Purchase of agricultural land by non-farmers – purchase of real property

Subject to the above exceptions, property may be purchased by any citizen of the EU (including Poland) or Switzerland.

Foreigners from outside the EU and Switzerland must go through an administrative procedure before the Minister of the Interior and Administration to obtain a permit. The foreigner must demonstrate his or her ties to Poland and, among other things, the Minister must make sure that the purchase of property by the foreigner will pose no threat to national defence, security or public order.

The situation gets most complicated once the sales contract has been made. By law, the purchaser of agricultural property that has become part of a farm is obliged to run such a farm for at least five years, and may not dispose of or transfer the agricultural property to another entity over that period. 

We can speak of a farm if the area of agricultural properties owned by one person is not less than one hectare. Importantly, KOWR says that agricultural property automatically becomes part of a farm. Therefore, the areas of real properties owned get aggregated. A farm comes into existence even if the purchaser is not a professional farmer. For example, if a person who already owns an agricultural property of 0.6 hectare decides a few years later to buy a plot of 0.5 hectare, he or she will be obliged to farm for 5 years from the date of the second contract, regardless of whether he or she is a professional farmer. 

Disposal of the real property before the end of the five-year period requires the consent from the Director General of the KOWR provided that the purchaser of the real property can demonstrate his or her vital interest in it. 

With regard to the obligation to farm, you will not be allowed to cease farming (before the expiry of 5 years). Although there is a number of exceptions from that obligation, they are allowed only in very specific situations. One such exception is when the real property is given or disposed of to a relative, local authority or the State Treasury. Another example of such exception is when agricultural property is acquired by inheritance or as a result of the partition of an estate or a legacy.​

Where none of the statutory exceptions apply, you should explore other options to avoid the obligation to farm. 

The first option is to limit the area of the plots you purchase so that the total arable area is less than 0.3 ha (30 ares), as then the statute does not apply. Using the above example, if the plot of land purchased later has 31 ares of arable land, it may be beneficial to slightly reduce the area of that real property so that the arable land occupies less than 30 ares. Then the statute will not apply and so, the purchased plot of land will not become part of the purchaser's farm. Importantly, dividing the real property to conclude several separate contracts will be considered an action taken to circumvent the statute, and such contracts will be absolutely void.

The second potential option is to buy only those plots of land that are zoned for non-agricultural uses in the local spatial development plan. Then, according to the statute, this land will not be agricultural property and so, it will not become part of the farm and the farming obligation will not materialise.

Both of these options limit the area of real properties available to purchase, but given the current legislation, these are the only acceptable ways to avoid the farming obligation.