Change of Use of a Premises: Foodservice

You have signed a lease for a premises that used to be an accounting office. The designer comes, looks at the building documentation and says: "the way the premises is used has to be changed here". Before Sanepid (the State Sanitary Inspection) there is one more office that nobody mentioned, and the rent is already running.

This is the most common non-Sanepid blocker to opening a venue. Below: when a change of use of a premises to foodservice is mandatory, what you have to file, and how to arrange the three official tracks so they do not block each other.

The key points in brief

• Foodservice in a premises that used to be an office, shop or services almost always changes the hygiene and sanitary conditions, health conditions and fire conditions. This is expressly the criterion in Art. 71(1)(2) of the Construction Law (Prawo budowlane).
• You file a notification before the change of use with the architectural and building administration authority, usually the starost (head of the poviat) or the city mayor. The authority has 30 days from service to object by decision.
• The notification has a validity limit: the change must take place no later than 2 years from service. A notification filed after the fact has no legal effect.
• Works requiring a building permit move the case to a different track: the matter is then decided in the building permit decision.
• Starting without a notification means the building supervision authority suspends use and imposes a legalisation fee at a rate increased tenfold.

When a change of use is required and when it is not

The Construction Law does not speak of "foodservice". It speaks of effects. Under Art. 71(1)(2), a change of use is taking up or ceasing, in a building or part of it, an activity that changes the conditions of: fire safety, flood safety, work, health, hygiene and sanitary conditions, environmental protection, or the size or arrangement of loads.

A kitchen instead of a desk changes several of these categories at once: heat treatment, grease in ventilation, food storage, greater sanitary load, waste. That is why the offices treat converting an office, shop or service salon into foodservice as a change of use.

You do not need a notification only when the premises already has a foodservice function in its documentation and you do not change the conditions in the provision. This happens when you step into the place of a previous tenant, about which there is more in the article on what you take over with a foodservice premises. Check it against a document: a decision granting a permit for use, as-built documentation, or an extract from the register of premises. "There has always been foodservice here" is not proof, and the responsibility falls on whoever uses the premises.

Notification versus building permit: where the line runs

The line follows from Art. 71(6). If the change of use requires construction works subject to the obligation to obtain a building permit, the matter is decided in the building permit decision. A notification is then not enough, and the authority has grounds to object (Art. 71(5)).

A building permit is most often triggered by: openings in structural walls, a new grease ventilation riser through storeys, interference with the facade and a change in the arrangement of floor loads. Partition walls, finishing and replacing installations within the premises usually do not create such an obligation. The track is decided by the designer, not the premises owner, because a mistake costs at least 30 days.

What to attach to the notification

In the notification you state the current and the intended use. The attachments are listed in Art. 71(2):

• a description and drawing showing the location of the building in relation to the property boundaries and other buildings,
• a concise technical description with data characterising the building and its purpose,
• a statement of the right to dispose of the property for construction purposes,
• a certificate from the commune head, mayor or city president that the intended use complies with the local spatial development plan, and where there is no plan, a development conditions decision,
• a technical expert opinion by a person with unrestricted construction qualifications in the relevant specialty,
• permits, agreements or opinions required by separate provisions.

Art. 71(2a) adds: where the change affects fire safety conditions, you attach an expert opinion of an expert in fire protection. In foodservice that is a typical situation, not an exceptional one.

Two points overturn the most deadlines. The statement of the right to dispose of the property: as a tenant you must have it in the lease or in a separate consent of the owner. And the certificate from the municipality: a separate application, a separate office, its own queue.

How long it really takes and what it costs

The 30-day period is only the last stretch. It runs from service of the notification, and where there are gaps the authority imposes by order an obligation to supplement the documents; failure to supplement ends in an objection. Your real calendar is the time to assemble the attachments plus 30 days. The authority may also, of its own motion, before the deadline expires, issue a certificate of no grounds for objection, but do not plan on that.

The costs have two parts. The notification itself is, according to the description of the procedure on biznes.gov.pl, free of charge, and the power of attorney for the architect is subject to stamp duty of PLN 17. The rest is the market, not a tariff: expert opinions, the designer's work, and, where there is no plan, the development conditions decision. We do not give rates because they depend on the city and the building. Collect two or three quotes before signing the lease.

What is at stake for opening a venue without a notification

Art. 71a of the Construction Law lays this out step by step. Without the required notification, the building supervision authority suspends by order the use of the building or its part and imposes an obligation to submit documents. After they are submitted, it sets by decision a legalisation fee. The provisions on the penalty in Art. 59f apply to it accordingly, except that the rate is increased tenfold. The penalty under Art. 59f itself is the product of the fee rate (PLN 500), the building category coefficient and the coefficient of its size from the annex to the Act.

Where you do not perform the obligations, or keep using the premises despite the suspension, the authority orders the restoration of the previous use. For a premises with a ready production line that is usually the end of the project. There is also civil risk, because leases pass responsibility for the compliance of use to the tenant.

A parallel calendar: building, sanitary and fire in one table

This is the heart of it. These procedures do not go one after another, but in parallel, and have points of contact at which one stops another.

Stage	Building track	Sanitary track	Fire safety track	What blocks what
Before the lease	Local plan and the function of the premises in the building documentation	Whether the back-of-house and ventilation will fit	Evacuation routes, fire conditions of the building	The local plan blocks everything. Non-compliance is grounds for objection
Design and expert opinions	Technical description, location drawing, technical expert opinion	Technological design of the kitchen	Fire protection expert opinion	The fire expert opinion blocks the notification. It is an attachment, not a separate stage
Certificate from the municipality	Compliance with the plan or a development conditions decision	-	-	The least predictable item. Without it the notification is incomplete
Filing the notification	To the starost or city mayor, on paper or through e-Budownictwo	-	-	It must be before the change of use. After the fact it has no legal effect
30 days for objection	Objection by decision, or an earlier certificate of no grounds	Finishing works, HACCP documentation	Safeguards from the expert opinion	A request to supplement shifts the whole calendar
Construction works	With a building permit, a separate, longer procedure	-	-	A building permit absorbs the change of use and decides it in one decision
Application to Sanepid	-	Approval of the establishment and entry in the register, at least 14 days before the start	-	Statutory deadline (Art. 64(1) of the Act on Food and Nutrition Safety)
Inspections	Where a permit for use is required, you notify Sanepid and the PSP (State Fire Service)	Inspection by the poviat sanitary inspector	Position of the PSP, if the design required fire agreement	Silence for 14 days is treated as no objection (Art. 56(2))
Start of sales	Change of use effective	Decision approving the establishment	-	HACCP documentation ready for the inspection, not after it

Three blockers blow up the schedule most often:

• The local plan before everything. If it allows only non-nuisance services here, the expert opinions will turn out to be wasted money. Check this first: it is the only information available right away and for free.
• Fire safety is not an inspection at the end, but an attachment at the beginning. Whoever plans a fire expert opinion "before opening" ends up with an incomplete notification.
• Sanepid works independently and at the end. You file the application for approval of the establishment at least 14 days before the start, and the premises must be ready then. That deadline will not shorten because the building track dragged on. More: when to notify Sanepid of the opening.

Three situations from practice

A premises in a tenement building

The most unknowns. An old building often lacks full documentation, may be under heritage protection, and there may be no local plan. The biggest trap is ventilation: a riser above the roof through residential storeys usually means works requiring a building permit and the consent of the owners' association. Add the ground for objection of nuisance to neighbours.

A premises in a shopping mall

Formally the simplest, organisationally the most rigid. Units in a food court usually already have a foodservice function in the building documentation, so a notification is sometimes unnecessary. It must, however, follow from a document, not from a leasing manager's assurance. On the other hand there are the manager's fit-out, connection to the building's fire systems and acceptance of the design by the mall's services. These deadlines are sometimes longer than the official ones.

A premises on the ground floor of an apartment block

The most common variant in small foodservice. The premises usually has a service function, so a notification is needed. The local plan is sometimes limited to non-nuisance services, and smells and noise have to be solved without making life difficult for the flats above. You need the housing cooperative or owners' association on your side already at the consent to dispose of the property.

Checklist before signing the lease

1. Check in the local plan whether foodservice is permitted at this location.
2. Ask for a document showing the current function of the premises, not an oral assurance.
3. Establish with the designer whether the scope of works fits within a notification or leads to a building permit.
4. Check whether ventilation can be routed out and who pays for the riser.
5. Write into the lease the owner's consent to dispose of the property for construction purposes.
6. Negotiate a rent-free period for the duration of the procedure, not only the refurbishment, and reserve the right to withdraw in case the authority objects.
7. Collect quotes for the expert opinions before signing.
8. File the application to Sanepid with a 14-day margin, and prepare the HACCP documentation in parallel with the building procedure.

Combine this list with the guide how to open a restaurant step by step and with the material on what sanitary requirements a premises must meet.

Frequently asked questions

Do I always have to change the use when setting up foodservice in a service premises?

Not always, but very often. It depends on whether the new activity changes the conditions listed in Art. 71(1)(2) of the Construction Law, among others hygiene and sanitary, health and fire safety. A kitchen in a premises that used to be an office or shop usually changes several of them at once. You do not need a notification when the premises already has a foodservice function in its documentation.

How long does a notification of change of use take?

The authority has 30 days from service of the notification to object by decision. To that you add the time to assemble the attachments, including the certificate from the municipality and expert opinions. Where there are gaps, the authority imposes by order an obligation to supplement, which lengthens the whole.

Can a tenant file the notification themselves?

Yes, if they hold a right to the property for construction purposes. The statement is based on a clause in the lease or on a separate consent of the owner. Without that the notification will be incomplete, so the matter is settled before signing the lease.

What happens if I open the premises without a notification?

Under Art. 71a of the Construction Law, building supervision suspends by order the use of the premises and imposes an obligation to submit documents, and then sets by decision a legalisation fee at the Art. 59f rate increased tenfold. Where the obligations are not performed, the authority orders the restoration of the previous use.

Does Sanepid check the change of use?

That is a matter for the architectural and building administration and building supervision, not the Sanitary Inspection. Sanepid conducts its own procedure for approval of the establishment and entry in the register, assessing the premises against hygiene and sanitary requirements. Two independent tracks, run in parallel. We collected their scope in the full list of Sanepid requirements.

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Legal status as of: 14 August 2026
Legal basis: Act of 7 July 1994, the Construction Law (Art. 56, Art. 59f, Art. 71, Art. 71a); Act of 25 August 2006 on Food and Nutrition Safety (Art. 64(1)).
Last review: 14 August 2026