Polish law doesn't regulate this matter unambiguously, so for clarity and to avoid misunderstandings, our legal experts strongly advise getting a new statement from the notary.
As a landlord, you can sign a new agreement or create an annexe for the initial one. In both cases, your tenant should sign a new notarial deed that is identical but for the agreed extension. To read about the process again, check here.
This way, you – as a landlord – are sufficiently protected if a problem with the tenant leads to eviction.
If a tenant voluntarily submits to enforcement in case of eviction (in the form of a notarial deed) and adds this document as an appendix to the occasional/institutional rental agreement, this declaration should also be valid if parties later decide to add an annexe extending the agreement. That’s because it is not a new agreement but an extension of the previous one.
When a notary prepares the voluntary submission deed, the document includes the date of conclusion and expiry of the occasional/institutional tenancy agreement it relates to. This demonstrates that the occasional/institutional rental agreement is signed for a definite period, not longer than 10 years, as required by law.
By indicating those dates, the notary certifies that the occasional/institutional rental agreement is legal. Under these circumstances, the tenant's voluntary submission could be used to extend the same agreement if such extension is in accordance with the law, i.e. for a definite period not longer than 10 years.
Consequently, a tenant should be able to use the same notarial deed of voluntary submission to enforcement to extend an occasional/institutional rental agreement with an annexe if, in the deed, the tenant indicated that the deed could be used to extend the agreement. In reality, however, notaries have serious doubts about this interpretation.
Consultations with multiple Polish notaries show that there is no clear understanding of the law in this case. As a result, notaries advise landlords to include a new notarial deed of voluntary submission to enforcement when parties want to extend the occasional/institutional rental agreement with an annexe.
Notaries add that using the tenant’s original voluntary submission to the enforcement deed in the case of an occasional/institutional agreement extension might cause problems for the landlord during the court proceedings or the eviction process, as authorities might not accept that document as legally binding.
At Rendin, we aim to simplify the rental procedures and reduce formalities, but our primary goal is to offer the best possible protection to the parties of the tenancy agreement. Notaries don’t provide clear advice on this matter, so we suggest landlords act on a ‘better safe than sorry’ basis.
Using previously notarized voluntary submission to enforcement deeds to extend the occasional/institutional rental agreement poses an unnecessary risk for the property owners. That’s why, even though the final decision is up to the landlord, we strongly advise that you request a new notarial deed for the extension annexe.
If the court or the bailiff deems the tenant's notarial document used for the agreement extension invalid, you will lose the legal protection the occasional/institutional rental agreement offers. In these circumstances, we will treat this rental agreement as regular rather than occasional/institutional. However, you will still enjoy full Rendin protection up to the sum of 10x the rent amount.