Polish government wants to adopt an amendment to the law on REM in Q1 2022

The Polish government wants to enable the acquisition of the ownership right to perpetual users of State Treasury or local government land used for non-residential purposes, including entrepreneurs, taking into account the rules of payment, according to the list of legislative and program works of the Council of Ministers.

The adoption by the Council of Ministers of the draft amendment to the act on real estate management and some other acts is planned for the first quarter of 2022.

The proposed solution consists in the use of market mechanisms when determining the purchase price of the ownership right to land owned by the State Treasury and local government units, including in particular land used for business activities. The adoption of the proposed solutions will ensure a consistent and fair payment mechanism for land, which as a consequence will enable an evolutionary, gradual expiry of the right of perpetual usufruct, according to the announcement.

It was recalled that the first stage of the reform is the Act of 20 July 2018 on the transformation of the right of perpetual usufruct of land built for housing purposes into the ownership title to this land, which resulted in the conversion of the perpetual usufruct right to land developed for housing purposes, into ownership, by operation of law on 1 January 2019 and, in principle, excluded the establishment of new perpetual usufruct rights for such purposes.

The presented draft amendment to the act on real estate management and certain other acts is the next stage of the perpetual usufruct reform, which is aimed at enabling the acquisition of the ownership right to perpetual users of land used for non-residential purposes, including entrepreneurs, taking into account the rules of remuneration.

Uncertainty as to the potential increases in fees for perpetual usufruct or, in the longer term, regarding the extension of the contract after the end of the perpetual usufruct period, means that the next stage of the perpetual usufruct reform is expected, in particular, by entrepreneurs who are concerned about the purposefulness and safety of long-term investment in subject to perpetual usufruct, it also announced.

Therefore, taking into account the government's policy in the field of supporting entrepreneurship and innovation, it is important to ensure legal stability to perpetual users investing on public land, which in the future will translate into the development of enterprises operating on public land, and in global terms will increase the economic potential of the country, it stated.

Source: Polish Council of Ministers and ISBnews