Answer the questions to see a score.
Choose or replace the manager of your wspólnota mieszkaniowa
Score every candidate on the same questions, send each one the same RFP, and see what the Polish apartment-ownership act says about who named the first manager and how owners can change it. The Polish page has the same content.
Who named your manager, and how do owners change it?
In a new building the first owner is the developer, so the developer signs the first deed. That deed can decide how the common property is managed, and later buyers inherit the choice.
- 1The deed. Owners may set the way of managing the common property in the deed that creates separate ownership of the units, or in a later notarial deed, and may entrust management to a natural or legal person (art. 18(1)).
- 2Later buyers inherit it. When units are separated one after another, the way of management adopted by the earlier co-owners applies to every later buyer of a unit (art. 18(2)).
- 3Changing it. A change to a management arrangement established in this way may be made by a resolution of the owners recorded by a notary. The resolution is the basis for an entry in the land and mortgage register (art. 18(2a)).
- 4Voting. Resolutions pass by a majority of votes counted by share, unless the agreement or a resolution gives each owner one vote (art. 23(2)). If one owner holds the majority of the shares, as a developer does while it still owns most of the units, owners holding 1/5 of the shares between them can demand one vote per owner (art. 23(2a)).
If the owners elected a board instead of entrusting management by deed, the board members can be suspended or dismissed at any time by an owners’ resolution (art. 20(2)). The steps below cover both cases.
Score the candidates
Rate each candidate on every question: yes is 2 points, partly is 1, no is 0. The groups carry the weights shown, which add up to 100. The score helps you compare. It does not replace reading the signed offer.
In Poland, ask whether the candidate will maintain the records, conduct financial settlements through a bank account and provide the annual report required of a manager entrusted with management (art. 29 and 30).
Credentials and compliance
Money handling
Reporting and governance
Service and response
Handover readiness
Independence
Price transparency
Proof
Result
Questions to ask a manager
These are the questions the scorecard scores, grouped by what they test. Ask every candidate the same ones, in writing, and keep the answers.
Credentials and compliance
- Do the company and the person who will run your building hold the license or certificate that applies where you are (if any), and will they show you the number?
- Does it carry professional-liability and fidelity (crime) insurance, and will it show you the certificate?
- Is it a member of a professional association with a code of conduct that owners can read?
Money handling
- Is the building’s money kept in a separate account in the association’s name, never mixed with the manager’s own funds?
- Can owners see the bank statement and who owes what online, at any time?
- Does it publish a statement of income and spending to owners every month, within a fixed number of days?
- Are the accounts reviewed by someone independent of the manager once a year?
Reporting and governance
- Does it deliver the annual budget and the year-end statement on time, in a form an owner can read?
- Does it keep a complete archive of minutes and resolutions that any owner can open?
- Are documents, minutes and contracts kept in an owner and board portal instead of e-mail attachments?
- Does it support online voting or remote participation in meetings, where the law allows?
Service and response
- Is there a named manager for your building, and does it tell you how many buildings or units that person runs?
- Is there a backup person and an out-of-hours route for burst pipes, elevators and power cuts?
- Are requests logged with a reference number, and can the resident see the status?
- Are response and resolution times reported to the board every month?
Handover readiness
- Will it take over the common parts, keys and technical documents from the developer or the previous manager in a signed protocol?
- Will it track defects and warranty claims with deadlines, and chase them with the builder?
- Will it collect and keep the as-built drawings and the technical file of the building?
- Can owners see the defects being worked on, with their status?
Independence
- Does it declare in writing any ownership, financial or family link to the developer, the sellers of units or the people deciding for the owners?
- Is the contract term within what the law allows, and can the owners end it on notice without a penalty?
- Does it disclose when it gives work to companies that it or the developer owns?
Price transparency
- Is the fee itemized, with what is included written down?
- Are extras and the share charged on major works stated up front, with no open-ended add-ons?
- Is the yearly increase tied to a stated index or cap, and is last year’s real workload shown so offers can be compared like for like?
Proof
- Can it give references from buildings of a similar size and age, and say how many years it has been in business?
- Will it show you a live demo of what owners and residents actually see?
- Does it know, and tell you, how many owners actually use online payment and the app?
Two to add at the end
- Which of these answers will you put into the contract?
- Which wspólnoty of our size may we call?
RFP template for a manager (zapytanie ofertowe)
A request for proposal puts every candidate on the same page. This one carries the scorecard’s questions, a fee table, the weights and a declaration of independence, plus the duties the act puts on a manager entrusted with management. Send the same file to at least three companies.
How to replace a manager in a Polish wspólnota
The steps depend on how management is set up, so find that out first.
- 1
Find out how management is set up
Read the deed and the owners’ resolutions. Is management entrusted to a named person or company (art. 18(1)), or does the community have an elected board (art. 20)? The answer decides the route.
- 2
Check the contract
Note the term, the notice period and any fee for ending it early. Setting the remuneration of the board or the manager is a matter for an owners’ resolution (art. 22(3)(1)).
- 3
Collect offers
Send the RFP to at least three companies and score the answers with the scorecard above.
- 4
Call the meeting
Owners with at least 1/10 of the shares can require the board or manager to convene a meeting (art. 31(b)). Every owner is told in writing at least a week before, with the date, time, place and agenda, and the notice states the content of any change in the owners’ rights and duties (art. 32).
- 5
Pass the resolution
Votes are counted by share unless the agreement says otherwise (art. 23(2)). If management is entrusted by deed, the change follows from a resolution recorded by a notary (art. 18(2a)); with an elected board, owners can dismiss board members by resolution at any time (art. 20(2)). Owners who voted individually must be told the content of the resolution in writing (art. 23(3)).
- 6
Make the handover work
The manager entrusted with management must draw up a protocol of takeover of the property and its technical documentation (the building documents, the as-built documents and the building log book) on behalf of the community (art. 29(1b)). It must also conduct financial settlements through a bank account, report to owners every year and call the annual meeting no later than the first quarter (art. 30(1)).
- 7
Mind the six weeks
An owner can challenge a resolution in court within 6 weeks of the meeting, or of being told the content of a resolution passed by individually collected votes (art. 25(1), (1a)).
This is general information, not legal advice. Whether replacing the company named in your deed counts as a change of the way of management under art. 18(2a) is a question for your notary or lawyer. If the community has no working management at all, any owner can ask the court to appoint a manager (art. 26(1)).
Why the scorecard asks about online access
Seven of the questions are about what owners can see online. That is a fair way to tell managers apart, not a requirement of the act: a small wspólnota can do well without any of it, so the questions start switched off. A manager who gives owners a live view of the account and of requests saves the board a monthly round of phone calls; switch the questions on to give that credit.
Unitify gives managers these tools.
Legal sources
Every legal statement on this page comes from the text of the law itself. The quotes are in the original language.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 18(1)
Właściciele lokali mogą w umowie o ustanowieniu odrębnej własności lokali albo w umowie zawartej później w formie aktu notarialnego określić sposób zarządu nieruchomością wspólną, a w szczególności mogą powierzyć zarząd osobie fizycznej albo prawnej.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 18(2)
W razie sukcesywnego wyodrębniania lokali przyjęty przez dotychczasowych współwłaścicieli sposób zarządu nieruchomością wspólną odnosi skutek także do każdego kolejnego nabywcy lokalu.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 18(2a)
Zmiana ustalonego w trybie ust. 1 sposobu zarządu nieruchomością wspólną może nastąpić na podstawie uchwały właścicieli lokali zaprotokołowanej przez notariusza. Uchwała ta stanowi podstawę wpisu do księgi wieczystej.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 20(1)
Jeżeli liczba lokali wyodrębnionych i lokali niewyodrębnionych jest większa niż trzy, właściciele lokali są obowiązani podjąć uchwałę o wyborze jednoosobowego lub kilkuosobowego zarządu.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 20(2)
Zarząd lub poszczególni jego członkowie mogą być w każdej chwili na mocy uchwały właścicieli lokali zawieszeni w czynnościach lub odwołani.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 22(3)(1)
ustalenie wynagrodzenia zarządu lub zarządcy nieruchomości wspólnej;
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 23(2)
Uchwały zapadają większością głosów właścicieli lokali, liczoną według wielkości udziałów, chyba że w umowie lub w uchwale podjętej w tym trybie postanowiono, że w określonej sprawie na każdego właściciela przypada jeden głos.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 23(2a)
Jeżeli suma udziałów w nieruchomości wspólnej nie jest równa 1 albo większość udziałów należy do jednego właściciela bądź gdy obydwa te warunki spełnione są łącznie, głosowanie według zasady, że na każdego właściciela przypada jeden głos, wprowadza się na każde żądanie właścicieli lokali posiadających łącznie co najmniej 1/5 udziałów w nieruchomości wspólnej.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 23(3)
O treści uchwały, która została podjęta z udziałem głosów zebranych indywidualnie, każdy właściciel lokalu powinien zostać powiadomiony na piśmie.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 25(1)
Właściciel lokalu może zaskarżyć uchwałę do sądu z powodu jej niezgodności z przepisami prawa lub z umową właścicieli lokali albo jeśli narusza ona zasady prawidłowego zarządzania nieruchomością wspólną lub w inny sposób narusza jego interesy.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 25(1a)
Powództwo, o którym mowa w ust. 1, może być wytoczone przeciwko wspólnocie mieszkaniowej w terminie 6 tygodni od dnia podjęcia uchwały na zebraniu ogółu właścicieli lokali albo od dnia powiadomienia wytaczającego powództwo o treści uchwały podjętej w trybie indywidualnego zbierania głosów.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 26(1)
Jeżeli zarząd nie został powołany lub pomimo powołania nie wypełnia swoich obowiązków albo narusza zasady prawidłowej gospodarki, każdy właściciel lokalu może żądać ustanowienia zarządcy przymusowego przez sąd, który określi zakres jego uprawnień oraz należne mu wynagrodzenie.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 29(1)
jest obowiązany prowadzić dla każdej nieruchomości wspólnej, określoną przez wspólnotę mieszkaniową, ewidencję pozaksięgową kosztów zarządu nieruchomością wspólną oraz zaliczek uiszczanych na pokrycie tych kosztów
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 29(1b)
jest obowiązany sporządzić protokół przejęcia nieruchomości i jej dokumentacji technicznej (budowlanej, powykonawczej i książki obiektu budowlanego) w imieniu wspólnoty mieszkaniowej
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 29(2)
Właściciele lokali podejmują uchwałę w przedmiocie udzielenia absolutorium zarządowi lub zarządcy, któremu zarząd nieruchomością wspólną powierzono w sposób określony w art. 18 ust. 1, z prowadzonej przez niego działalności.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 29(3)
Prawo kontroli działalności zarządu służy każdemu właścicielowi lokalu.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 30(1)(1)
dokonywać rozliczeń przez rachunek bankowy;
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 30(1)(2)
składać właścicielom lokali roczne sprawozdanie ze swojej działalności;
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 30(1)(3)
zwoływać zebranie ogółu właścicieli lokali co najmniej raz w roku, niepóźniej niż w pierwszym kwartale każdego roku.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 30(1a)
zebranie coroczne może zwołać każdy z właścicieli.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 31(b)
zwoływane są na wniosek właścicieli lokali dysponujących co najmniej 1/10 udziałów w nieruchomości wspólnej przez zarząd lub zarządcę, któremu zarząd nieruchomością wspólną powierzono w sposób określony w art. 18 ust. 1.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 32(1)
O zebraniu ogółu właścicieli lokali zarząd lub zarządca, któremu zarząd nieruchomością wspólną powierzono w sposób określony w art. 18 ust. 1, zawiadamia każdego właściciela lokalu na piśmie przynajmniej na tydzień przed terminem zebrania.
- Act on apartment ownership, art. 32(2)
W zawiadomieniu należy podać dzień, godzinę, miejsce i porządek obrad. W wypadku zamierzonej zmiany we wzajemnych prawach i obowiązkach właścicieli lokali należy wskazać treść tej zmiany.
Choosing a manager in Poland: questions
Can the owners replace a manager named in the developer’s first deed?
If the way of management was set in the deed, the change follows from a resolution of the owners recorded by a notary (art. 18(2a)). If the owners elected a board, the board can be dismissed at any time by resolution (art. 20(2)). Votes are counted by share, and while one owner holds most of the shares, owners with 1/5 of the shares can demand one vote per owner (art. 23(2a)).
What must the manager do every year?
A board or manager entrusted with management must conduct financial settlements through a bank account, give owners an annual report of its activity and call a meeting of all owners at least once a year, no later than the first quarter (art. 30(1)). If it does not, any owner can call the annual meeting (art. 30(1a)).
Can an owner check what the manager does?
Every owner has the right to monitor the board’s activity (art. 29(3)). The manager keeps separate records of management costs and advances outside the formal books of account (art. 29(1)), and the owners decide whether to grant discharge (art. 29(2)).
How many offers should we collect?
At least three. It gives you a price range and shows who answers the hard questions. The scorecard compares up to three side by side.
Is the lowest fee the best offer?
Not by itself. Compare the fee with what is included, the extras, the share charged on major works and the yearly increase. That is why price transparency is a group of its own in the score.
What if the community has no working management?
If a board was not appointed, or does not do its job, any owner can ask the court to appoint a manager, who is given a defined scope of powers and a fee (art. 26(1)).
What happens to the answers I enter?
Nothing leaves your browser. The score is calculated on the page and kept only for the tab.
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