After selling an apartment or house owned by the bankrupt, it is often difficult for the bankrupt to find a new place to live. Situations in which a bankrupt person can move in with family are rare. If he has not rented the apartment before, he will have to do so in connection with the sale of the current one. However, in order to avoid a situation in which the bankrupt is faced with the risk of homelessness in the first period after the liquidation of the most important asset of the bankrupt from the life point of view, i.e. a house or apartment, the legislator provided for the possibility of separating, from the sum obtained from its sale, an amount allowing for securing housing needs.

Allocating an amount to meet housing needs is not a rule in bankruptcy proceedings, but a special solution subject to several conditions. First of all, and obviously, the bankruptcy estate must include a residential premises or a single-family house. Moreover, in order for the appropriate amount to be allocated, two cumulative conditions must be met:

a) the bankrupt must live in the premises or house being sold, and

b) there must be a need to meet the housing needs of the bankrupt and his dependents.

This means that the bankrupt must reside in the premises or house at the time of declaring bankruptcy and cannot have a legal title to occupy another premises. If on the date of bankruptcy declaration the bankrupt did not live in a given apartment or house, there are no grounds for allocating an appropriate amount. A similar situation should be treated when the bankrupt person moved out of the apartment he or she occupied during the bankruptcy proceedings.

The amount allocated to the bankrupt should correspond to the average residential rent in the same or neighboring town for a period of 12 to 24 months.