Renting an Apartment to a Company for Its Employees: Lease and Risks
When you rent an apartment to a company, the company signs the lease as the tenant, and the people living there are whoever it chooses. Usually its employees. This setup works, but on one condition: the lease has to state clearly who can live in the apartment, how many people at once, and who pays for damage. A typical case? In summer a construction company or a staffing agency calls and wants the place for a year for crews that change every few months. Below I cover what to put in the lease, how this kind of rental differs from renting to a private person, and when it is better to see a lawyer.
How does renting an apartment to a company work and who is party to the lease?
The party to the lease is a company or a sole trader. The employees are not tenants. They simply use the apartment with the company’s permission. The basis is an ordinary lease, as defined in Article 659 of the consolidated text of the Civil Code. And here is the catch: Article 6882 of the same code says that without the landlord’s consent, the tenant cannot hand the apartment over for free use or sublet it. The conclusion is simple - you write consent for employees to live there directly into the lease, leaving nothing to guesswork. Our guide on how subletting with the owner’s consent works shows what such consent looks like in practice.
Before you sign anything, check the company in the register (KRS or CEIDG). Find out who is authorised to represent it. And make sure that the signature comes from exactly that person or from a proxy with written authorisation. It sounds like a formality, but it pays off later.
What should a lease with a company include?
A lease with a company must state: who can live in the apartment, how changes of occupants are reported, how many people can live there at once, who is liable for damage, and who the contact person is. In my view these clauses protect the owner more than the rent amount itself. The list should include:
- the purpose of the lease, i.e. housing the tenant’s employees,
- consent for the apartment to be used by people named by the company,
- the maximum number of occupants,
- a duty to report changes of occupants in advance, in writing or by email,
- full liability of the company for damage caused by occupants,
- a permanent contact person on the company’s side,
- rules for entering the apartment and handing over keys,
- a handover report at every change of occupants.
On top of that, a ban on further subletting to people outside the company, and house rules attached as an appendix. The rest is standard: the lease term, notice rules and a deposit that covers possible damage and arrears.
Staff turnover: how to keep track of who lives in employee housing?
With frequent changes of occupants, two things matter. Written notices from the company. And a report on the apartment’s condition at every crew change. Without them you cannot establish when a fault appeared and who was living there at the time (and after six months nobody remembers who broke the door handle). The company should keep the list of occupants, and that duty has to be written into the lease. The owner simply has no way to keep track of the turnover alone.
If people from abroad are going to live in the apartment, see our guide on renting to a foreigner. Residence registration (meldunek) is a separate topic: tenant registration and the owner’s consent. And then there is keeping your paperwork in order. With this kind of rental it really pays off. In Tenanto the lease has its dates recorded and a reminder before it ends, fault reports and messages with the tenant stay in the history, and annexes and reports are attached to the specific property.
A company as tenant vs. renting to a private person: pros and risks
A company usually means a stable, longer lease and a single payer. But you pay for that with more wear on the apartment and less control over who lives in it. In short:
| Issue | Renting to a company | Renting to a private person |
|---|---|---|
| Lease stability | Usually a longer term, one payer | Depends on the tenant’s life situation |
| Number of occupants | Often several people at once | Usually one person or a family |
| Wear and tear | Higher with turnover and many occupants | Lower when the same people live there |
| Contact with the tenant | Through the company’s contact person | Directly with the occupant |
| Liability for damage | The company, if the lease says so | The tenant personally |
| Relations with neighbours and the housing community | Risk of complaints with frequent changes of occupants | Usually calmer |
| Pursuing claims | Against a company whose assets are easier to identify | Against an individual |
Are the company’s employees protected as tenants?
This is a disputed issue. There is no single answer, so talk it over with a lawyer before signing the lease. The question is whether, and to what extent, the Tenants’ Rights Protection Act applies to the company or to the people it moved in. And that determines how easily you get the apartment back when the lease ends.
In the lease, set a clear end date, the company’s duty to move the occupants out, and its liability for the people it moved in. Definitely see a lawyer when the company proposes unusual clauses, when a dispute arises over handing back the apartment, or when the damage exceeds the deposit.
Renting an apartment to a company makes sense with a well-drafted lease. A handshake is not enough. Watch three things: written consent for specific occupants, a limit on the number of people, and a clause on the company’s liability for damage, together with a permanent contact person.
Frequently asked questions
No. Only within the consent and the limit on occupants set out in the lease. Without the landlord’s consent the tenant cannot let others use the apartment, so describe the scope of consent and the maximum number of occupants explicitly.
Towards the landlord, the company is liable as the tenant. Put this in the lease in black and white and secure it with a deposit. Reports at every change of occupants will help establish when the damage happened.
In practice I recommend obliging the company to provide an up-to-date list of people and to report every change. Tenant registration and owner consent and renting to foreigners are covered in separate guides, also linked in the section on staff turnover.
