POLAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Michał Wielhorski, Mateusz Prokopiuk, Małgorzata Wąsowska and Klaudia Michalec, act legal Poland
tinue to occupy the premises under lease, as the tenant’s right to use the premises ceases when the agreement ceases to be in force. Accord - ing to the Civil Code, upon termination of the lease, the tenant must return the premises in an undisturbed condition – meaning that they must empty the premises of their items and restore the premises to their original condition (unless the agreement provides otherwise). At the same time, however, the tenant is not liable for the nor- mal wear and tear of the premises resulting from proper use of the premises. In practice, the tenant should return the premis - es to the landlord in the manner stipulated in the contract. This usually takes place on the basis of a handover certificate. In the lease agreement, a contractual penalty may be stipulated by the landlord in the lease agreement for each day of delay in surrendering the premises. In addition, it is a market standard in commercial leases that the tenant agrees in writing before a notary to submit to voluntary enforcement with regard to surrendering the leased premises to the landlord at the expiry of the lease. Thanks to the notarial instrument, the landlord may proceed with enforcement without having to go through the full court procedure, which significantly speeds up the process of recovering the premises. 6.18 Right to Assign a Leasehold Interest Per market standard, assignment or sublease agreement is usually only possible with land - lord’s consent (no option for free assignment or entering into sublease agreement by tenants is also a requirement applied by financing banks). If the tenant assigns without the landlord’s con - sent, this may result in a breach and termination
of the lease, topped by a contractual penalty imposed on the tenant. 6.19 Right to Terminate a Lease Both the landlord and the tenant have certain rights to terminate the lease, which arise both from the law and from the provisions of the lease agreement itself. In the case of a lease agreement executed for an indefinite term, both the landlord and the tenant have the right to terminate the agreement with - out any additional reason while observing the notice period. If the parties have not provided for details of the notice period in the agreement, the Civil Code applies. In the case of a lease for a fixed term, the situ - ation is different because termination of a com - mercial lease concluded for a fixed term is only possible in circumstances that are specified pre - cisely in the lease agreement itself. If the par - ties have not stipulated appropriate provisions allowing termination by notice, such a possibility is excluded. The most common reasons for termination of a fixed-term commercial lease agreement that are listed therein include, inter alia, the tenant’s breach of financial obligations, failure to carry out fit-out or refurbishment works on the prem - ises, and violations related to the use of the premises itself. 6.20 Registration Requirements Lease agreements do not have to be recorded in any registers; however, the rights under a lease agreement may be disclosed in the land and mortgage register kept for the property under lease. In such a case, Polish regulations require that the lease agreement be executed in written form with signatures certified by a notary.
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