Real Estate / New property tax in Wrocław, from 1 Feb? Tax on apartment's garage or parking space 50% ! [5]

The secret is to slow down and read things carefully, i.e.:-

Real Estate / New property tax in Wrocław, from 1 Feb? Tax on apartment's garage or parking space 50% ! [5]

The itemisation on the bill says property tax. The price of the space remains the same, but with the tax the price is now 50% more.

Let me explain it to you:-

Jan 2013
Space in the garage --- 50zl

Total due 50zl

Feb 2013

Space in the garage --- 50zl

Property tax --- 25zl

Total due 75zl

Hope that's clear for you now.

So does anyone know what this is about, because seems some of us have been asleep and missed this news.

Work / NO JOBS IN POLAND FOR ENGLISH PEOPLE EXCEPT TEACHING? [44]

I'm not a teacher but it irritates me when I see poor English in ads for English tuition, because the student is going to get less than they paid for, without being equipped to realise it beforehand.

As for the poor English on websites and similar -- I wholeheartedly agree with you there, too.

Work / NO JOBS IN POLAND FOR ENGLISH PEOPLE EXCEPT TEACHING? [44]

One of the most ironic things I've observed in this city would be ads apparently from "English native speakers" on various popular websites, which contain glaring errors that any schoolboy would notice -- and yet people give those advertisers work as their English tutor?! You just couldn't make it up!

Real Estate / Poland Real Estate 2013 -drops in offer prices, lack of liquidity indicate market crashing [39]

I'm almost tempted to up sticks and clear off to Warsaw! The prices here in Wroc are ludicrous sometimes. The one I told you above worked out at over 6600/m2 when they gave me the price and size. That's almost peak price. Is it a nice estate? No, not really. It's a mid-floor flat and absolutely nothing special at all.

(PS your link is not working, try mine below)

Real Estate / Poland Real Estate 2013 -drops in offer prices, lack of liquidity indicate market crashing [39]

On an estate near me they are asking 500,000PLN for a 75m2 flat (3-room) in the secondary (resale) market with no agent involved. That's an incredible price considering local wages are only about 30,000-40,000PLN a year.

Real Estate / Poland Real Estate 2013 -drops in offer prices, lack of liquidity indicate market crashing [39]

Welcome, Norwegian. Thanks for posting :o)

Real Estate / Poland Real Estate 2013 -drops in offer prices, lack of liquidity indicate market crashing [39]


Thanks for the post and the thread -- interesting stuff.

Real Estate / Poland Real Estate 2013 -drops in offer prices, lack of liquidity indicate market crashing [39]

Unfortunately, it pushed some regions of the UK north of 2007's "peak" prices. I hope the same doesn't happen here. Poland's prices seem more expensive than Britain's on a wage:buy/rent ratio.

Real Estate / Poland Real Estate 2013 -drops in offer prices, lack of liquidity indicate market crashing [39]


But what happens if the NBP continues to lower interest rates and/or prints money, like the UK did? That caused another boost to UK house prices in some regions especially London and the south-east of England.

It also weakened the pound, caused inflation, and robbed savers.

Real Estate / Poland Real Estate 2013 -drops in offer prices, lack of liquidity indicate market crashing [39]


I'm lost now! Which post were you referring to? Wasn't Dont gag me yo saying that he offered and the vendor came back with a large drop, not a gazump?

Asking price of 1.2m and vendor suggest 1m, 20K. Ask of 2.1m and vendor dropped to 1,8m.

Travel / The worst months for bike riding in Poland? [8]

I saw someone riding a bike in the snowstorm yesterday in an outer area of Wrocław.

Real Estate / Best and worst months of the year to find a flat to rent in Poland? [39]

You're right on both counts, I have heard that said before.

I did a word of mouth thing and only got offered rubbish in Wroc's worst streets. I did poster ads and only got 1 reply from a block I didn't even advertise at.

A flat with not far from a thousand views on Gumtree but no takers refused my offer of 10% off the asking rent, even with me saying I'd not want the garage space and would rent it from Monday (ie tomorrow).

Landlord merely said:

Witam,

Warunki zaproponowane nie są do przyjęcia.

Z poważaniem

So, it's going to just sit there unlet until he finds someone who pays full whack and takes the garage, and if that's another week and he loses 600zł or another month and he loses 2000zł it doesn't matter because at least he will get his price and full rent. No problem there at all. None whatsoever. Can't see any flaw in the mathematical logic, no sir.

Just beggars belief he'd rather not see 4000zł in his hand tomorrow and instead risk it empty for however many more days until someone else comes along and perhaps rents it for no longer than I would or even a shorter period. However, a little digging reveals the flat is owned by a company in another country, in E Europe!!

(No way am I increasing my offer, that garage space is worth far more to him than the 10% discount I requested, I've been very fair and he can kiss my behind.)

Agent got back to me today to tell me I can forget it if I want a 3-room at 1600, as there's only 1 on her books sub 2200. Her fee is 50% of a month's rent.

2 other agents got in touch and politely told me to pizz off when I suggested a month's rent as their fee was pretty high (that's 350GBP)

More and more of the good stuff is only with agents. Among the direct landlords, prices are higher for the privilege of not having an agent fee to pay or that's how it seems.

I placed 4 flats on my watchlist on Otodom yesterday. One day later, 2 have already been let.


However, over on Gumtee I can see several flats that have been available for a month relisted. It's patchy but generally most of the good stuff goes fast, unsurprisingly.

One of the suddenly inactive ones is not let, merely relisted, so the old ad became inactive.

I also notice some flats that were privately advertised without success are then given to an agent at the same price. This could mean that some landlords would slice an amount off the monthly rent -- because surely the rental agents charge them (and often the tenant too) if they find a tenant. Food for thought! My advice: haggle!

It's a weird market out there for rentals.

One reasonably priced flat's live-in owner landlord wasted a very nice agent's time - when I said I was going ahead, the owner wanted far too much as the deposit. Additionally, she was supposed to be moving in a week but there was no actual visual evidence of it.

Another landlord told me they'd sign with me (I offered the asking price) and they signed with someone else instead for no known reason.

And another had priced her flat at 15% more than an identical (and actually possibly superior) flat on the same estate. When I asked the landlord to match the price of the other flat, I was totally ignored. The other flat was superior in furnishings, my only concern was the agreement. Today, the landlord or landlady who ignored me is sticking to her price and the flat remains available.

There are also a lot of flats that I see on Gumtree and Trovit that are seeing their rental prices being reduced after many weeks of unrealistic landlord expectations.

But, in some locations and some streets, things are very much better and even steep prices do not deter tenants. Which makes me wonder where their money's coming from, but perhaps they are the lucky ones with good jobs.

It seems more often than not, the agents have the better properties at more realistic prices -- but most agents charge a one-off fee to the tenant of 50% or more of the monthly rent. Increasingly, though, agents are volunteering to charge me nothing and only charge the landlord. I can also say that of the agents I've met, they seem far less shark-like than the majority I met in Britain. Or perhaps they're just wolves in sheep's clothing...

(One last point - check an agent's contract carefully, even with various awards or whatever, there's no guarantee their contract will be kind to the tenant.)

Real Estate / Best and worst months of the year to find a flat to rent in Poland? [39]

Not so many months ago I was told that the majority of Polish landlords deal direct, I think it was on this forum in fact.

Well, just go on over to the property websites and you'll see that a lot of the flats are via agents - and they charge anything from 0 up to a full month's rent to a tenant (ie one year's rental is equivalent to 13 months' rent)

Go to Otodom, for example, on a typical search in Wroc rented flats privately available are 29 when searched, but click the agents offers too, and the number swells to 180.

The agents here are as expensive as the ones in the UK. GBP300 on average to rent a flat via one of them, before you've found any rent deposit or one month's rent in advance. In fact, in the UK it's often less than that figure, the majority come in at GBP200 or so.

Real Estate / Best and worst months of the year to find a flat to rent in Poland? [39]

This one, 536 in 48 hrs. not sure it's cheap but lots of interest anyway

gumtree.pl/cp-dom-mieszkanie-do-wynajecia/wroclaw/mieszkanie-na-krzykach-3-pokojowe-452706768

If we take it at face value, that's about 500 different potential tenants seeking a 3-room flat in a good part of town. If that's not a buoyant rental market, I honestly don't know what is. (It was not a relist, the number of hits are two days' worth.)

• 
  536in48hrsa.jpg
  

Real Estate / Best and worst months of the year to find a flat to rent in Poland? [39]


Same problem in England, they have a void (empty flat) for months rather than drop the rent to what a tenant can afford. One landlord I know there lost GBP5K waiting for a tenant instead of reducing the rent by a hundred a month and getting one in immediately.

Seems there's the greatest competition from late Aug to Sept because some landlords seem to want to raise rents at that time of year. That suggests to me that a savvy tenant should change apartment in June or from November to maybe Xmas to get the best deals.

It does seem to be easing now and a person I spoke to who is very experienced with flats and rentals (although she works in finance) told me in plain English that there are plenty of flats available, she did however vigorously agree with me that the rents are nevertheless seriously out of step with wages.

I nearly got to rent a new flat -- I viewed one and the couple also viewing ahead of me said they weren't taking it when I cheekily (I know, sorry) asked them, and so I offered the full rent and the landlord said OK and told me they were bringing the agreement, so I rushed to the bank and got the money out only to then get a text message (SMS) - after waiting in the cold for an hour for the landlord - that said the flat was suddenly "unavailable". Bad luck or good luck? No idea, but I viewed it the same day it came to the market. It is slightly cheap but a bit shabby inside and the monthly service charge was on the high side.

Quite silly really - am keeping a watch on several flats and they are available for a week or two and unlet, as they keep reappearing on Gumtree. But 9/10 landlords don't reduce the price. Instead, they lose 1 week then 2 week's then a month's rent instead (in English, it's called a 'void'). They end up losing a thousand zl or more, instead of pricing the flat fairly in the first place or reducing the rent by 10% after the first week of no takers. Sometimes it's worse and the flats hang around for months until let, and then they lose 2500zl typically. Landlords - do yourself a favour and price correctly. If there are no takers in a week, drop your price. Be realistic.

Where I have viewed it's has mainly been with an agent. 9/10 agents charge a fee if you rent via them. Typically it's 50% or 100% of what a month's rent is. The majority are charging a tenant the equivalent of a month's rent.

They can't be short of mugs I mean tenants if they refuse to negotiate their fees down. So there must be quite a lot of tenant demand. Despite that, I still see the same flats getting relisted.

But, 7/8 landlords I email via Gumtree or Tablica simply never reply and the page with their flat shows over 100 hits.

I think there is demand, it's just that few will pay what the landlords ask.

212 hits in 36 hours - not unusual when the price might be reasonable... who said there was no real tenant demand in Wroclaw?

• 
  212in36hrs.JPG
  

Law / Demand for business space in Wrocław seen increasing [10]

Thanks Jason, I am just up the road by TVP Wroc anyway, I may do that. (Not a student, I'm way over 39 in fact!)


Amen to that.

Law / Demand for business space in Wrocław seen increasing [10]


You are probably renting at 2500zl per month or more bracket, being in the public eye and all so they're short of tenants at that price

At my price, they ain't short of tenants, or they're just stubborn, because when I offer even 10% less or try to negotiate the agent's fees down I get the middle finger.

Also, today I couldn't even get the agents to take any interest in me with a budget raised to 1500 - one did a half hearted email saying the place was occupied still and the other just told me the place was let and didn't even try to suit me to something else. They must have loads of tenants - an idea reinforced by the fact they want a whole month's rent as their fee from me (see my Let Let Let thread)

That said, I see lots of flats readvertised as the tenants just aren't biting at the rents demanded. Very few landlords are seeing sense and dropping - instead they are getting voids of weeks or months and losing chunks of money

Law / Demand for business space in Wrocław seen increasing [10]

Commercial's not something I know much about. I can tell you that some flats built in Partynice (Wrocław) a few years ago have a high vacancy rate. Looks like 15% of them are for sale. Across the road, they have built hundreds more. It's hard to understand what's going on, perhaps someone who reads this thread can say why so many seem unsold years later, yet there is a massive estate 1/2km away about to be released for sale. Incidentally, before setting off, saw my bus driver reading a brochure for a new development. He was very interested and the bus left late as a result. He even stole another look while waiting at the traffic lights. He was about 55 years old.

Food / The great British teabag hunt thread [66]

I think Twinings have an operation in Poland, but I'm not really a fan of theirs. I'm more interested in everyday tea at a fair price. When I tried the more expensive Polish brands, I wasn't that impressed considering the cost. Without a shadow of a doubt, 2 bags of Remsey Black (bags) is about as close as I can get to a decent cup of tea for the money. However, if Tesco were still stocking their own Finest (instead they're stocking another company's Finest range) I'd buy theirs. In a recent poll in the UK, it did very well for flavour. The non Tesco brand range called Finest is not impressive, but (unlike Auchan) I seem to recall that Tesco customer services accepted it back and refunded me. (Note that Tesco insisted I return it to the same branch from which it was purchased.)

If a person is happy to pay quite a lot more, Lipton's is quite good (although still does not equal the flavour I am used to in England). Lipton's is good without milk, in all fairness to them.

Food / The great British teabag hunt thread [66]

Some must do because Aldi or Lidl sell it in large cartons in the UK.

The Tetley Classic is just under 3zł in Auchan for 25 bags (25x x 1.6g). Most British teabags weigh around 3g, so it's not especially good value as it would mean 2 bags are needed for a full flavour.

Auchan's own label teabags in a yellow box are not much good. It is unusual for me to have to thumbs down an Auchan product but this time I do. There are worse teas out there but this one is not as good as Biedronka's Remsey which is only a few pennies more. If you do buy Auchan's, don't expect a refund at the customer service desk if you don't like the taste or return it for low quality reasons -- they will most probably direct you to the address on the back of the box and refuse a refund in the store. Auchan usually have a very, very good attitude with products customers return (within reason of course) but poor taste with tea does not seem to be covered. They have this in common with Carrefour, who also refused me a refund on tea that tasted like dust. The best advice is buy Remsey Black (bags) from Biedronka, Tesco Finest Fair Trade teabags (lately they are out of stock), M&S bags, or bring your own from Britain! Tea is light and easy to fit into luggage, thankfully.

Food / The great British teabag hunt thread [66]

thanks :O)

Food / The great British teabag hunt thread [66]

You're thinking of tea bagging I think! Not something to discuss with the vicar.


Which one was it, please? There are a few different ones.

UK, Ireland / Polish is Britain's second language, says UK report [52]

[********************] It's the opposite in Eastern Europe - people will be reserved, even harsh at first, but once you know them better they will be warm, welcoming, they will let you in to their hearts.[/quote]

I can think of Poles who are very warm on the outside and cold hearted trash on the inside. Perhaps some are more reserved with strangers because of the history of the country. Poland is not Eastern Europe btw.

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


I know, they do some sort of average price, like the UK energy companies try to do with readings there, although I refuse and always say to them there I will pay on receipt of a bill following a real meter reading instead of paying a fixed sum every month and waiting for a rebate.

But, as you can guess, my point was that Wroclaw rents are even worse value because they don't include service charges, unlike the UK's.

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

Good point although I forgot to point out something really important to the forum: the cost of rent when you rent a flat in the UK will almost always include the monthly service charge. In my experience here in Wroc, the rents almost always exclude the monthly service charge.

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

The monthly service charge and ground rent in a block in a UK town is generally from GBP40 to GBP100 a month. In a conversion (a house made into flats) there may only be the ground rent, which would typically be much less, sometimes as little as GBP10 annually. That's often referred to as a peppercorn rent.

In a major UK city the figures above are generally revised upwards.

Here's a 1-bed and perhaps 50m2 Herts flat in a block and its charges of 80 quid a month. Ground Rent & Service Charges - £240 per quarter approx.[/i]

Here's another at 40 quid a month:

Lease Details
Lease Length - 125 years from 1988
Ground Rent - £10 per annum
Service Charges - £116 per quarter (based on 2012 figures up to 31st March 2013).