Officials to Check Income; Rent Could Rise

16 May 2026 Poland Radar 0 Comments

New rules introduce income verification for municipal housing; officials will check tenants’ income and may raise rent proportionally.

The government introduced a draft law that makes income verification for municipal housing a real, periodic duty. Consequently, officials will check whether you earn too much and could raise your rent proportionally.

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Income verification for municipal housing: what changes

Until now, local councils rarely checked tenants’ incomes. However, the law allowed checks only “not more often than every 2.5 years”. Moreover, checks applied only to contracts signed after April 21, 2019. Therefore, many long-term tenants escaped review. Consequently, municipal flats often served wealthier households. Meanwhile, people in real need waited years on lists.

The new draft makes income verification mandatory. In addition, municipalities must check incomes at least once every three years. The draft covers all tenancy dates. However, pensioners and disability pension recipients will not face these reviews. The ministry intends to send the bill for inter-ministerial consultation in early 2026.

How checks will work and possible rent changes

Every tenant will receive a request to submit a household income declaration. In addition, the declaration will cover three months of income for everyone living in the flat. Tenants will have one month to respond. If a municipality doubts the declaration, it can ask for a tax office (urząd skarbowy) certificate. Moreover, officials will access the central land and mortgage register to detect undeclared property ownership.

Consequently, municipalities may increase rent if incomes exceed thresholds. Unlike the old law, the draft links increases to the degree of breach. For example, a 10 percent income excess leads to a 10 percent rent rise. However, the law caps increases at six percent of the replacement value per year. Therefore, councils cannot raise rent above that ceiling for municipal housing. In addition, ignoring municipal requests can trigger an immediate rent rise to the maximum rate.

Warsaw illustrates the stakes. The city has more than 20,000 households on the waiting list. Moreover, average waiting time runs from seven to ten years. For example, a two-person household in a 40m2 municipal flat faces a threshold of about 11,387 PLN net combined. Therefore, earning 12,500 PLN would raise rent by roughly 9.7 percent, from about 542 PLN to about 595 PLN monthly.

Who will feel the change

Low-income applicants benefit from increased turnover. Consequently, more flats could free up without new construction. However, critics say the reform stops short of removing very wealthy tenants. In addition, tenant rights groups warn that people who improved their earnings could face unexpected costs. Nevertheless, the government argues proportional hikes reduce incentives to hide income.

💡 GOOD TO KNOW: If you rent municipal or social housing, check your tenancy date and calculate household income. In Poland, official contributions use institutions such as ZUS (social security), NFZ (health fund) and personal IDs like PESEL. In addition, include all incomes when declared, such as child support or untaxed benefits. Therefore, respond to municipal requests. Otherwise your municipality may raise rent to the maximum rate. Finally, if you are a close relative of a tenant, remember tenancy does not transfer automatically after death.

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