This may soon change. The higher chamber of the Polish parliament (in Polish: Senat) is currently working on an amendment to the Act of 7 July 1994 – Construction Law ("Construction Law") adopted by the lower chamber of the Polish parliament (in Polish: Sejm) on 7 November 2025 ("Amendment"). The Amendment modifies the rules for appealing against a building permit.
Currently, appeal against building permit is subject to the general rule set out in the provisions of the Act of 14 June 1960 - the Code of Administrative Procedure. According to this principle, an appeal does not require detailed justification. It is sufficient if the appeal shows that the party is not satisfied with the decision issued.
In practice, this means that a neighbour who is a party to the proceedings concerning building permit can, without much effort, paralyse the investment process for a long time. In fact, it is sufficient for this neighbour to lodge an appeal against the building permit within fourteen days of its receipt, meeting the aforementioned liberal statutory requirements.
In order to limit such practices, the Amendment significantly tightens the criteria that an appeal against a building permit must meet. It provides that an appeal against a building permit must contain allegations relating to the decision as well as the scope of the claim that is the subject of the appeal. In addition, the appellant should provide evidence to support the claim contained in the appeal. If the appeal does not meet the above mentioned requirements, the appeal authority should request the appellant to remedy the deficiencies within a specified period of not less than seven days. The request to remedy the deficiencies should be made no later than fourteen days after the appeal is received.
Raising the bar for neighbours interested in torpedoing a building permit will undoubtedly limit the possibility of using an appeal as a means of putting pressure on the investor. However, it is also worth remembering that increasing the formal requirements does not change the general rules governing the appeal procedure related to a building permit. In accordance with these rules the appeal authority is not bound by the scope of the appeal or the allegations presented therein. Its task is not to review the building permit itself, but to re-examine the entire case from the beginning.
In light of the provisions of the Amendment, the criteria for lodging appeals provided for therein also apply to decisions issued under the Construction Law other than building permit. The same criteria are also to apply to complaint (in Polish: zażalenie) against settlement (in Polish: postanowienie) issued under the provisions of the Construction Law.
In light of the provisions of the Amendment, its provisions will apply not only to proceedings initiated after its entry into force, but also to construction undertakings for which an application for a building permit was submitted and not recognized before the entry into force of the Amendment.
If the Amendment comes into force in the form adopted by the lower chamber of the Polish parliament (in Polish: Sejm), it will give investors a real opportunity to shorten the path to obtain a final building permit.
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