Security Deposit
A sum of money paid by the tenant to the landlord to secure claims arising from the lease — mainly unpaid rent and the cost of repairing damage — returned once the lease ends and the property has been settled.
Applies to Poland.
Definition
Under Article 6 of the Act on the Protection of Tenants' Rights, a security deposit (kaucja) securing claims owed to the landlord as of the day the property is vacated may not exceed twelve times the monthly rent, calculated at the rate in effect when the agreement was signed.
The deposit must be returned within one month of the property being vacated or of the tenant acquiring ownership of it, after deducting amounts owed to the landlord under the lease — in practice most commonly unpaid rent and the cost of repairing damage beyond normal wear and tear.
The twelve-times-rent cap applies to residential leases covered by the Tenant Protection Act; there is no equivalent statutory limit for commercial premises, where the parties are free to agree on the deposit amount.
Examples
At a monthly rent of 2,500 PLN, the landlord may demand a deposit of no more than 30,000 PLN, though in practice a deposit equal to one or two months' rent is most common.
After the tenant moves out, the landlord deducts the cost of repainting walls damaged beyond normal wear, and returns the remainder to the tenant's account within a month.
A tenant disputes a deposit deduction for a scratch on the floor, pointing to the move-in handover protocol, in which the scratch was already recorded.
How this affects buying and selling
It's worth it for tenants to prepare a detailed condition report of the property (ideally with photos) both at move-in and move-out — this is the main evidence in a dispute over deposit deductions. Landlords benefit from documenting actual repair costs (receipts, invoices), since simply stating a deduction amount without support is easy to challenge.
