According to tenant reports on Passflat (August 2026), only 77% of tenants moving out of Warsaw apartments got their deposit back in full — with a median deposit of around 5 000 zł. Every fourth person loses money, most often for three reasons: disputes about cleaning, minor damage, and unpaid bills. (Deposit statistics come from tenant reports only.)
Those three reasons share one thing: they are almost impossible to contest after the fact if nothing was documented at move-in. The handover protocol — protokół zdawczo-odbiorczy in Polish — is the document that decides which side of that statistic you land on. Half an hour of attention at key handover versus a few thousand złoty at move-out is the best trade of your tenancy.
What the protokół zdawczo-odbiorczy is
The handover protocol is an annex to your lease (umowa najmu) that records the condition of the apartment at the moment the keys change hands. It is signed twice: at move-in and at move-out. Comparing those two documents is what determines whether the landlord has any grounds to withhold part of your deposit (kaucja).
This is not a box-ticking formality. Under the najem okazjonalny lease format (a notarized rental common in Poland), the protocol is explicitly part of the standard document package, and Polish practice in general treats it as the key evidence of the apartment's condition. The logic is simple: without a protocol, every dispute collapses into "that scratch was already there" versus "no, you made it" — your word against the landlord's. With a signed protocol and photos, there is essentially nothing left to argue about.
If a landlord waves it off — "why bother with paperwork, we'll sort things out like adults" — treat that as a red flag and insist. The protocol protects both sides; an honest landlord benefits as much as you do.
The 20-point checklist
Walk through the apartment with this list on key-handover day. Don't rush: the inspection takes 30–40 minutes, and every skipped item is a potential deduction from your deposit a year or two later.
Meters
- Electricity: write down the meter reading and photograph the display close up.
- Gas: reading + photo (if the apartment has gas — a stove or a water heater).
- Cold water: reading + photo; the meter is often hidden in a cabinet in the bathroom or toilet.
- Hot water: a separate meter with a separate reading + photo — this is the one people forget most often.
- The meter numbers themselves: record the serial numbers of the devices, not just the readings — when bills are settled later, this closes the question of "is that even the right meter."
Condition of the apartment
- Walls: every scratch, stain, shelf mark, or chipped paint — noted per room.
- Floors: scuffs, chipped parquet, swollen panels, stains on carpet.
- Windows and doors: do the handles and locks work, is the glass intact, what condition are the seals in.
- Bathroom: the state of the silicone sealing around the bath and shower, tile grout, fixtures, and the drain.
- Traces of damp or mold: check corners, the zones under windows and behind furniture — record dark patches immediately, or they will be pinned on you later.
- Heating: the condition of radiators and thermostats; if the season allows, check that they actually heat.
- Every defect, however small, written into the protocol in words. "A ~5 cm scratch on the wardrobe door in the bedroom" works far better than a vague "signs of use."
Equipment and keys
- Furniture against the inventory list: compare what is actually there with the list in the lease or its annex — anything missing or extra, write it down.
- Appliances: the condition and working order of the stove, fridge, washing machine + their serial numbers.
- Keys: the exact count, including keys to the mailbox, the cellar (piwnica), and the building intercom.
- Remotes and fobs: air-conditioning and gate remotes, access cards, chips — everything you will have to hand back at move-out.
Documents and records
- Photos or video of every room with a visible date — wide shots plus close-ups of defects; attach them to the protocol or send them to the landlord the same day so the date is preserved in your correspondence.
- Both parties' signatures on every page of the protocol, not just the last one.
- A copy for each side — keep yours together with the lease until the deposit is returned.
- A deadline for fixing defects: if something is broken (a dripping tap, a dead burner), write into the protocol the agreed date by which the landlord will repair it.
At move-out: the same protocol again
When you move out, a second protocol is drawn up — covering the same points. All meter readings again (they will be compared with the move-in readings to settle the utility bills), the condition of the apartment again, and the return of every key and remote against the list. Clean the apartment before the inspection and photograph the result — "poor cleaning" remains the most common reason for deductions in tenant reports. What exactly the landlord inspects and what professional cleaners cost — in our move-out cleaning guide.
The key concept at this stage is normal wear and tear (zużycie naturalne). Polish law distinguishes wear from ordinary living from actual damage, and the deposit cannot be withheld for the former:
- Normal wear: slightly faded or scuffed walls, minor floor wear in high-traffic zones, worn seals, darkened bathroom grout, furniture marks on the flooring. This is the unavoidable result of someone simply living in the apartment.
- Damage: holes in the walls from shelves, a burnt countertop, broken glass, a torn-off cabinet door, stains that won't come out, appliances broken through your fault. Deductions for these are justified.
Demanding that you "repaint the whole apartment" or "replace the entire floor" over a couple of marks is the classic attempt to stretch normal wear into damage. This is exactly where the move-in protocol with photos settles the dispute in your favor: you show what you received, and that the difference falls within ordinary use.
The protocol is part of a bigger picture
The protocol protects your deposit, but it doesn't answer the rest of your renting questions. According to Passflat tenant reports, the median deposit in Warsaw is around 5 000 zł, and on top of rent tenants pay a median of roughly 800 zł a month extra. How the kaucja works legally, the deadline for returning it, and what to do if it doesn't come back — in the deposit guide. What to check in the lease itself before signing — in the rental contract checklist. And the full picture of real prices by district — in the Warsaw rent cost guide.
Before you sign a lease and hand over a deposit, check the building on Passflat — tenants at that address may already have shared their real costs and their deposit-return experience. And when you move out, tell us how it went: your costs and whether the deposit came back in full. It takes two minutes, no account needed — reports like yours are exactly where the statistic that opens this article comes from.