Owners may lose gardens. ROD Board may terminate lease agreement

• Most people live on ROD plots in large cities, where plots are a cheaper alternative to renting or purchasing a flat.
• However, living on an allotment garden plot is illegal. The allotment garden management must combat such practices by inspecting the plots and, in the event of a violation of the law, by terminating the lease agreement.
• It is not easy. - Elimination of each case of residence from the ROD often takes many years - Marcin Juszczel from the organizational department of the national unit of the Polish Allotment Gardeners' Association tells WP Finanse.

Marcin Juszczel from the organizational department of the national unit of the Polish Allotment Gardeners' Association tells WP Finanse that the number of year-round allotment gardeners in the ROD allotment gardens is growing - some of them even report there .

The intensity of this phenomenon is observed in large cities , where plots in ROD may unfortunately be a cheaper alternative to renting or buying a flat. In smaller towns or in gardens located at a considerable distance from city centres, the problem remains marginal.

- Marcin Juszczel explains in an interview for WP Finanse.

This is due to the incomparably low rent compared to apartments. In the case of an allotment garden , the yearly fee for the garden ranges from PLN 500 to PLN 1,000.

However, residing on the premises of allotment gardens is not legal. It is the allotment gardens management boards that are responsible for ensuring that there are no permanent residents on the premises, as stated in Resolution No. 362/2015 of the Presidium of the National Council of the Polish Allotment Gardeners' Association of 18 December 2015 on combating excessive construction and residing on the premises of allotment gardens.

In order to prevent living in allotment garden plots, allotment garden boards are obliged to inform allotment gardeners about the ban on living in allotment gazebos in accordance with Article 12 of the Act on Family Allotment Gardens and in accordance with Paragraph 27 of the PZD statute, which states that violating the ban on living may result in deprivation of membership in the PZD.

The management boards should inform about the ban : at general meetings, by posting information on garden boards, on the ROD website, when completing formalities related to the acquisition or transfer of rights to a plot in the ROD.

In addition, managers are required to systematically review whether the allotment garden plots are not inhabited . If there are allotment gardeners who violate applicable legal regulations, the board must make decisions regarding them specified during the board meeting, such as terminating the lease agreement . In the event of a homeless person being found living in the allotment garden, the board is required to contact the city guard or police to take action to ensure that such a person is transferred to social welfare centers organized by the city/commune.

The ROD boards as PZD bodies within the scope of their competences, acting in cooperation with local governments, submit reports of such people for whom other replacement premises are then sought. The realities of the housing market in Poland and the pathological situation in this area unfortunately mean that the elimination of each case of residence from the ROD often takes many years.

- explains WP Finanse Marcin Juszczel, representative of PZD.

It also often turns out that in the case of termination of a plot lease agreement for this reason, the plot holder wins the case in court by withdrawing it.

The Management Board must also ensure that no utility building with a building area exceeding 35 square meters or a height exceeding 5 meters for steep roofs and 4 meters for flat roofs is built on the ROD plot. If it has any doubts about the building, it has the right to inform the Building Inspectorate.

PZD may enforce compliance with the regulations by allotment gardeners only through civil law.

Another difficulty is the fact that some people register on the plots. Although this is not the same as a residence permit, and is only used for registration purposes, some plot owners believe that this provides grounds for legal residence. Juszczel emphasizes in an interview with WP Finanse that PZD "unequivocally opposes such practices."

According to WP Finanse, 1,333 people are registered in the allotment gardens ROD located in Poznań. In 2022, there were 1,244 people.