Reservation Agreement
A short-term agreement, most often used with developers, under which a buyer pays a fee to take a specific unit off the market for a limited period while financing and paperwork are finalized.
Applies to Poland.
Definition
Since the Act of 20 May 2021 on the Protection of Rights of Buyers of a Residential Unit or Single-Family House, a reservation agreement (umowa rezerwacyjna) with a developer has its own statutory framework: it must be in writing, specify the reserved unit, the reservation fee (capped at 1% of the unit's price), the reservation period, and the price at which the developer commits to later selling it.
The reservation fee must be fully refunded to the buyer if the developer fails to meet certain statutory conditions — for example, a bank refuses financing for reasons independent of the buyer, or the actual unit price or parameters differ materially from the reservation agreement's terms. Outside those protected cases, the fee is typically forfeited if the buyer simply changes their mind.
A reservation agreement is a separate, lighter-weight step that usually precedes a preliminary agreement — it takes the unit off the market and locks in the price while the buyer arranges financing, but it does not itself create the stronger obligation to conclude a sale that a preliminary agreement, especially one in notarial form, does.
Examples
A buyer pays a developer a reservation fee of 1% of the unit price to hold a specific apartment for 30 days while their mortgage application is being processed.
A buyer's mortgage is refused through no fault of their own, and the developer refunds the full reservation fee under the statutory protection.
A buyer simply decides not to proceed after reserving a unit, and under the agreement's terms the developer keeps the reservation fee.
How this affects buying and selling
Buyers dealing with a developer should check that the reservation fee doesn't exceed the statutory 1% cap and that the agreement clearly lists the conditions under which it must be refunded. A reservation agreement is a useful, low-commitment first step, but buyers shouldn't mistake it for the stronger protection a notarial preliminary agreement provides once financing is secured.
