Real Estate / Documents requested from foreigners to rent a flat long term in Poland? Invoicing / Contract. [16]

I regularly rent to foreigners in Krakow and I require photo ID + a signed contract + the equivalent of month's rent as security deposit + the first month of rent upfront + the final month of rent upfront.

I would be very skeptical of any landlord looking for 12 months of rent upfront. In general, landlords in Poland are happier to rent to foreigners than to native Poles. A clean, sober, foreigner shouldn't have any trouble renting an apartment in Poland with nothing more than a passport, contract, and deposit/rent money.

On the flip-side, for your own protection, you can ask the landlord for photo ID and proof that he/she is the true owner of the property.

Law / Foreign retirees taxed in Poland? [25]


Hi Scottie, I just want to be clear on what you are saying - You are tax resident in Poland, you collect Social Security checks from the US, you pay income tax on the SS to the US, but you do not pay income tax on this money to Poland? Do you have something from the Polish Tax office that allows you to do this?

BTW, as you said you are currently working in Poland. Many American expats are not aware that as of March 2009, the US and Poland have a Totalization Treaty in place, which is very good news. I think that your current contributions to your Polish pension can be used to bolster your SS.

ssa.gov/international/agreements_overview.html

Law / Foreign retirees taxed in Poland? [25]


Resident Aliens (green card holders) are certainly taxed by the IRS on their worldwide income. The IRS does not differentiate between citizens and resident aliens.

IRS publication 54: "As a U.S. citizen or resident alien, your worldwide income generally is subject to U.S. income tax, regardless of where you are living. Also, you are subject to the same income tax filing requirements that apply to U.S. citizens or resident aliens living in the United States."


Oops, don't know where my train of thought was going. I meant to say that a dual Polish citizen living in the US has no tax obligation to Poland for US earned income.

Matina, there is a huge interest by US retirees in Offshore Retirement Havens, countries which do not tax worldwide income. There are endless websites devoted to this. Some countries, like Panama & Bahamas, are ideal for this sort of thing. But Poland, like most countries in the world, is not a good choice. The income tax thresholds are much lower than in the US, and income is taxed worldwide.

Law / Foreign retirees taxed in Poland? [25]

Matina, it really depends from where you are asking the question. US citizens & resident aliens (green card holders) are taxed on their worldwide income regardless of residence. Polish income tax is based on tax residency. Anyone spending more than 180 days in a year in Poland is taxed on their worldwide income.

So in a situation where a US citizen retiree becomes tax resident in Poland they will be taxed by both the IRS and the Polish Tax Office. There is a tax treaty in place between the US and Poland which will allow you to offset taxes paid to either country, in this situation your Polish tax obligations will likely exceed any US tax obligations. The Polish taxes can be used as a "foreign tax credit" on your 1040 and you will probably end up paying no US income tax.


This isn't relevant in the reverse situation. A dual Polish citizen living in the US has no tax obligation to Polish earned income.


I suppose that is one way to describe tax law

Real Estate / Any recent property reports/studies of Cracow / Krakow property market? [9]

There are a number of recent / fairly recent reports out there:

- Ober Haus - available on their Polish website

- RedNet

- Szybko

The Sybko reports are fairly objective, but are not available in English. I'm not sure how wide their statistical base is. The other 2 reports always include a bit of pro market hype. They are interesting reads, but I'm not sure if there is much neutral value to them.

What information are you looking for?

Real Estate / Building a house in Poland need advice from anyone that has built [100]



Does anyone have the answer to Randal's question. Besides some of the obvious benefits like sound and fire proofing, why is this done, and is it mandated by building codes?

I have a 120 yr old house in Poland, single floor, with a massive beautiful loft above me which I would like to convert to living space within the next few years. The existing loft floor is supported by huge wooden beams, which may require some reinforcing, but would certainly be adequate to support a living area. I've had discussions with a few different Polish builders about the conversion process, and the first thing that always comes up is how I will put the concrete floors in. They cannot not get their heads around my "WHY?" question.


WHY?

Law / Poland - Temporary Residence card - Karta pobytu - required documents [142]


What is a karta pobytu interview? I (EU citizen, Polish spouse) have had a karta pobytu for about 18 months now, but I never went through any interview. I had two police officers show up unannounced at the door one day with a few questions, but never any interview.

Real Estate / Where to look on the internet for Poland Real Estate [112]

Those three flats are errors in the system. The one for 34,000zl is actually on for 340,000zl. The listing for 45,000zl says that the 45k is a deposit to reserve the apartment. The final listing is for an apartment in "Trzebinia", a few hours drive from Krakow.

The cheapest flat that I could find in all of Krakow was a 15m2 (161sqft) basement apartment on ulica Starowiślna with a single 2ft x 1ft window. Price 98,000zl. After civil tax, notary, estate agent that will be 104,000zl.... 24,000 sterling!

dom.gratka.pl/tresc/26-25516703-malopolskie-krakow-srodmiescie-stare-m iasto-starowislna.html?w=764d5dcd84708d9b&s=1

Real Estate / Where to look on the internet for Poland Real Estate [112]

And my 10 grosze.

These are somewhat south Poland, secondary-market specific and mostly in Polish. My feeling is that you need to muddle through the Polish to get a real good idea of what is going on in the market, and to find the true bargains that are out there

In no particular order:

Szybko.pl – Okay, very few good listings, but their Quarterly Market Reports are a MUST read for any serious investor. Even with the most basic of Polish you can pull out the key sales and rental numbers for your city. They keep a few years of reports online. szybko.pl/nieruchomosci/raport/

Gratka.pl – most listings of any site, great sorting features to narrow down your searches, and will give you a good idea what is going on in the market.

Domiporta.pl – Fair number of listings country-wide, plus it’s easy for someone with limited Polish to muddle their way through. For some reason it attracts the for-sale-by-owner crowd, which can turn up some real gems.

krakow.gumtree.pl – another good site with for-sale-by-owners. They cover the 6/7 bigger cities in Poland, not just Krakow

KRN.pl – poor cousin of Gratka, but worth keeping an eye on

mls-milenium.pl – They do some English! The MLS site for Małopolska. A must for any Kraków investor. A lot of listings that you might not find on Gratka

Rednet.pl – Free market reports in English. Monthly. Free? Yes. Download them.

E&Y – download the Ernst & Young free annual ebooks “Poland The Real State of Real Estate” and “Doing Business in Poland”

Regional Newspapers – Check the on-line listings a few local papers . Dziennik Polska is a good one, a few hundred listings every Wednesday. Here is the Kraków link, but I think they do all of the major cities. dziennik.krakow.pl/public/ Be wary of a lot of bait-and-switch type operators though. One thing that works is to go on the offensive. Post an advert in the paper and define exactly what you are looking for. Like flies on … If you have the stomach to handle a few dozen phone calls you can end up meeting some of the small local agents who are more willing to work for and with you, than you would never find otherwise.

Happy Hunting