Travel / Are there any travel agencies in Poland that offer Disneyland Paris packages? [10]

"Disneyland Paris feels fury of disenchanted customers as more than 5,000 visitors sign petition demanding higher standards."

Food / Is Domino's Pizza popular in Poland? [18]

I don't know why, but seems hard to get a decent pizza here.

Probably just as well, research the term 'wheat belly'

cbc.ca/news/health/why-are-we-waging-a-war-on-wheat-1.1229404

Life / Cost of living in Wroclaw (rent price too) [119]


Unless you have expensive habits, yes.

Rooms are usually 600zł a month, and often negotiable. You might have to pay for electricity/gas/water/internet in addition, however. Fares are approx. 90zł a month if you get a travel pass (Urbancard). Clothes are cheap if you go to the secondhand shops. Speaking personally, I'd be very happy if I had 3500zł coming in each month in Wroclaw :o) although some people with loans and repayments or a family will of course find 3500 to be inadequate.

Life / Which bank in Poland should I join for basic services? [14]

If you have faith in ratings, here is a rating agency's list of banks and their assessed rating:-

fitchpolska.com.pl/ratings-and-research/financial-inst itutions.html

Law / Opening an English bookstore in Poland - what are the prospects and profitability? [17]

Start carefully if you feel it might work. Perhaps get a stall in a covered market for a month or two, and see how it goes.

And don't forget the obvious -- people downloading English books on to an e-reader.

FWIW the Poles here that I know of buy their real (English lang) books from Amazon.

Real Estate / Apartment damage and rental deposit in Poland [20]


Well, I very much doubt there's anything outstanding, and it would appear I'm actually due a refund of the monthly bills payment in addition to my deposit if I didn't use it for rent. But, I'd be open to persuasion otherwise if the landlord produces the bills.

Real Estate / Poland online property ownership checker (government website) [19]

Thanks CMS

I think some new law is being proposed regarding allowing more relaxed planning laws for Poland's family homes from next year perhaps...

It is possible that next year will be to build small houses without bureaucratic 're wasting time associated with obtaining appropriate permits . And what about the rights of property owners adjacent to the planned construction?

It seems that the government has learned from the lesson over two years ago gave the " reformers " construction law the Constitutional Court. At the request of former President Lech Kaczynski challenged on the abolition of permits that pushed through the parliament committee " Friendly State " ....

Real Estate / Poland online property ownership checker (government website) [19]

What safeguards are there when someone buys a house or flat (or land) in Poland? In the UK, a solicitor/lawyer or licensed conveyancer will carry out searches to see if there's anything happening locally that could concern a buyer. Does that happen in Poland?

Law / WARNING - To Individuals setting up companies in Poland to trade outside of EU. [12]


Good idea. Although some Tesco branches are still doing CC mature cheddar (albeit not so cheaply, any more).

Real Estate / Help to buy a flat - for Poland's first time buyers [11]

Thanks for tracking it down for me, BRS :o)

Real Estate / Help to buy a flat - for Poland's first time buyers [11]

Useful, thank you :o)

However, someone told me they read online somewhere in some financial website that the govt of Poland is offering some new scheme from Jan for FTBs. I was wondering if anyone knew what that was.

Law / WARNING - To Individuals setting up companies in Poland to trade outside of EU. [12]


Very interesting tale, genuinely feel for you that you had all that hassle, but sounds like you've found a solution now and


obviously, I really hope you do well and really clean up ;o)

Law / Poland Internet & TV cable firm call to say they have put TV price up from 1zl to 11zl [10]


Certainly did not agree. The caller could hardly speak English, but he understood full well I said no.
Where do you get the idea from I agreed????????
You are misreading my OP. I wrote that I agreed to the 1zl at the beginning of the contract. I never agreed to that being changed to 11zl now.

Anyway, they said I have the right to cancel, and I have.

Law / Poland Internet & TV cable firm call to say they have put TV price up from 1zl to 11zl [10]


Same here, although for me being basically mugged for 100zl odd more per year when I don't even watch their TV is a bit much. When they installed the internet, they said we have to disconnect your block's TV aerial but we can put our own basic channels on for just 1zl a month for the year. I obviously agreed. 6 months later, someone calls, he tells me he's from the internet company (and so I assume he is) and tells me from Sept 1 it's 11zl a month, presumably so that he can sell me something for 15zl a month with more than the basic channels (I'm just guessing, I don't know exactly what he called for, because his English was extremely basic, but he did manage to say it's up from 1 to 11 a month, that's for definite).

I'm moving out anyway soon, so sod 'em. They can shove their contract now where their fibre optics don't shine.

Apparently, such changes or price increases could give the subscriber/customer the right to cancel on 1 month's notice, within a time limit. Not 100% sure but so I am told.

Real Estate / Polish Nieruchomości (real estate) commission madness! [25]


I think the vendor should pay. Anyway, apartment I saw today was advertised as a 2-room but was just a kitchen and living room/bedroom. That's not what 2-room normally means, is it!?


I'm not being anti-semantic but I think it's fair to say you're probably reading his comment out of context, young man!

Real Estate / Polish Nieruchomości (real estate) commission madness! [25]

I suppose it depends if they manage to swing a decent discount for me, if I buy something.

Also, am a bit wary of the forms they insist buyers sign before viewing a house or flat. I know they're supposed to be agreeing to payment only if I buy. but I dislike the idea of signing anything until I am sure I'm going ahead.

Real Estate / Polish Nieruchomości (real estate) commission madness! [25]

When buying an apartment, is 2.5% the standard fee or is it often negotiated lower?

To the OP, regarding renting: I negotiated the fee down to about 25% when I rented. Agent was quite discourteous, so can't say they were even worth that.

Life / shopping on Ebay from Poland [9]

3 out of 4 eBay items ordered turned up, and on the 1 that never turned up I think they didn't send it as there was lots of confusion about the date of despatch. I got a refund.

I have not found the Polish Post Office to be any sort of problem here, so far. Pretty good, in fact, speaking of my own experiences.

Real Estate / Astounded by the poor value of residential property here in Wroclaw [92]


You don't let the grass grow, do you, eh! I doubt I'll manage to get anyone to go quite that fast but I'll have a good try if I find somewhere decent (a few viewings lined up and then I'll see).

Thanks for that interesting bit of inspiration!


Thanks for the tip, I will keep 'em peeled!

That value I was hoping for seems somewhat elusive now -- the flat I had my eye on was it seems incorrectly priced, by 100K, as they have now upped it by that amount. I didn't imagine it. Sadly also, 2 other flats seem to have sold after many months on r\the market. The interest rate cuts here might be tempting buyers. Plus Tusk's declaration of no recession, maybe. Not sure I'll ever see that 'value', might have to bite the bullet here and overpay in spite of the scary relationship between wage multiples and price. I hate going against fundamentals I really do. The world seems to have gone mad.

Work / 3500 PLN gross - not happy with my salary (working in Warsaw for an international company) [55]

I know of someone with a masters in economics doing some very important full-time work for a bank in this city and barely scraping in 2900 after tax. The person's whole life seems to have been taken over by the hours of the job, and is also on a temp contract where it has been indicated by management that the role is unlikely to continue. Despite this, ever hopeful even for this low salary (low in my opinion anyway) they continue to be jumping through hoops in the hope of even retaining this job. This person gave up a much easier role abroad for x5 this salary. Doh!

Work / Average IT salary in Poland [60]


What do you reckon the monthly wage would be for a senior IT project manager in Wrocław per month, gross (for a large financial co) ?

News / Premier says no recession for Poland [148]


I note in some other towns or cities, people seem to be nearer my age, or far fewer kids anyway. EG Zielona Gora seemed to have fewer kids.

My estate has various apartments -- smallish studios and also typically from 60m2 to 100m2 apartments, some of which are duplex.

News / Premier says no recession for Poland [148]


I'm not disputing the stats, I'm just saying -- Wrocław is full of brats sorry I mean children, almost everywhere. I accept the stats say something different about Poland as a whole, I also accept things in Wrocław may not be true of the rest of the country. But, when I travel by train, it's very rare for my compartment to not have at least 1 or 2 little kids with its parents or grandparents. From these experiences, it doesn't seem to be the case that the birthrate is down, although yes the stats are at odds with my perception.

I'll end my birthrate posts here, because we are pretty much taking it off-topic and the moderator will have cause to chop the thread up. Thanks for those comments, though :o)

News / Premier says no recession for Poland [148]


I'm genuinely sorry to read things might not be going so well for yourself or people you know. However, I'm just saying what I see. Not only is my (lousy, noisy) estate full of quite new and new cars including big 4x4s, but when I stand at the bus stop I can't help but notice the new cars coming past. Quite a lot of them, at random times. Not at all unusual to see a small Porsche or Cayenne come past, plus loads of new Audis and whatever else. Some people are doing very well or have borrowed heavily to finance these toys.

News / Premier says no recession for Poland [148]


It's not the world, it's Poland.

But anyway, even taking that into account, having travelled by train around Poland a fair bit now, my trains are always full of screaming little kids. And Wrocław is full of kids and young people

Like I said before, I can't really understand how this is a falling birth rate unless they mean by 0.1% or something.

I have never seen so many little kids in my life as I do here in Wrocław, they are everywhere. Perhaps people have kids when they get good jobs and perhaps they find good jobs in cities and that's why there are so many kids here. But I suspect the number of kids here is the same (or perhaps even more, just guessing of course) than many other European cities, and so I cannot see why there is concern about the birth rate. What might cause a problem is if too many people leave rural areas and fewer available to do the agricultural work -- same problem happened in the UK.

News / Premier says no recession for Poland [148]


I think I bought it ! :D

News / Premier says no recession for Poland [148]

I kid you not, I picked up brand new, smart trousers at Tesco (F+F) for 15zl in my size a few weeks ago. They were of course reduced as end-of-line. But I'd be paying at least that for used ones at the secondhand shops where they weigh the clothes, so I don't buy much from them any more except interesting tee-shirts or designer gear which I very occasionally manage to snaffle at their rock bottom or penultimate rock bottom price (Old but very passable Armani jeans for approx. 10zl being my best buy, a total bit of beginner's luck that never repeated itself).

I know these secondhand shops have 80% off days or 10zl/kg days, but my size is never available by that time.

News / Premier says no recession for Poland [148]


Not so on my estate -- we're wall to wall with kids here, and the noise from the children is very much in evidence, quite apart from the problem neighbour who lives above me and is nocturnal and also has a kid who leaps around like a monkey at all hours. This estate has kids all over. Bicycles, skateboards, football, gangs of young kids sitting on railings, it's like a young families' estate but isn't supposed to be as it's private flats which are 500K each. I laugh when I hear this childless couples or shortage of kids stuff in the media, we're overrun with kids here, they're everywhere. And women with loads of buggies and pushchairs almost every time I use the bus. And always sitting near me and next to me when I fly. If this is a low birthrate, then I'm amazed.


And the price of the used clothes is actually more expensive than most British secondhand clothes shops which are usually a charity. I would put the price of used clothes in Poland on the days when they aren't doing the discounting, as above that charged by charity shops in St Johns Wood High Street (upmarket London) and on a good discount day the same price or even a bit more as a well known heart charity's secondhand clothes (not terribly cheap but in better condition than the clothes that you typically find here in Wroc in some secondhand clothes shops).