Housing books from the Polish People's Republic are still in circulation. The average bonus is over PLN 21,000. zloty

The housing booklet from the times of the Polish People's Republic still has its value, and losing it does not eliminate the chances of receiving money from the state – according to a report by the RynekPierwotny.pl website. According to PKO BP data, 962,000 are in circulation. books with the right to a guarantee premium.

“Housing booklets are perceived mainly as a souvenir of the past regime, meanwhile the guarantee bonus mechanism still operates today, and the scale of liabilities towards booklet holders may reach PLN 20 billion,” the authors of the report indicated.

The PKO BP data quoted in the report shows that the contributions accumulated in the booklets themselves are generally worth little today, but the state guarantee bonus gives them real importance. According to PKO BP, 962,000 are in circulation. housing books with the right to a guarantee premium, which in 2025 amounted to an average of PLN 21.4 thousand. zloty.

“Few financial documents from the times of the Polish People's Republic turned out to be so resistant to historical turbulence. The regulations have been amended many times, the catalog of housing purposes has been expanded, but the essence of the mechanism has remained unchanged: if someone once saved money in a booklet, today – after meeting certain conditions – they can get it back together with a guarantee bonus,” said Marek Wielgo from the RynekPierwotny.pl portal.

Warranty bonus not only for the purchase of your own M

The expert reminded that the guarantee bonus is only available to owners of housing booklets established before October 24, 1990. The second condition is the registration of the booklet with PKO BP. This obligation was introduced by law a few years ago. Although the regulations do not specify a deadline for registration, it has a very practical significance. Failure to register does not result in the loss of the right to the bonus, but it delays its payment. In the case of booklets registered after January 1, 2023, the bonus may be paid at the earliest in the year following registration.

PKO BP data show that the number of booklets being liquidated is decreasing year by year, with the vast majority of liquidations ending with the payment of a guarantee premium. In 2025, 6.5 thousand were liquidated. books, and in 6 thousand cases, a bonus was paid.

Have you lost your housing booklet? The money is not gone

The expert noted that the lack of a booklet in a physical form does not mean the loss of the right to money. If the booklet was once created in PKO BP, information about the deposits collected is still available in the banking system. “In such a situation, the bank redeems the old booklet and issues a duplicate of it. The right to a bonus results from the history of payments, and not from the paper document itself,” Wielgo noted.

It is also possible to assign the housing booklet within the family. The law allows it to be transferred between spouses, children and parents, grandparents and grandchildren or siblings. A chain of assignment is also possible, thanks to which in practice the booklet can reach even an unrelated person.

As noted in the report, to recover the money from the book along with the guarantee bonus, you do not have to buy an apartment or build a house. The bonus can be obtained, among others: when renovating an apartment, replacing installations or windows, thermal modernization of the house or even regular payments to the renovation fund of the community or housing cooperative. It is also possible to liquidate the book without achieving the housing goal, but then the bank will only pay the indexed contribution, which usually has a symbolic value today.

The authors of the report pointed out that the amount of the bonus is not predetermined. It depends on the amounts paid in particular years and on the price index per square meter in residential construction, published quarterly by the Central Statistical Office. (PAP)

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