Securing receivables in the case of entrepreneurs – registered pledge

A registered pledge is a limited property right established over movable or legal property intended to secure receivables. As a result of establishing a registered pledge, the creditor (also called the pledgee) may satisfy his claim from the movable property covered by the registered pledge even if the owner of the movable property changes after the entry in the pledge register. An additional advantage of a registered pledge is the priority to satisfy the specific movable property over the debtor’s personal creditors. Moreover, the creditor does not have to worry about the location of the movable property, while the pledgee (the person whose obligation is secured) has the opportunity to continue using the item and even has the right to dispose of the item. Moreover, pledged items may include items marked in terms of identity and species, as well as items that do not yet exist at a given time or rights (such as rights arising from securities). Depending on the type of the item or right being pledged, special care should be taken when preparing a registered pledge agreement, as incorrect identification of the pledged item may lead to the inability of the pledgee to exercise the rights of the pledgee.

Procedure for establishing a registered pledge

In order to establish a registered pledge, an agreement must be drawn up between the pledgor and the pledgee. The pledgor must have the right to dispose of the pledged item. The pledgee may, in turn, be a creditor of the potential pledgor; currently, the regulations do not entitle a specific group of creditors to be a pledgee.

The elements necessary in an agreement to establish a registered pledge include information such as: description of the parties to the agreement, description and indication of the subject of the pledge, description of the receivable that the pledge secures, and the security sum defined as a specific amount up to which the pledgee will be able to satisfy his claims in the future from the subject of the pledge. .

In addition to concluding an agreement to establish a registered pledge in writing, under pain of invalidity, it should be remembered that only an entry in the pledge register enables the pledgee to exercise the rights arising from the agreement to establish a registered pledge.

An application for entry into the register of pledges may be submitted by the pledgor or pledgee, for this purpose he or she should complete an official form, which should be submitted together with the agreement to establish a registered pledge and the court fee, which currently amounts to PLN 200. The application together with attachments must be submitted to the court having jurisdiction over the place of residence of the pledgor.

How to satisfy a claim under a registered pledge?

There are several ways to satisfy claims arising from the subject of the pledge, the most obvious is to take ownership of the subject of the registered pledge, which, however, does not always meet the needs and possibilities of the creditor.

Another quite obvious way is to satisfy the pledge through enforcement proceedings pursuant to the Code of Civil Procedure.

The agreement establishing the registered pledge itself may also regulate the manner of satisfying claims.