Abandoned Properties in the Processes of Real Estate Management in Poland

Abstract

Important task in the field of real estate management in Poland is the regulation of the legal status of properties. The Real Estate Management Act of 21 August 1997 imposed on district governors (in relation to the real estates of the State Treasury), village-mayors, mayors (in relation to the municipal real properties) the requirement for submitting forms for the establishment of a land and mortgage register and for entry into a land and mortgage register, as well as undertaking the court proceedings for declaration of acquisition of property. It has a significant impact on expanding the assets, its disposal and its correct development. The intensification of the activities in this area occurred along with the Act of 7 September 2007 on publishing the right of ownership to the real estate of the State Treasury and of local government units in land and mortgage registers, which obliged the surveying administrative bodies and institutions responsible for the real estate management to prepare lists of properties whose ownership, under separate regulations, has been transferred onto the State Treasury and which are now the property of the State Treasury or of the local government units. Moreover, it introduced an obligation to submit applications for publishing the right of ownership in land and mortgage registers as well as reports on the fulfilment of the obligation to publish the right of ownership. It has highlighted a number of neglects in terms of arranging of the legal status of the property, including the ones resulting in the need to update the entries of ownership of real estates on the basis of legal acts published after 1945. One of the problems observed quite commonly in Poland is the unregulated legal status of the abandoned real estates. This problem, associated with the legacy of the past, is currently largely in the course of solving or remains unsolved. Abandoned properties should be understood as the ones whose owners due to the war that began on 1 September 1939 lost their possession and did not recover them afterwards. In accordance with Art. 34 Decree of 8 March 1946 on Abandoned and post-German properties, the State Treasury and local government associations acquired ownership of abandoned and post - German real estates by omission after the period of 10 years. Although physically there can be alack of documentation confirming the fact of the acquisition of the right of ownership to the real estates in this mode, the title to the property has already been acquired under the law. The confirmation of the acquired rights and the basis for making entries in the land and mortgage registers are judicial decisions. In 1985 the decree ceased to be in force but the process is requested on a given date (for example on 31 December 1955). For the purpose of the court proceedings, the regulations of the Code of Civil Procedure for ascertainment of the acquisition of the ownership of real estate by usucaption are applied.