Mandatory elevators in old blocks. 3,500 cooperatives and communities will pay for the extension

• In 2026, regulations will come into force requiring the installation of elevators in multi-family residential buildings with three or more storeys and in public buildings with two or more storeys.
• The obligation to add a lift will also apply to already constructed blocks of flats, where it is required to provide disabled people with access to all floors (above ground and underground).
• The changes are intended to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, caregivers with small children or the elderly.

On Friday, June 13, the Government Legislation Centre published a draft regulation of the Minister of Development and Technology on the technical requirements that buildings and their location should meet, which assumes that investors and housing communities and cooperatives (including developers and individual investors) will be obliged to install an elevator in the following buildings :

• multi-family residential buildings with three or more storeys,
• public buildings with two or more storeys,
• collective housing (excluding collective housing buildings in closed areas) with two or more storeys.

Communities and cooperatives will also have to cover the cost of adapting an already constructed building to the needs of people with disabilities. At the same time, they will have to pay for the construction of a passenger lift to existing buildings that are not equipped with an elevator.

If there is no need to install a lift, it is enough to provide access by constructing a ramp. The Ministry of Development emphasizes that the proposed regulations aim, among other things, to facilitate access to buildings and related facilities for people with various types of disabilities.

Importantly, in a housing cooperative, the decision to add an elevator to a given property must be approved by the owners of the premises, in addition to the statutory bodies authorized to do so.

The obligation to install a lift will apply to housing communities and housing cooperatives, of which there are about 3,500 in Poland. They will therefore have to cover the cost of adding a passenger lift to existing buildings. The Ministry of Development emphasizes that the price of a lift depends on its size, type of shaft, as well as the number of stops. These costs may result in an increase in the price per 1 square meter of usable area of ​​apartments. In addition, in this case there are costs related to the need to undergo

elevators to periodic inspections, which must be performed once a year, and the costs of any repairs.