• OCCASIONAL RENTAL

    Occasional rental

    Occasional rental is a special type of rental of residential premises. Its legal structure provides its owner with much more effective protection against "troublesome" tenants than in the case of a regular tenantlease.

    What is occasional rental?

    Issues related to occasional rental are regulated by the provisions of Art. 19a – 19e Act of June 21, 2001 on the protection of tenants' rights, municipal housing resources and amending the Civil Code(i.eJournal Laws of 2023, item 725).

    Pursuant to the above-mentioned legal act, an occasional premises rental agreement is:

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    • residential     premises lease agreement,

          

    • whose     owner, who is a natural person, does not conduct business activity     in the field of renting premises,

          

    • concluded     for a specified period of time, not longer than ten years.

    What can occasional lease cover?

    The above provision clearly states that an occasional lease agreement may only apply to a premises used to meet housing needs, i.e. simply an independent residential premises.nego.

    What does it mean?

    According to the Act of June 24, 1994 on the ownership of premises (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2021, item 1048, as amended) - an "independent residential premises" is a room or a set of rooms separated by permanent walls within the building. intended for permanent residence of people, which, together with auxiliary rooms, serve to meet their housing needs (Article 2(2)).

    At the same time, it indicates that the premises in question may include, as its components, various rooms, in particular:

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    • basement,

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    • attic,

          

    • cell,

          

    • garage.

    This happens, chocthat they are not directly adjacent to the premises or are even located within the boundaries of the land property located outside the building in whichit was separated.

    What cannot be covered by occasional lease?

    Due to the legal structure of occasional lease, it cannot apply to:

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    • premises     that are a studio used by the creator to conduct activities in the     field of culture and art,

          

    • rooms     intended for short-term stay of people, in particular those located     in boarding houses, dormitories, guesthouses, hotels, rest houses or     other buildings used for tourist or recreation purposes,

          

    • commercial     premises, in particular premises of a service nature, aimed     atrunning a business,

          

    • premises     included in the public housing stock, i.e. constituting the housing     stock of the commune and owned by other local government units or     the State Treasury. This also applies to those premises that the     commune may rent from other owners in order to sublet them to people     whose households earn a low income.

    Who can conclude an occasional rental agreement?

    Under an occasional lease agreement, the landlord provides the tenant with a residential premises for use in exchange for payment of the agreed rent.

    The leasing party can only be a natural person, so it is not permissible for any legal person or organizational unit with legal capacity to act in this role.

    You must know that not only the owner can be the tenant of the premises. This concept is much broader. The Act on the Protection of Tenants' Rights itself indicates that it should also be understood as another person with whom the tenant has a legal relationship entitling him to use the premises. This means thatsuch people as:

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    • a     tenant subletting or lending a given premises,

          

    • a     member of a housing cooperative who has a cooperative right to a     residential premises, if he or she has a legal relationship with the     tenant that gives him or her a legal title to use the premises.

    The only obstacle to concluding an occasional lease agreement on the part of the landlord is his business activity in the field of renting premises. So it cannot be:

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    • performed     on your own behalf,

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    • be     of a gainful and continuous nature.

    Therefore, there are no legal obstacles for the entrepreneur who runs the property to conclude such an agreement as a lessorbusiness activities not related to renting premises.

    The other party to the occasional lease agreement is the tenant, i.e. the tenant of the premises or the person whouses the premises on the basis of a legal title other than ownership, for example living in the premises under a rental agreement, or due to being a co-householder of such a person.

    As in the case of the landlord, the tenant can only be a natural person, because only he or she can own and satisfy his or her needs.housing.

    It is permissible for it to be an entrepreneur, also if he runs a business of renting premises.

    What are the requirements for an occasional rental agreement?

    The occasional lease agreement is subject to specific legal requirements.

    First of all, its conclusion and any changes must be in writing under pain of nullity. This means that if it is not complied with, the contract will not produce any legal effects.

    In accordance with applicable regulations, the occasional premises rental agreement should be accompanied by documents, such as in particular:

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    • the     tenant's declaration of submission to enforcement and commitment to     vacate and hand over the premises to which it applies within the     period specified in the request to vacate it, which was issued by     its owner. It must be in the form of a notarial deed,

          

    • indication     by the tenant of another premises where he will be able to live in     the event of enforcement of the obligation to vacate the premises,

          

    • a     declaration of the owner of the premises or the person having legal     title to the premises, consenting to the tenant and his/her persons     living in the premises indicated in the above declaration. The     landlord may request that it be submitted with a notarially     certified signature.

    Importantly, vIf the tenant loses the ability to live in the premises covered by such a declaration, he is obliged, within 21 days from the date of becoming aware of this, to indicate another premises for such purpose and to submit an appropriate declaration from its owner. If this does not happen, the landlord will be entitled to terminate the occasional lease agreement in writing, giving at least seven days' notice.

    In addition to the above formal requirements, the conclusion of an occasional lease agreement may be conditional on the tenant paying an appropriate deposit.

    It is in the form of money and its purpose is to secure the coverage of rental receivables that would be due to the owner on the day the premises are vacated and to cover possible costs of enforcing the latter obligation.

    It should be noted, however, that the deposit cannot exceed six times the monthly rent for a given premises, calculated according to the rate applicable on the date of concluding the occasional lease agreement. This means that a subsequent change in the rent amount does not affect the amount of the deposit paid and does not result in the tenant being obliged to pay an appropriate "surcharge".

    The deposit is refundable to the tenant within one month from the date of vacating the premises, after deducting any amounts due to the owner. It is subject to appropriate indexation, therefore the refund covers an amount equal to the product of the monthly rent applicable on the day of the deposit refund and the rent multiple taken when collecting the deposit, but in an amount not lower than the deposit collected.

    The legislator clearly indicated that for the occasional lease of premises, in addition to the rent, the owner is entitled to collect only fees that are beyond his control, unless the contract provides otherwise. This includes fees for garbage collection, electricity consumption, etc. It is also stipulated that the rent may be increasedtake place only in accordance with the conditions specified in the lease agreement.

    It should be remembered that in accordance with applicable regulations, the owner is obliged to report the conclusion of an occasional lease agreement to the head of the tax office competent for his/her property.domicile. The deadline for this is 14 days from the date of commencement of the lease. In the event of failure to fulfill this obligation, the provisions regarding restrictions on increasing the rent and charging only fees specified in the Act do not apply to the concluded contract. Therefore, in the interesttenant, the legislator introduced the obligation for the lessor to submit, at his express request, confirmation of the submission of the notification in question.

    Occasional premises rental agreement:

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    • expires     after the expiry of the period for which it was concluded, or

          

    • terminates     after the expiry of the notice period.

    When is the tenant being evicted?

    After the termination of the occasional lease agreement, the tenant is obliged to immediately vacate the occupied premises. If he does not do so voluntarily, the owner may serve him with an appropriate request in this regard. To be valid, it must be made in writing with an officially certified signature of the owner and contain in particular:

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    • identification     of the owner and tenant concerned,

          

    • indication     of the lease agreementoccasional premises and the reason for the     termination of this relationshiplegal,

          

    • a     deadline, not shorter than 7 days from the date of delivery of the     tenant's request, within which the tenant and the persons living     with him are to vacate the premises occupied by them.

    If the specified deadline expires ineffectively, the owner may submit to the court an application to grant an enforceability clause to the notarial deed containing the tenant's declaration of voluntary submission to enforcement. It is required to be accompanied by:

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    • a     request to vacate the premises along with proof of its delivery to     the tenant or proof of sending it by registered mail,

          

    • a     document confirming the owner's legal title to the premises that his     request concerns to vacate,

          

    • confirmation     that the owner has notified the conclusion of the lease agreement to     the tax office.

    After completing this procedure, the owner may refer the case directly to the bailiff for eviction proceedings.

    INIn the case of occasional leases, the principles of protecting tenants' rights are largely not applied. This applies to the ban on evictions during the winter period (from November 1 to March 31) and the obligation to find a municipal tenant a replacement premises in advance. Eviction from premises rented occasionally can be carried out even in relation to pregnant women, minors, disabled and bedridden patients - to the premises specified in the previously indicated declaration.

    Upon request, we also manage occasional rentals for our clients - if you would like to learn more about this, please contact us!