| In Principle

During the decade after the current Developers Act entered into force in Poland, it was repeatedly argued that its provisions were vague or diverged from the market reality, so that the act did not live up to the hopes placed in it. As a result, in the last few years, work was undertaken to introduce a new law to fill the existing gaps and, above all, provide greater protection for buyers of residential units and single-family houses.

One of the new features of the new Developers Act is comprehensive regulation of the reservation agreement, so far not governed by separate provisions. It is worth thoroughly analysing the shape the drafters decided to give to this type of agreement when introducing it officially into the Polish legal system.

On 1 July 2022, most of the provisions of the new Developers Act will come into force. One of the changes is to make the handover procedure for a residential unit or single-family house more detailed, and to introduce new rights for buyers. The new rules are particularly controversial among developers.

A developer commencing sales of residential units or single-family houses in Poland must prepare a prospectus for the property. The prospectus should include information on other projects planned in the vicinity of the development. In this regard, the current provisions are imprecise and raise concerns. Does the new Developers Act eliminate them?

The new Developers Act substantially modifies the rights and obligations of banks in connection with real estate developments. The new regulations significantly increase the scope of rights and obligations of banks, which will entail a greater expenditure of time and effort on their side. Thus the new rules may increase the cost of banks’ participation in the execution of residential developments.

Analysis of the transitional provisions of the new Developers Act is complicated and unfortunately does not lead to unequivocal conclusions. Indeed, we believe these provisions should be amended immediately to remove doubts, so that developers can prepare for application of the new law and avoid litigation in the future.

Aleksandra Drożdż explains the liability for binding instructions that the parent company will be able to issue to its subsidiaries under the proposed provisions of the holding law.

When filling in the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) form, contractors must answer the question whether they have committed grave professional misconduct while performing previous contracts. This question is closely correlated with the condition for exclusion under Art. 109(1)(5) of the Public Procurement Law, which specifies that this concerns violations that are serious and self-caused. Therefore, a contractor does not necessarily have to mention any and all delays or complications that occurred during the performance of previous contracts. In this context, an interesting ruling was issued by the National Appeal Chamber on 4 June 2021 (KIO 1087/21) indicating how this question from the ESPD form should be interpreted.

On 22 July 2021, the Ministry of Health published a draft Act on Quality in Healthcare and Patient Safety. The stated purpose of the bill is to implement legal and organisational solutions to improve the quality of healthcare in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. What will change and to what extent?

Some characteristics of the performance offered by a contractor can only be verified at the contract performance stage. But if such non-price criteria are supposed to be considered when evaluating bids, verification only at the stage of contract performance renders these criteria illusory, as the contractors compete on the basis of price anyway. So far, decisions from the National Appeal Chamber have allowed the use of such criteria. But on 18 December 2020, the Warsaw Regional Court issued a judgment holding that the characteristics of the performance offered by a contractor should be verified before selecting the most advantageous bid. Will this judgment change the approach taken by the National Appeal Chamber?

Protection of all categories of staff, including job candidates and former employees. A broad range of infringements subject to reporting. Protection of whistleblowers against all retaliatory measures, including defamation suits. A duty to establish internal whistleblowing procedures. These are just a few of the points included in the guidelines for the bill implementing the EU’s Whistleblower Directive.

Dr Radosław Wiśniewski explains the problem of claims by pre-war property owners (and most often their heirs), which must be taken into account when purchasing real estate and pose a risk for transactions.