Judgment of the Regional Court in Warsaw, Third Civil Division, of December 5, 2017
III C 56/15

1. The rule should be that after the final settlement of construction costs, the cooperative cannot make another final settlement that is effective against a member, and a member of the cooperative cannot demand such a settlement. However, the final settlement of construction costs, like any legal transaction, may be invalid. All provisions and rules concerning the invalidity of legal transactions, in particular those caused by defects in the declaration of will, apply to it.
2. If a cooperative owns or has the right of perpetual usufruct of land and carries out a construction project on it on the basis of cooperative construction for its own members, it has no right to collect from them monetary benefits corresponding to the value of the right to the land on which it is building, transferred together with the right to the premises. The value of the right to the land is not a construction cost for the cooperative. There are no legal grounds for charging the equivalent of the share in the right to the land assigned to the premises from the member for whom the premises are being built. If such an equivalent is collected, the cooperative carrying out construction for its members in accordance with the principle provided for in Article 18 of the Housing Cooperatives Act, i.e. “at cost,” is unjustly enriched. A different contractual provision, as contrary to the law and invalid, does not justify the collection of fees for the land.
3. The price including the unjustified value added tax (VAT) is an undue payment.

The Regional Court in Warsaw, 3rd Civil Division, composed of the following:

Presiding Judge:           Joanna Bitner (rep.)

Judges:                           Joanna Kruczkowska, Grzegorz Chmiel

having examined on November 21, 2017, in Warsaw, at a hearing of the case brought by K. K. (1) as representative of the group against the Housing Cooperative (…) in W. for payment

I. orders the Housing Cooperative (…) in W. to pay (…) K. as the representative of the group the amount of (…) (one million seven hundred thousand six hundred sixty-seven 19/100) zlotys with statutory interest for delay calculated as indicated below, and determines that the following members of the group are entitled to the following amounts from the awarded sum:

(…)

II. The costs of the proceedings shall be borne in full by the Housing Cooperative (…) in W., leaving the detailed calculation of these costs to the court clerk after the judgment becomes final, with the remuneration of the plaintiff’s representative being calculated at three times the minimum rate.