Apartment in Poland is not up to standard; right to terminate the rental agreement?

New member on here!

Here is my problem: I'm renting an apartment and the kitchen floor is ice cold. I can feel that there is a draft. I live on the first floor. I signed my contract for a full year starting from 30 September 2011.

In Norway I know that one can terminate the contract with three months notice. Is there a such thing in Poland? I want to move out...

Dziękuję!

Fredrik

First of all notice in contract then one month when you pay rent monthly or three months when you pay rent more than monthly. I think pay in advance for one year is the second case.

I assume the heating's on? The first thing you should do is check your rental agreement, all the terms and conditions should be there.

In the contract, it says that I signed the contract to live there until 1 October 2012. However, it does not say anything about me not being able to terminate the contract. And yes the heating is on!

Look for a word based on the verb 'wypowiedziec', something like wypowiedzenie or okres wypowiedzenia. This means to give notice (terminate) the agreement. In Poland it is usually one month, very occasioanlly two.

The ice-cold floor is irrelevant. Polish law is both primitive and complicated, not to mention inadequate and believe it or not, there's no concept of reasonable expectation or something being fit for purpose. Unless it specifically says the floor should be warm in the contract, you don't have a right to expect it to be. Having said that, it is expensive and lengthy to sue someone, so the flat's owner probably can't do much if you just leave one day.

i doubt that the contract is written in your favour.

u could try finding someone to take over the apartment from you. it might keep the owner happy.

check to make sure the contract etc is legal.

I have only my contract in English. It says that the contract is signed for a definite period of one year, with no words on termination, unless I violate the rules of the contract in regards to having another person staying here, etc. Is there any way that I can get out this apartment at all?


And yeah most likely not...

Dont pay the rent...they will kick your ass out of there... problem sorted...

Well... That is one of the terminating conditions. If I don't pay the rent, I'll get kicked out. But I don't know if I have the heart to do so.... Oh man decisions!

how about just investing in some fluffy slippers? ;-)

Why on earth would you rent a flat where you can't have a visitor to stay? You actually signed that agreement?


But you aren't in England! You are in Poland, and contracts are in Polish. You must have signed a Polish version. If not, you don't have a contract. Just leave and don't worry about paying what you owe - the flat owner is clearly doing something dodgy.


Exactly. Or some running shoes, to run far away from a flat where the 'contract' is in a foreign language!

ffs why do fly by night landlords waving bits of paper around have us supposedly smart and educated people quaking in our shoes?
If you don't like the flat, just leave.
He is hardly going to sue you is he?

Are you seriously THAT thick?His contract states that he can not sub let it to anybody.Common point on lease contract.

subletting and having someone to stay are not the same though, are they?

AFAIK Fredrikkk is not Polish, so a contract written in Polish would serve him even less. Fredrikkk, can't you talk to your landlord about the situation? If everything else is OK and it's just the cold kitchen floor, maybe you could come to some sort of an agreement - like a reduction in rent, or maybe the landlord genuinely did not know about it (if it's a brand new flat, say, or one in which they've never lived themselves), and the problem could be fixed? Why does everyone here automatically assume that nothing can be done, the landlord is dodgy, and the only way out is to leave the flat?

well he said that he wants to leave....and the landlord does sound a bit iffy.

If its a brand new flat, maybe the builder forgot to put the insulation under the floor screed?. If there is an empty apartment below, this will also make it feel colder.

Yeah, if there is no contract in Polish he'll have a hard time collecting.

If there is a contract in Polish it will take precedence over one in English.

Also are you on the ground floor or Polish first floor (equivalent to second floor in the US and I think UK)?

What is the problem here?If he's not happy with the place he can break the lease,and then sue the owner for a security deposit which most likely will be witheld.

yet more advice from someone who left Poland as a kid and does not have a damned clue about the realities of living here

great advice, get lawyered up and wait a year for the case to come up in court facing legal costs far in excess of the value of the deposit

this coming from a guy who did not believe that there were money changers in Poland in the mid 90s and that the dollar zloty exchange rate varied depending on where you were selling your greenbacks

I salute you Sir,you are a constant source of amusement

and your judgment is based on what facts exactly? I re-read the whole thread and there's practically no info on the landlord or their attitude.


or get sued BY the owner, just as likely.

I am more familiar with realities of living in Poland than you will ever be.


Lawyered up,seriously?All he needs is Kodeks Cywilny and guess what genius,he can sue the landlord for court fees too!

Don't do anything rash, that you may regret later. If you are norwegian you are most likely a student I guess?

At the Warsaw faculty of Law every Tues or Thurs, Law grads meet with people that can't afford legal representation, in your case as a student you would qualify, they will assist you with your contract and help you draft up a letter to your landlord in Polish at NO cost to you, all cases are shadowed by the lecturers, its a way of allowing the Law Grads to get real life experience.

Good luck and be smart.

well done Chubs

another round of hearty laughter from my side

as for you knowing more about Poland than I ever will, when were you going to demonstrate this knowledge?
because so far I have not been impressed

perhaps you might want advise the OP what to do next

OP: I would be more inclined to listen to Wedle

Well,I am not here to impress you nor anybody.


It seems you didn't notice but I just did.

oh I see, so you seem to believe that asking a non Polish speaking Norwegan person to just get hold of a copy of the Kodeks and then roll up in a Polish court (without the aid of legal representation) and sue someone is just a walk in the park

erm.... in what way was that helpful?

You can't even read Polish so what can you know about it?Let me answer for you,nothing really.

Seen it have you? No, thought not. The guy is asking advice about a situation in today's Poland. Sorry, but you left years ago. WE are the experts, not YOU. And please don't try to comment on a 'contract' that you haven't actually seen.

Stop trolling - it's not big, it's not clever and nobody's impressed.


Based on the fact that he only has some 'agreement' that isn't in Polish and doesn't mention a notice period.


Aside from the fact that it's very expensive to sue in Poland, the plain fact is that a bit of paper not written in Polish isn't going to impress any judge.


Yes.


Yes.

YOU are an expert???That's a good one!I aready pointed out that you CAN'T EVEN READ POLISH so what are you talking about?

Why do you think I can't either read or speak Polish? I'm perfectly fluent in both and have the diplomas to prove it, thank you very much!

Now stop trolling and stick to writing shte about your own country, the US.

To the OP: Don't listen to this guy; he's just making trouble for whatever reason. Wedle, myself, Hythorn and Rozumiemnic have all given sound advice - each one of us has some experience in these situations. I've rented several flats there and am renting my own to someone now.