Polish Nieruchomości (real estate) commission madness!

Hi Polish Forums,

I've just relocated to Poland (Wroclaw) and find myself looking for a place to live in. When contacting with the local Real Estate Agents here I find that their fees are exorbitant and normally ask for a full month in compensation if I am to sign a contract with them...Of course, this is not something I am willing to pay and after some arguing in most cases they agree to a 50% reduction. Is this standard? Can I still push further?

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

renting or buying?

Should have mentioned, renting.

what would you think to be a fair sum? I dont think they'll go much lower than 50% of a months rent, depends on other factors really such as how long the property has been available and demand.

the agents do get commission from the owner as well, and sometimes a monthly management fee - but not often.

well, I wasn't looking to pay any fees for signing the contract but expecting that the agent would make its income form the administrative fee that is paid every month...as I realise that I will have to pay an upfront fee now I just wanted to check with you guys that this is a standard practice here and that I am not being fooled by the agents as being a foreigner I am easy prey...

you are easy prey. the agent gets a hit from you and from the landlord. Unless this is your dream flat- I would keep looking and see if you can find something on your own. try oferty.net many landlords don't want to deal with agents. they are a joke in this country.

I will never accept paying 50% of the rent to an agent for opening a door.

the residential system in Poland is a clusterfcuk and needs a complete overhaul.

well, problem is that here in Wroclaw the market seems like it is totally dominated by Agents giving me not many alternatives, plus this time of the year the better properties have already been rented to students arriving earlier in September. I am really disappointed by how the residential system works and will really hate paying two weeks rent to somebody who has been mediocre at best at doing his job but as I need to find something quick I guess I will have to suck it up this time.

It does not work like that in Poland. Agents get commissions once, when you sign the contract with your landlord. Standard commission is 50% of one monthly rent.

Yes Pip I agree ,often agents make the tenant AND the landlord pay however it is such a pain and time consuming to open the door of the flat you want to rent to 5 people a week or have to commute or travel to your flat when you don't live there that it is why people use them.

For my flat in Krakow ,I have a lawyer in Krakow to take care of my tenancy agreements but she does not do "the showing around " of the flat and i can't bother or disturb my Krakow friends every 6 months or every 2 years to organise viewings of my flat.

Try Gumtree.pl

Sure Gumtree is ok but delek needs to call the owners in Polish , organise viewing, discuss and understand what is included in the rent etc.Most young people in Poland speak English and other languages but not older people.

thanks, tried that one and also oferty.net and otodom.pl but it seems that almost all flats in the city center of Wroclaw are rented through agents.

Yes. You can check the box to exclude agents.

Though some of them still pretend to be private sellers/letters - they are bottom feeders after all.

And if you want a place with a meldunek, that also might complicate matters a great deal.

You can try going there with a friend (who signs the agreement with the agent and shows their ID). You are supposedly just there to say what you think. Then while you're there, if you like it, just tell the landlord that you want the place and if the agent asks for commission, just tell him you have no agreement signed with him so he can kiss your arse.

If you don't speak Polish and your friend is not lawyer - then I can tell you from my own experience that I reluctantly (but with understanding) paid the real estate agent for helping us to find a flat 50% of the monthly rental fee. Today I don't regret that we had their help, and I saw that they really worked on our contract (came with us to the meetings with owner few times, until we came to an agreement about everything), made very detailed description of even small imperfections found in the flat, before we signed a contract). The agency took care of settling all the formalities with the flat-owner, plus negotiated for us additional equipment we wanted to have (and of course provided rental agreement in both English & Polish).

I also tried Gumtree, Gratka (and many others), but the best "assortment" was presented by agencies.

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.

Negotiate everything is my advice, the worst they can do is say NO and renegotiate, it's annoying but worth it.

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.

My preferred solution is to pay them 0%. Sorry but the idea of somebody expecting 20,000zl for half an hour's work is one that disgusts me.

You must love footballers then, getting paid £250,000 a week for doing what they love.

I don't care how much they earn: I'm not paying it.

You commented that its the idea which disgusts you, but now you seem to be saying something else.

Perhaps I should have written it as "the idea of somebody expecting me to pay them 20,000zl for half an hour's work disgusts me".

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!