Evicting a Tenant: When It Is Possible and How It Works
Evicting a tenant is only possible once the tenancy has actually ended. The eviction is carried out by a court bailiff (komornik) on the basis of an enforceable title, not by the landlord. Your tenant doesn’t pay, got a termination notice and still won’t hand back the keys? Then you are looking at a termination notice, a lawsuit, a judgment and bailiff enforcement. Below I go through each of these stages. I also cover the do-it-yourself moves meant to speed things up, which in practice backfire on the landlord.
When is evicting a tenant possible?
Eviction is possible when the lease has expired or has been effectively terminated, and the tenant still occupies the property without any legal title. The most common reasons are:
- unpaid rent and charges,
- using the property contrary to the agreement or damaging it,
- gross or persistent breaches of house rules,
- the end of the term of a fixed-term lease.
With debts, there is a catch. The Tenants’ Rights Protection Act requires you to warn the tenant in writing that you intend to terminate the lease and to give them an extra deadline to pay. Skip this and your later lawsuit may fall apart. So start by making sure you have an effective lease termination. And before you go to court, check whether you can recover unpaid rent amicably. A settlement is often simply cheaper than a lawsuit (and faster, which in renting often matters more than the amount itself).
Eviction from a rental apartment step by step
The whole process has five stages. Each one leaves a document you need before you can move on to the next.
- Written termination notice. You state the reason and deliver the notice so that you have proof of receipt.
- Demand to vacate the property. After the tenancy ends, you demand that the former tenant move out. You keep a copy with proof of dispatch.
- Eviction lawsuit. It goes to court together with evidence that the lease is no longer in force.
- Judgment and enforcement clause. A final judgment with an enforcement clause is an enforceable title.
- Application to the bailiff. With the enforceable title in hand, you instruct the bailiff to clear the property.
Eviction lawsuit: what it must contain and how to prepare
You file the eviction lawsuit with the district court with jurisdiction over the property’s location, together with evidence that the tenancy has ended. The court looks mainly at two things: whether the termination was effective and whether the occupant lives there without legal grounds. What should you gather? The lease with its annexes, the termination notice with proof of delivery, payment demands and demands to move out, and the handover report describing the condition of the property. In my view, this is the most underrated stage. It is much easier to have a complete set when you keep all rental documents in one place from day one: in Tenanto, the lease, annexes and reports go into the file of the specific property. The proceedings themselves follow the Polish Code of Civil Procedure. Oh, and if several people live in the apartment, or the tenant’s family lives there, show the lawsuit to a lawyer. The judgment has to cover all of these people.
Social housing and eviction: what the court decides in the judgment
When issuing an eviction judgment, the court checks on its own initiative whether the tenant is entitled to social housing and rules on it in the judgment. If so, the eviction is put on hold until the municipality offers a social housing unit. And the apartment in the meantime? Still occupied. The landlord may then have a damages claim against the municipality for failing to provide the unit, but its scope and how to pursue it are best discussed with a lawyer. Then there is also the winter protection period. During this time, the bailiff as a rule does not put occupants “out on the street”.
Occasional lease: a faster way to clear the property
With an occasional lease (najem okazjonalny), there is simply no eviction lawsuit. Enforcement is based on a notarial deed in which the tenant submitted to enforcement. After the tenancy ends, you deliver a written demand to vacate the property. The tenant ignores it? Then you apply to the court for an enforcement clause and pass the case to the bailiff. The whole thing rests on one document: a declaration of submission to enforcement, signed when the lease is concluded. Without it, there is nothing to talk about. You can’t retroactively turn a regular lease into an occasional one, so this route only works for new agreements.
What a landlord must not do on their own
Removing a tenant on your own is not allowed. Even when they don’t pay and no longer have a valid lease. The landlord must not:
- change the locks or block the entrance,
- cut off electricity, water or gas,
- remove the tenant’s belongings from the apartment,
- enter the property while the tenant is away,
- intimidate the tenant or send third parties after them.
I understand the temptation, really. But moves like these can lead to civil and criminal liability. On top of that, in court you suddenly look like the party breaking the law, not the tenant with arrears. You will find more examples and ways to respond in the section on handling difficult rental situations.
How to reduce the risk of evicting a tenant with your next lease
The best protection is care with your next tenancy. Check the candidate before you sign anything. Consider an occasional lease. Document every change in writing: an annex for new terms, a report when handing over the keys. Boring? A bit. But it works. In Tenanto, reminders about expiring leases and lease statuses make sure the end of a tenancy doesn’t slip past you, so you have time to decide whether to extend or part ways. That way evicting a tenant stays a last resort, and if it does come to that, you have a full set of evidence from day one.
Frequently asked questions
There is no single answer. It all depends on the court’s workload, how smoothly documents are delivered, whether the tenant objects and whether they are entitled to social housing. An occasional lease saves the most time because it skips the eviction lawsuit. Well-prepared documents reduce the risk of the lawsuit being returned and of extra hearings.
No. That is taking the law into your own hands, and the landlord faces civil and criminal liability for it. The only legal route is a judgment with an enforcement clause, followed by enforcement carried out by a bailiff.
No. The court examines this separately in each case and rules on it in the eviction judgment, taking into account the situation of the people occupying the property. Not sure? Talk to a lawyer before you file the lawsuit.
