank will release subsequent instalments within 30 days of establishing that a given stage of the Undertaking or Task has been completed. The last instalment will be released upon receipt of a copy of the notarial deed transferring the title to the buyer. Such an arrangement incentivises developers to transfer titles to buyers as quickly as possible. On the other hand, it should be noted that delays in this respect often arise for reasons outside developers’ control.

II.  Terminating escrow accounts

Importantly, under NDA, the bank – and only the bank – can terminate the EA contract between it and the developer, albeit “only for important reasons”. The maximum allowed notice period is 60 days, within which time the developer has to contract with another bank to operate EA for the Undertaking or Task in question. The bank has to inform buyers about the termination of the EA contract within 10 days of its termination, either in writing or on a “durable medium” such as a CD or pen drive. The funds from the terminated EA will be transferred to the new EA upon submission by the developer to the bank of a statement from the new bank stating that the account is an EA as defined by NDA.

III.  Controlling powers over developers

Before releasing EA funds to the developer, NDA stipulates that the bank has to establish the actual status of the Undertaking (or Task). This entails the right to inspect the developer’s bank accounts and all and any documents pertaining to the Undertaking/Task (not just e.g. accounting or financial documents). Thus the bank will be required to make sure, for example, that the developer is not in arrears to the tax authorities or the Social Insurance Office (ZUS), that it has no outstanding and payable obligations to contractors and subcontractors, or that it has paid its mandatory contributions to the Developer Guarantee Fund. Any costs of these verification activities will be borne by the developer – yet another way in which NDA can push up the costs of housing projects and, consequently, home prices.

IV.  Transferring developers’ contributions to the Developer Guarantee Fund

The transfer of developers’ mandatory contributions to the newly created Developer Guarantee Fund will take place via their EA banks. NDA lays down the sequence of operations very clearly: 1) the buyer deposits a portion of the purchase price into EA, in line with the schedule set out in their agreement with the developer; 2) the developer calculates their contribution to the Developer Guarantee Fund as a percentage of the amount deposited by the buyer, and pays it into the bank; 3) the bank verifies the accuracy of the developer’s contribution and transfers it to the Developer Guarantee Fund. Both the developer and the bank have to make their transfers within 7 days of receipt of the relevant payment (from the buyer and from the developer, respectively), and not later than on the day of the release of funds to the developer. Banks will open separate accounts through which developers’ contributions will be transferred. The Insurance Guarantee Fund (UFG), of which the Developer Guarantee Fund is part, will keep records of the Developer Guarantee Fund in an IT system. NDA specifies the scope of the data and information to be recorded by UFG, the entities required to provide the data and information, including banks, receivers and developers, and when and how the data and information should be provided.

V.   When the EA bank goes bankrupt: the Bank Guarantee Fund

In the event that the bank that operates EA for an Undertaking or Task files for bankruptcy, the developer is required to sign an EA contract with another bank within 30 days, and to notify buyers about this fact within 10 days. Of course the developer also has to register the claims of buyers to recover their escrow money from the bank in its bankruptcy proceeding. The funds deposited by buyers will be repaid by the Bank Guarantee Fund (BFG) – up to a limit of €100,000. Recall that this is different from the situation where the developer goes bankrupt, in which case 100% of escrow deposits are protected via the Developer Guarantee Fund.

VI.  NDA – Final conclusions

NDA is a reaction to perceived failings of the existing law, which has regulated the market for more than a decade; it also exemplifies growing procedurisation of social life.

NDA modifies – or tidies up – certain rules and arrangements that already exist, such as EA; and introduces completely new ones, such as the Developer Guarantee Fund or buyer’s recompense for breach of contract, the better to protect the interests of home buyers. But doubts remain over how effective it will be in practice. It lacks a definition of material defect, or a transparent formula for calculating buyer’s recompense. It imposes substantial extra costs on developers – contributions to the Developer Guarantee Fund, for example, have been set at a level seen as excessively high – yet it does not prohibit developers from passing these costs on to buyers.

The new controlling powers given to banks are very extensive, and could result in banks blocking the release of escrow funds to developers without proper justification (or in situations that are hard to judge), thus undermining developers’ financial standing during project execution. Furthermore, they will necessitate investments in new IT systems, and will push up the costs of personal data protection and other processes, forcing banks and developers to hire extra staff. And then there is the issue of NDA’s vague transitional arrangements: it can be viably argued that the existing law will continue to apply even after 2024.

Despite the above doubts and shortcomings, NDA represents a commendable attempt to strengthen the protection of home buyers, and to increase the security of transactions between home buyers and developers. It reflects the complexity of the real estate purchase process, with its multiplicity of involved parties, and illustrates the old maxim that security has its costs.

By Jan Akimenkow, trainee attorney-at-law

Originally published in PMR Construction Insight: Poland, No. 6 (255), June 2022

[1] Cf. part two of our series for what types of agreement are covered by NDA.

Tomasz Milewski: “Major departure from approved building permit design in the light of the amended Construction law”  PMR Construction Insight Poland, No. 9 (198), September 2017

Jacek Buss is a licensed attorney (adwokat), of counsel with the firm’s Gdynia office. He graduated from the University of Gdańsk, Faculty of Law and Administration, in 1992. In 1994 Jacek Buss completed a management training course administered by the US office affiliated with the National School of Public Administration. In the years 1992-1994 he completed the judge traineeship at the Regional Court in Gdańsk, passed the state judge exam and between 1994-1995 he served at the state court’s civil department. Jacek Buss also worked as a legal advisor (radca prawny) providing full-range of legal services to companies operating in maritime industry, telecommunication, banking or IT industry. Member of the Gdańsk Bar since 1999. Jacek Buss specializes in civil and administrative law, as well as in litigation. He has extensive practical experience in representing clients before courts. Jacek Buss is fluent in English.

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