Tenant Guide: landlord entry rights and regulations

In this article i made a legal analitics of the key legal act regulating relations between landlords and their tenants.

Landlord Rights: when can they enter a rental property? And what should a landlord do if they enter without the tenant?

Landlord entry into a rental property is permissible only (!) under certain conditions:

1. Tenant Consent: The landlord must obtain the tenant’s permission to enter the property, except in emergency situations.
2. Emergency Situations: The landlord has the right to enter the property without prior notice or consent from the tenant, even in their absence, in case of emergencies such as fire, flooding, or other circumstances that could cause property damage or threaten the life and health of other residents.
3. Maintenance and Repairs: The landlord may enter the property to perform necessary maintenance and repairs but must notify the tenant in advance and agree on a convenient time.
4. Property Inspection: The landlord can conduct property inspections, such as checking the condition of the property or preparing it for sale. These inspections must also be scheduled with the tenant and conducted at a mutually convenient time.
5. Lease Agreement: The lease agreement may include additional conditions regulating the landlord’s access to the property. Both parties must adhere to the terms outlined in the lease.

Attention! What should a landlord do if the tenant is not home during an emergency situation as described above?

In such emergency situations, the tenant is required to provide immediate access to the property for resolving the issue. If the tenant is absent or refuses to grant access, the landlord has the right to enter the property, BUT only in the presence of a police officer or municipal guard (straży miejskiej), and if fire department assistance is needed, with their participation as well.

If the property is accessed in the absence of the tenant or an adult residing with them, the landlord must secure the property and the belongings inside until the tenant arrives. A report of the actions taken must be documented.

After prior agreement on the timing, the tenant is also required to provide the landlord access to the property for:

1. Periodic, and in particularly justified cases, extraordinary inspections of the condition and technical equipment of the property, as well as for determining the scope of necessary work and its completion.
2. The landlord’s performance of work that is the tenant’s responsibility.

When the occasion arises, I’ll remind you that a lease agreement is primarily a document drafted with legal terminology that may be unfamiliar and potentially harmful to You. Therefore, the safest approach is to entrust the analysis of Your lease agreement to a lawyer. Better to Yourown experienced lawyer in Poland – Tatiana Lyashchenko 😉