Real Estate / New flat / apartment - insurance in Poland? [9]

Merged: Insurance on apartment in Poland -- value

I recently bought my 5th apartment in Poland, and am running into a problem with the insurance company (Generali) which I haven't encountered before.

The apartment is large (150m3) in a kamienica from about 1920. The purchase price was, in terms of zł./m3, in line with normal apartment prices in my city. (3000-4000zł./m3)

So upon closing, I immediately contacted my insurance agency to set up coverage for the apartment. I supplied him all the details, and told him I wanted in insurance for value=X (the purchase price). He came back with a policy for X-5%. When questioned about this, he said Generali "only values the property as being worth that price."

He further added "it's like a car, if you buy a car for 30,000zł, you can't insure it for that if it's only worth 20,000zł".

Has anyone ever run into this? I could understand a problem if I wanted to insure for twice the market value, but I just want to insure for the price I paid, which was quite in line with local market conditions.

Real Estate / New flat / apartment - insurance in Poland? [9]

Thank you for the comments so far. I am still surprised to find this is the case.

I called Generali yesterday to argue my case, and they have asked for more info. So, we'll see how it pans out.

Real Estate / New flat / apartment - insurance in Poland? [9]

I've worked with this insurance agent for 10 years, so I have faith in him. But indeed he didn't come out to look this time. I'm having an e-mail conversation with Generali, and I've sent them photos of the property to demonstrate the condition.

Update: Generali sent the problem back to the local agent, and all I get from him is "computer says no" type of response.

So, I'll live with it for a year, hoping there won't be a major catastrophe, and then shop around when renewal time comes.

Travel / The best and inexpensive way to travel from Prague to Warsaw? [15]

This is all a lot of "kombinowanie" to save a few zł.

Buy a train ticket and get on the train and be done with it. If you buy a week or two before travel, it's only going to cost 24-29€ under the "SparDay" offer. Get on the train in Warsaw, get off in Prague. Simples.

If you want to save money, here's a tip: there are better offers in the restaurant car after the train enters Czech territory.

Follow-up... I just noticed that the original post wants to go TO Warsaw. In any case, the same applies.

Real Estate / Landlords and flat owners in Poland - how do you choose your tenants? [5]

Reviving this thread in 2018!-I wonder if there have been any changes to the above advice, in terms of the new RODO (European privacy) regulations?

What exactly can one ask when vetting tenants? I have several apartments I let out, and after years of rather successful rentals, I've recently run into some problem cases:

*one guy lost his job and has fallen behind
*another guy is nearly 3 months behind, and full of excuses (he forgot to sent the payment, he sent it to the wrong account, etc., tomorrow he'll send it, etc.) Every now and then he'll send a partial payment, but nowhere near the full amount owed.

I normally take one month's rent as a security deposit. Could this be increased to 2, or would it scare most everyone away? Someone for who 2 month's rent is no problem might be a safer bet (i.e. they're not skint).

Also, at the end of a fixed term lease are the tenants required to move out (e.g. I can call the police or change the locks if they don't), or can they try to stay claiming they don't have anywhere to go?