Wspólnota Mieszkaniowa: Duties and the Board

Short answer. A wspólnota mieszkaniowa is the community made up of all the owners of the units in one Polish building or property. Its board runs day-to-day affairs, the owners pass resolutions by a majority counted by shares, and they cover the cost of the common property with monthly advances. This article covers what the community is, where "small" ends and "large" begins, how a board differs from a property manager, how resolutions are adopted, what the advances pay for and what the board must do. The Polish version carries a printable checklist for a new board.

We read the act of 24 June 1994 on ownership of premises (Dz.U. 1994 no. 85 item 388) in the consolidated text prepared on the basis of Dz.U. 2026 item 232 (version of 16 July 2026). This is information, not legal advice: for a disputed point, ask the community's lawyer. The Polish article is the one to read for the exact wording; the numbers of the articles below are the same.

What a wspólnota mieszkaniowa is

Article 6 says that the owners of all the units that make up a property form the wspólnota mieszkaniowa, and that it can acquire rights, take on obligations, sue and be sued. What it manages is the common property: the land plus the parts of the building and the equipment that do not serve exclusively the owners of individual units (art. 3(2)). An owner's share in the common property reflects the floor area of the unit with its appurtenant rooms against the floor area of all units (art. 3(3)). Shares matter in practice: votes and costs are counted by them. For obligations tied to the common property, the community is liable without limit and each owner in the part matching their share (art. 17).

Small and large community

"Small wspólnota" and "large wspólnota" are everyday terms. The act does not use either word anywhere in the text we read. It splits the cases by the number of units:

• No more than three units. The management of the common property follows the Civil Code and Code of Civil Procedure rules on co-ownership (art. 19).
• More than three units. From this threshold the act requires a resolution electing a one-person or multi-person board, unless the way of managing was set in an agreement in notarial-deed form (art. 18(1) and (3)); a board member can only be a natural person (art. 20(1)). If no board is appointed, or it does not do its duties, any owner can ask the court for a compulsory manager (art. 26(1)).

The three-unit threshold is as in the text we read. Check the current consolidated text in the official ISAP service before relying on it; which units count towards the threshold in an unusual case, for example when some units are not yet separated, is a question for a lawyer.

Board or manager

The board is the community's organ: elected by resolution, one person or several, suspended or dismissed by resolution at any time (art. 20). It runs the community's affairs and represents it, and when it has several members, at least two make declarations of intent (art. 21).

A property manager is a different role, and two acts speak of it. The ownership act lets owners entrust management to a natural or legal person in a notarial deed (art. 18(1)), and changing that arrangement takes a resolution recorded by a notary (art. 18(2a)). The real estate management act defines a manager as an entrepreneur whose business is managing real property (art. 184a), with the scope fixed by a management contract (art. 185(2)). The duties in arts. 29 and 30 fall on the board or on the manager to whom management was entrusted under art. 18(1). More: Property manager for a Polish wspólnota.

Resolutions

Resolutions are adopted at a meeting or by individual vote collection (art. 23(1)) and pass by a majority counted by shares unless each owner has one vote by agreement (art. 23(2)). The provision does not say what that majority is taken of; courts read it as a majority of all the shares in the community, not only of those present, which is why the act sets no quorum and the board can collect the missing votes individually (art. 23(1)). In disputed cases ask the community's lawyer. If votes were collected individually, every owner must be told the content in writing (art. 23(3)). Acts beyond ordinary management, among them setting the board's remuneration, adopting the annual plan and setting the charges, need a resolution (art. 22). If the required majority is missing, the board or manager can ask the court to decide (art. 24). An owner can challenge a resolution in court within 6 weeks (art. 25), which is why every resolution should carry its date and the date owners were notified.

Advances and the "renovation fund"

The costs of managing the common property include repairs and routine maintenance, utilities for the common parts, insurance and public charges, cleaning and the remuneration of board members or the manager (art. 14). Owners pay advances towards them in advance by the 10th of each month (art. 15(1)), at a level set by resolution (art. 22(3) pt 3), counted by shares (art. 12(2)). The expression "fundusz remontowy" is not in the act: the word "fundusz" does not occur in the text we read. Whether a community sets money aside for repairs separately, and how, is a matter for its own resolutions and accounts. If you hear of a "change of the act" on the renovation fund, we found no such provision in the ownership act; check the current text before building a resolution on it.

What the board must do

Keep an off-ledger record of costs and advances (art. 29(1)) with the calendar year as the settlement period; draw up a protocol of taking over the property and its technical documentation, keep it, and keep the list of owners and their shares up to date (art. 29(1b)); settle through a bank account; give owners an annual report; convene the owners' meeting at least once a year, no later than in the first quarter (art. 30(1)), failing which any owner can convene it (art. 30(1a)); notify each owner in writing at least a week ahead with day, hour, place and agenda (art. 32). The annual meeting is meant to cover the annual plan and charges, an assessment of the board, and its report and discharge (art. 30(2)).

How Unitify helps, and what it does not do

Unitify is a platform for owner-occupied buildings and the people and companies that manage them. For a Polish board, three parts also have a page in Polish: the resident app (announcements reach residents in the app, by email and on the building website, with read receipts, which helps show owners were informed but does not replace the written notice art. 32 requires), requests (resident requests become tracked tickets) and voting (it records votes; it does not by itself make a meeting or resolution valid, and Unitify has no video conferencing). Unitify does not draft resolutions, keep the community's books, or replace the board, the manager or a lawyer. The interface is not yet in Polish; texts you type stay in Polish. Euro prices are net of VAT; see pricing and the Poland page.