• Are property price indexing clauses included in templates of developers’ agreements?
• As part of the investigation procedure, President of UOKiK makes an industry market survey - nearly 90 entrepreneurs will be checked.

Current economic conditions, in particular high inflation, make that entrepreneurs take measures which may have a negative financial impact on consumers. President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection Tomasz Chróstny commenced a market survey regarding the application of the so-called indexation clauses in the development industry. In the course of the investigation, 87 entrepreneurs received requests for information and necessary documents and one is already under preliminary investigation.

- Agreements should be worded unambiguously and regulate the relationships between the parties in an understandable manner. Consumers have the right to know what commitment they make, to which specific conditions they agree. The developer's rights to change the price cannot lead to abuse of their position by disproportionately burdening consumers with the consequences of changes in economic conditions on the market, says Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

Although the Development Act does not prohibit the use of indexation clauses, President of the Office considers that such provisions should be taken very carefully into account in the agreements. Market volatility and price volatility are typical of the real estate industry. In the face of high inflation, construction material and manufacturing costs and possible delays, developers may try to secure against the loss of the investment profitability. However, this should not be to the detriment of consumers by passing on some negative effects of a complex economic situation to them.

- Each time we will examine contractual provisions concerning indexation clauses in terms of abusiveness and we advise consumers to analyse the documents they sign very carefully – adds Tomasz Chróstny, President of UOKiK.

It is another action of President of UOKiK to verify the application of indexation clauses by entrepreneurs. Since September, the Office has also been conducting a preliminary investigation into inflation clauses introduced by mobile operators.

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