Along with the transformation of the perpetual usufruct right to land developed for housing purposes, the owners were obliged to pay the so-called transformation fee. If there is no notification of the intention to make a one-time payment of the transformation fee, the fee should be paid without notice by March 31 of each year.
Legal basis
Act of 20 July 2018 on transforming the perpetual usufruct right of lands developed for housing purposes into land ownership (consolidated text, Polish Journal of Laws of 2020, item 2040), hereinafter referred to as “the Act”.
Fee
The amount of the transformation fee is equal to the amount of the annual perpetual usufruct fee that would be in force on the date of transformation (art. 7 sec. 2 of the Act).
The transformation fee may be indexed no more than once every 3 years from the date of the last indexation. Indexation is made ex officio or at the owner’s request. The authority notifies the owner of the amount of the adjusted fee in writing (art. 10 sec. 2 of the Act).
Payment deadline
The transformation fee is payable by March 31 of each year (art. 7 sec. 5 of the Act).
It is possible to divide the annual transformation fee into installments or to set a different date for payment, not exceeding a given calendar year. The application in this regard should be submitted no later than 14 days before the expiry of the statutory payment deadline, i.e. before March 17 of each year. (art. 7 sec. 5 of the Act).
The authority does not call the owners to pay the transformation fee, as the amount and the deadline for its payment result from the provisions of the Act.
Period of payment
The annual transformation fee is payable for the period of 20 years from the date of transformation (art. 7 sec. 6 of the Act).
Notification of the intention to make a one-time payment
The owner has the right to notify the authority of the intention to pay the transformation fee in a one-time form at any time. The amount of the one-time transformation fee is determined as the product of the fee applicable in the year in which the intention to pay the one-time fee was notified and the number of years remaining until the payment period expires (as a rule 20 years). The notification must be made in writing (art. 7 sec. 7 of the Act). Entitled persons, i.e. persons with moderate or severe disability, members of families with many children, war and military invalids or veterans are entitled to a discount on the one-time fee of 99%. A detailed list of entitled persons is included in art. 9a of the Act.
In the case of paying a one-time fee, please remember to submit an application for the removal of the claim for the transformation fee from the land and mortgage register. More information on this subject can be found in the article “Perpetual usufruct: after paying the one-time transformation fee, submit an application to remove the claim from the land and mortgage register”.