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New Year Likely to Bring Changes in Apartment Rentals and Block Management

REAL ESTATENew Year Likely to Bring Changes in Apartment Rentals and Block Management

As the new year begins, forecasts for expected events in various industries emerge. This is also true for the real estate sector, although here the focus is usually on house and apartment prices. Aspects such as the rental market and management of multi-family buildings are seen as less interesting, but this is not entirely fair, as the number of apartment block residents certainly exceeds the number of people who will want to buy their own place in 2025. It is therefore worth presenting some forecasts about rentals and the maintenance of blocks and tenements in 2025. Sometimes these aren’t even forecasts, as some legal changes are already decided.

Our article in brief:

In 2025, there will be a smaller increase in rent for apartments that do not require additional justification. This change is a result of lower inflation. It’s important to remember that restrictions on rent increases do not apply to occasional and institutional rentals. Unfortunately, in 2025, tenants and property owners can expect an increase in the operating costs of apartments and common areas. This is not only due to more expensive labor. The uncertainty, for example, is that electricity prices have been “frozen” only until the end of September 2025. Higher prices for district heating and gas may increase interest in the thermomodernization of multi-family buildings. In terms of less costly work, administrators will replace heat meters, cost dividers, and water meters with devices capable of remote reading. This is due to the deadline imposed by law.

We develop the above issues in the article, which may be interesting for many tenants and property owners.

Maximum Rent Increase Will Be Lower Than Before

Already in 2024, citizens felt a slowdown in the rate of price increases, which will also impact possible rent changes in 2025. In this context, let us recall the provisions of the Act of June 21, 2001, on the protection of tenants’ rights, the municipal housing stock, and amending the Civil Code (Journal of Laws 2001 No. 71 item 733). Article 8a of this legal act indicates that an increase, as a result of which the annual amount of rent exceeds 3% of the reconstruction value of the premises or follows from a level higher than the aforementioned 3%, does not require additional justification (the necessity to ensure the return of capital or fair profit) if it does not exceed the average annual index of growth in prices of goods and consumer services in the previous calendar year. “This is a rule mainly important for private apartment tenants, because in the municipal resource the rent generally does not exceed 3% of the reconstruction value of the premises,” explains Magdalena Markiewicz, real estate market expert.

Remember, the easy-to-introduce rent increase limit for landlords in 2024 was 11.4%. The corresponding index for 2025 will only be known later, but it is certain to be significantly lower than before. In this context, it’s worth recalling that the November inflation projection by the NBP assumed a change in prices in the economy at 3.7% for 2024. Preliminary data from GUS speak of a very similar value. Thus, we can expect that in 2025, the limit for easy-to-introduce rent increases will be about 4%. This index will not be significant for tenants who have signed an occasional or institutional lease agreement. “In the case of these forms of leasing, the aforementioned Article 8a of the Act on the protection of tenants’ rights does not apply,” emphasizes Magdalena Markiewicz, real estate market expert.

Operating Costs of Premises in 2025 Will Unfortunately Increase Again

This year’s inflation will also be influenced by changes in the operating costs of houses and apartments calculated by GUS. Unfortunately, in 2025, the general inflation index will rise again (to 5.6% according to NBP forecasts), which will be associated among other things with the increase in energy carrier prices and wage dynamics. These two factors will also affect the operating costs of apartments and common parts, borne by both tenants and owners. In 2025, the NBP expects a weakening annual wage dynamics, but wages will still increase the costs of managing multi-family buildings. More significant, however, might be the fact that the “freeze” on electricity prices will not apply until the end of 2025, but until the end of the third quarter. “As for the prices of district heating, the higher, but still frozen rate (134.97 PLN/GJ net instead of 119.39 PLN/GJ net) is to apply until June 30, 2025,” recalls Magdalena Markiewicz, real estate market expert.

Increasing Frequency of Water Meter and Heat Meter Replacement…

Concerns related to rising heating costs for blocks (also using gas burned in block boiler rooms) may increase interest in the thermomodernization of multi-family buildings – despite historically high costs of such work and expensive financing through loans for communities and cooperatives. A possible solution in this situation might be assistance provided by the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego. As for smaller works, in 2025 many communities and cooperatives will be replacing heat meters, heating cost dividers, and water meters for measuring hot utility water (installed before May 22, 2021) with devices capable of remote reading. “This is a consequence of the deadline for the replacement of the aforementioned devices (January 1, 2027), which is provided by the Act of April 20, 2021, amending the Act on energy efficiency and certain other acts,” concludes Magdalena Markiewicz, real estate market expert.

Source: Magdalena Markiewicz, real estate market expert.

Source: https://managerplus.pl/rok-2025-czego-sie-spodziewac-w-najmie-i-blokach-56831

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