Real Estate / Who pays for the real estate agency's cost in Poland? [26]

In that case, you should report them to the local council's trading standards department. Some try to cheat (as do estate agents everywhere) especially if the customer is foreign. The authorities fine them if they are caught doing this.

Real Estate / Who pays for the real estate agency's cost in Poland? [26]


Rule Number One. There is no importance, except for the property owner's convenience, if that. They are bottom feeders and it is always better to do it privately.


In the UK it is illegal for them to charge the tenant. It should be the same in Poland. For sales, there are so many desperate agents that more and more now just charge the vendor.

Real Estate / Who pays for the real estate agency's cost in Poland? [26]

It's fairly normal. Some expect a full month's. You can always tick the box on gumtree so it only brings up ads from the owner directly, however do Google the phone numbers to check it isn't an agent pretending not to be one.

Or put an ad on gumtree saying you're looking for a flat and write (in capitals) 'no agents'.

Life / Where to buy a clothes dryer in Poland? [16]

I had a combination one in the UK and it was good. Smaller loads I'd you want to put the laundry in dirty and take it out dry but normal loads just as a washing machine. They aren't popular in Poland but I think Saturn and Euro AGD have them.

Life / A rant on customer service in Poland [42]

You'll find a big regional variation in this. Warsaw is probably the worst for it.

News / Why no reprivatisation in Poland? Holocaust-era property ownership. [119]


Exactly - so much disinformation. Some people really do have a very odd impression of those times - the same people who think that individual wartime events involving people no longer alive somehow impact on ownership of real estate today.

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Genealogy / Trying to track down heritage - Ostmina and Nowelhozycze? Any places like that in Poland? [18]

How would you know unless you've sen the written document? Looker may well be correct. And by the way, you're wrong again - you addressed your post to the wrong person.

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News / Why no reprivatisation in Poland? Holocaust-era property ownership. [119]


Quite. It wasn't as if they had a lot of choices. Do this or die. And no reason, whether some individuals did anything terrible, bad, indifferent, good or excellent that any of this should impact on the return of property to heirs. No relevance at all.

Genealogy / Trying to track down heritage - Ostmina and Nowelhozycze? Any places like that in Poland? [18]


That's probably it!


Hmm.......

Law / Polish certificate exam level B1 and institution / few questions about the Polish language [39]

This contains the band descriptors for CEFR B1 speaking.
eui.eu/Documents/ServicesAdmin/LanguageCentre/CEF.pdf

As a comparison, this is about the equivalent level in English:
cambridgeenglish.org/images/22649-rv-examples-of-speaking-performance.pdf

News / Why no reprivatisation in Poland? Holocaust-era property ownership. [119]

Criminal record or none (it shouldn't ever make a difference) the law is quite confusing. Two main groups of claimants, both (with some justification) saying the legal odds are stacked against them.

News / Why no reprivatisation in Poland? Holocaust-era property ownership. [119]


Absolutely - as well as collusion to prevent the return of expropriated property afterwards.

Law / Laundromats in Poland? Good business venture or not? [90]

Yes. There's a university near my home and no launderette in sight. Even the only bar in the area (no students' union bar for some reason) doesn't do much business and the only business that does any trade is a kebab van that also sells pens, paper and pot noodles.

There simply isn't the target market for launderettes in Poland. there are cheapish laundries that do service washes (charged by the item), there's washing your clothes in the sink, but not really anything in between except for buying a washer. They are quite cheap in PL.

Life / A rant on customer service in Poland [42]

In my local shop they never, ever had change. If you wanted something for 9.65 zl and gave them 10zl, the ladie sin the shop would say in an accusing censorious tone "and not 9.65zl?". I actually once or twice saw them taking the till drawer into the back room of the shop groaning with coins and replacing it with an empty one.

There's a law in Poland (an old one but still on the books) that says items and services should be paid for using the exact amount. And in the morning they don't start with a float - the concept just doesn't exist.many shopkeepers wouldn't see the point and would rather lose a sale than go to the (very little) effort of having one.

That and the shop culture still harks back to a time when goods were scarce and customers didn't have the choice to go elsewhere. Plus shop assistants were sometimes there because they had to be rather than through choice. All this has gone, however it's be a couple of generations before the culture has changed. Roll on Pakistani corner shops to shake it all up.

Law / Laundromats in Poland? Good business venture or not? [90]

Exactly the same, Po3. The situation in Warsaw etc is different (though there may be room in the market for one or two, provided the area was chosen very very well). In London, there are a lot of subdivided houses where there isn't space or the residents are passing through and don't want to buy a machine until they've got a real place of their own. Plus the tradition of launderettes that grew up when the washing machine was a new thing and out of most people's financial reach. And they also often do dry cleaning, service washes etc. My granny never had a washing machine - she could afford one but preferred the launderette. Worth mentioning that they are dying out fast in the UK now.

In Poland, the housing stock in cities tends to be newer with space for a machine in the bathroom and people stay in the flats long enough to make one worthwhile.

The OP should think seriously about buy-to-let in the UK. It's doable from Poland (if he's near an airport) and in the North it produces good yields. He could buy in Poland, but really it's big cities only, where the demand is.

Law / Laundromats in Poland? Good business venture or not? [90]


I know one in Warsaw - it's pretty well empty and only exists because they own the premises (the old 'drying room' in a large block of flats) anyway.


Same here although I know more people who just do their washing in the bath. Sales of the type of powder for hand-washing are high in Poland.


This is really common, people who rent or even own flats but go home every weekend by car take washing back, don't cook for themselves but just reheat stuff. This isn't off topic, since anyone with an idea for a small business in urban Poland has to take into account this demographic and their lack of ready cash as well as their staying in town only during the week.

Travel / What is the cheapest way to get from Modlin airport to Warsaw? [106]

AB Everst is good, I've never had to wait for it to be filled - there aren't that many flights to Modlin anyway. There's also Uber.

By the way, even if you book the shared service, there's a chance that you'll get the vehicle to yourself or maybe just one or two other people.

Law / Laundromats in Poland? Good business venture or not? [90]

Launderettes (I presume that's what you mean by laundromat) do exist in Poland however they are very few and far between and have not been a success.

Dominic is right - their absence shows lack of demand. I'd disagree about people doing their laundry at friends. People if they are young and go home from the city at weekends (many do) take the laundry with them. Others who can't afford a washing machine (and they are by the way cheap in Poland) tend to do it by hand.

So that is isn't a business opportunity. Better to invest in buy to let property in the UK, especially northern English cities. A cheap flight away from Poland when you have to go there and very good returns in terms of outlay.

Work / Snow Plowing in Poland - is it a worthwhile job? [18]

Well actually, Po3, if it was as simple as that, there would be far fewer threads here. Remember the OP, doesn't yet have a karta pobytu either.

Work / Snow Plowing in Poland - is it a worthwhile job? [18]

And after 24 years, well deserved. Snow ploughing isn't really an option (you'll see why when you spend a winter in PL) so perhaps worth exploring some of the other things you can do - or make an investment either in Poland or elsewhere but near that you can visit.

Whereabouts in Poland will you be coming to?

News / President Duda wants fairer distribution of wealth in Poland [6]

So what is the Dud going to do about nurses and teachers' salaries?

Sweet FA, that's what.

Travel / Taxis from Gdansk airport? [65]

Worth mentioning that for a better and cheaper option, Uber is now in Gdansk and the whole Tri-City

uber.com/cities/gdansk

Life / What on earth is the fascination of Indians, Pakistanis and Nepalese with Poland? [112]

You can't generalise, LTB. Some people are racist and some aren't. Some are naturally prejudiced due to fear of the world and hatred of the other whether that manifests as racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism etc and some are healthier and less prejudiced.

Among Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese there is also bigotry as well as openness. There isn't any fascination with Poland at all, however those who have heard of it, know it as a smallish country in the heart of Europe and are interested in what it's like.

Life / Any Indians/Pakistanis living in Rzeszow ? [16]

Work, Rai, work. Don't be so bitter. People often feel lonely in strange places - it just takes time, a little effort and some luck for people to find their feet.

Work / Snow Plowing in Poland - is it a worthwhile job? [18]

No, it isn't a way to make a living. People don't do it, in the areas where it's needed they can't afford to pay and although your wife and son could get involved, you as a non-EU citizen could not get involved with any sort of work even for free.

Life / Any Indians/Pakistanis living in Rzeszow ? [16]

Maybe there's a few Indian people at the university. Is there an Indian restaurant there? That might be a good place to ask,

News / Referendum to cost Polish taxpayers nearly 130 mln zl amid uncertain turnout [29]


Precisely. It exists to provide a brake against paranoid politics and ensure a hard-won stability.

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]


It was a difficult time and yes, I too wonder how much politicians (in various countries) have learned. Closer to the thread topic, it's amazing how some people in Poland still believe that the UK did nothing to help Poland - I suspect this comes from an awful synergy between communist-era propaganda and nationalism.

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]


As far as I know they had the same status as the Czechs and far better than the Italians who had switched to supporting the Allies - they were ignored.

Personally, I would have made an exception, however massive victory parades are not that easy to organise, and our Russian Allies (which they were whether we like it or we don't) were manipulating the Warsaw government at a time when the former government-in-exile were facing the harsh realities that characterised their existence.


I think I would have felt the same. A lady I know (just about still alive) came as a political refugee from Poland to the UK in 1936. She wasn't unsympathetic to the left however when she made a visit to Warsaw in the 70s, she vowed never to return.

History / WWII - who really was the first to help Poland? [900]


Indeed, though by that stage, the Warsaw government were recognised by most countries including the US and France. Not the UK, which has a tradition of recognising countries rather than regimes.


Nobody was 'at war with Russia' in 1946, and the Poles were invited to take part in the parade. There was no reason they would be treated any differently to, say, the Czechoslovakians, who were also invited to take part.