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The property restitution in Warsaw: renaissance or decline of pre-war buildings?

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Abstract

This paper aimed to provide an understanding of the segment of pre-war buildings in Warsaw (Poland) and its position within the housing stock in the light of restitution of private properties. Although the majority of the buildings were destroyed during the Second World War, enclaves of the pre-war buildings still exist in the central districts of the capital city of Poland. The communalization of land in Warsaw in 1945 considerably reduced the proportion of private ownership. In the following years, the scarcity of funds for repairs and rehabilitation of the pre-war buildings contributed to their poor maintenance, resulting in worsening housing conditions. Since 1989, the political and economic transformation in Poland strengthened the privatization and paved the way to restitution of communalized properties to their previous private owners or their heirs. However, lack of law on property restitution and the complexity of groups of interest involved in this process (former private owners, “buyers of claims,” municipality and tenants) entail different tensions. In this way, the private owners struggle for years with restitution procedures, “buyers of claims” attempt to make profit on restitution, and sitting tenants defend their right to stay and to pay lower rents after the building is returned. Finally, the renaissance or decline of restituted pre-war residential buildings in Warsaw is strongly influenced by the type of existing ownership structure of individual dwellings in a building which may facilitate or hamper its refurbishment.

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Notes

  1. Dwellings in buildings constructed till 1945 constituted 10.8 % while buildings constructed between 1989 and 2011: 26.0 % (National Population Census 2011, CSO).

  2. The concept of metropolitan class coined by Jałowiecki relates to the concept of the world class (Kanter 1995) and to the housing classes (Rex and Moore 1967).

  3. The demands for the property restitution were also placed in the previous years, but the majority of them were rejected.

  4. It should be also stated that almost all publications and articles dealing with transformation of the housing market in the CE countries refer to the process of privatization of public dwellings. As this process concerns not only pre-war buildings, but also those constructed during the socialist period, this issue is not discussed in detail in this paper.

  5. Apart from restitution claims in Warsaw, other restitution claims in Poland concern nationalized land, forests, as well as urban or industrial properties.

  6. The private owners of land had to place a claim within 6 months from the communalization was established.

  7. Although the Decree did not claim the communalization of buildings, practically the procedure also covered them.

  8. Pl. Dekret o publicznej gospodarce lokalami i kontroli najmu (Dz. U. Nr 4, Poz. 27.). The public management of dwellings was introduced in Warsaw and also in the biggest cities in Poland: Łódź, Gdańsk, Lublin, Kraków, Katowice and Poznań.

  9. The state on the March 18, 2014.

  10. This list was prepared by the local authorities of Warsaw but displays the annotation “informal estimation, not for legal procedures.” It contains all the demands for property restitution: both for developed and unbuilt real estate.

  11. This remark is based on the knowledge gained during the field studies conducted by the author of this article.

  12. Inhabited by municipal tenants.

  13. Pl. Ustawa o gospodarce gruntami i wywłaszczeniu, Dz. U. Nr 79, Poz. 464.

  14. On the basis of the Act on self-government units (pl. Ustawa o samorządzie terytorialnym), March 08, 1990 (Dz. U. Nr 16, Poz. 95).

  15. The Act on division of tasks and competences defined in specific acts between local authorities and central government bodies and on changes on certain acts (pl. Ustawa o podziale zadań i kompetencji określonych w ustawach szczególnych pomiędzy organy gminy a organy administracji rządowej oraz o zmianie niektórych ustaw), May 17, 1990 (Dz. U. Nr 34, Poz. 198).

  16. These regulations were defined by each municipality and were undergoing changes in the following years. For instance in Warsaw, since 2011, important changes in this field were introduced and the reductions in prices of municipal dwellings attain 50 % for tenants living in the dwellings for 10 years (additional 1 % of reduction for each consecutive year of inhabitance in the dwelling, but the total reduction cannot overpass 70 %).

  17. Pl. Ustawa o gospodarce nieruchomościami.

  18. The articles published between January 01, 1989 and February 20, 2014.

  19. Social dwellings constitute the part of the municipal stock but may offer lower standard and are reserved for fixed-term lease to the tenants evicted from previous dwelling by the judgment of the court.

  20. Municipal buildings which are 100 % property of the municipality, without a single dwelling sold to a sitting tenant.

  21. Pl. wspólnota mieszkaniowa. In 2011, 65.8 % of municipal dwellings were situated in the buildings managed by public–private homeownership associations (Long-term Program for housing stock management in Warsaw, 2013–2017). In other words, in these buildings, certain apartments were bought by sitting tenants, while the others were still occupied by municipal tenants.

  22. These investors buy buildings with “meat insert” (pl. wkładka mięsna)—this is how they label the sitting tenants.

  23. One of the examples tells about 50 Polish zloty (approx. 12 €) for the participation in the property ownership.

  24. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the family opened in Warsaw one of the biggest department stores in Poland and probably in Europe.

  25. The association solely tackles with the restitution question in Warsaw.

  26. According to the estimation of Metrohouse (Gazeta Prawna) the price of 1 m² in the pre-war building is in average 1000 Polish zloty higher than the average price of 1 m² in general.

  27. In this context, “classic housing estates” refers to the housing estates built during the socialist period which are dominant type of architecture in urban space of Warsaw.

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Acknowledgments

This wok was supported by the National Science Centre in Poland [Grant No. 2013/11/D/HS4/03899].

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  1. Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization, Polish Academy of Sciences (IGSO PAS), Twarda Street 51/55, 00-818, Warsaw, Poland

    Magdalena Górczyńska

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Górczyńska, M. The property restitution in Warsaw: renaissance or decline of pre-war buildings?. J Hous and the Built Environ 31, 367–386 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-015-9450-9

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