Two complex perovskite antiferroelectric (AFE) systems were studied; they are Pb0.97La0.02(Zr0.6Sn0.3Ti0.1)O3(PLZST) in ceramic form and Pb0.99Nb0.02(Zr0.82Sn0.12Ti0.04)0.98O3(PNZST) in thin film form. Dielectric and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies of the PLZST ceramics confirmed the AFE nature of the specimen, but at low temperature the electrical field application could induce a temporary ferroelectric (FE) phase with characteristic life‐time dependent on temperature This life‐time reaches a value of ∼ 0.1s at 248K. Further decrease of temperature leads to a much faster than Arrhenius growth of the recovery time, which eventually exceeds the reasonable laboratory time scale below 210K. We believe that the strongly temperature‐dependent kinetics arises from a cooperative freezing of the incommensurate AFE order in the presence of quenched composition disorder. The PNZST films’ polarization properties are highly dependent on the film thickness and at the lowest studied limit (∼170 nm) the field application in the surface normal direction can induce the FE phase with the time of recovery back to the AFE state being a magnitude of several hours. In this case the filed‐induced FE ordering is very asymmetric with respect to the field direction, is thickness dependent and the FE phase can be induced if the time of field application is on scale of a second. The application of the field for a much shorter time (e.g. 1ms) does not significantly affect the AFE properties of the film. We suggest that the substrate/film interface could be responsible for this phenomenon. © 2003 American Institute of Physics