Residential Easement
A personal easement giving a named individual a lifetime right to live in a property, most often reserved by a former owner as part of a life estate agreement or an inheritance settlement when ownership passes to someone else.
Applies to Poland.
Definition
A residential easement (służebność mieszkania) is a specific form of personal easement (służebność osobista) under Articles 301–302 of the Civil Code, part of the broader family of easements described under the general easement (służebność) entry. It grants a specific, named person — not the owner of another property — the right to occupy some or all of a building for residential purposes, typically for that person's lifetime.
The most common context for a residential easement is a family property transfer: a parent transfers ownership of their house or apartment to a child, or a former owner sells or gifts the property, while reserving the right to keep living there. It is frequently paired with — but legally distinct from — a life estate agreement (umowa dożywocia), which additionally obliges the new owner to provide care and support; a residential easement can exist on its own, without any care obligation attached.
Like other easements, a residential easement is entered in Section III of the land and mortgage register and binds the property regardless of subsequent transfers — a buyer who purchases a property burdened with a residential easement acquires it together with the obligation to let the named person continue living there.
Examples
A mother transfers ownership of her apartment to her son but has a residential easement entered in her favor, securing her right to live in one of the rooms for the rest of her life.
Siblings dividing an inherited house agree that one of them will take sole ownership, while reserving a residential easement for their elderly aunt, who has lived in the ground-floor unit for decades.
A buyer considering a discounted resale apartment discovers it carries a registered residential easement in favor of the previous owner's uncle, and factors the occupied room into their offer and renovation plans.
How this affects buying and selling
Buyers should treat a registered residential easement as a real, long-term limitation on how they can use or rent out a property — it cannot simply be negotiated away after purchase, since it binds the property itself. Families arranging a property transfer with a reserved right of residence benefit from having the easement drafted precisely (which rooms, shared use of common areas) to avoid disputes once multiple people are living under one roof.
