The aim of perpetual usufruct is a factor that, under the provisions of generally applicable law, a property appraiser is obliged to take into account in the process of valuation of land for the purpose of updating the annual fee. At the same time, the legislator obliged the appraiser by statutory provisions to take into account in the valuation process, inter alia, the purpose of the real estate as stated in the local spatial development plan, and ordered the use of a sales comparative approach for the purposes of updating the annual fee.
Due to the imprecise determination of the aim of perpetual usufruct in contracts and administrative decisions under which real estate was let for perpetual usufruct, or failure to specify these purposes at all, there are disputes between the authorities and the perpetual usufructuaries regarding the update of annual fees.
The market value of the property determined by the appraiser has a direct impact on the legitimacy of updating the annual fee and the amount of the fee after update. Divergent interpretation of the law concerning the factors taken into account in the valuation leads to court disputes, and sometimes to unjustified enrichment of one of the parties by hundreds of thousands of zlotys.
This article indicates the importance of a precise aim of perpetual usufruct as a legal institution and as an element of valuation in the procedure of determining the market value of land for the purpose of updating the amount of the annual fee. Confrontation of the aim of perpetual usufruct and the purpose of real estate as stated in the local spatial development plan was reflected in cases heard by courts, however, the essence of the legal issues concerns primarily the legal and methodological grounds used in the valuation procedure.