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Posts by inkrakow  

Joined: 15 Jan 2011 / Female ♀
Last Post: 17 Mar 2019
Threads: 1
Posts: 98

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inkrakow   
14 Feb 2011
Law / Is it possible to open a home based bakery in Poland? [14]

Do I have to register it as a small (tiny lol)company?

Yes, all businesses dealing with food have to be registered and operate out of approved premises. These differ depending on whether you're using pre-prepared products or preparing food from scratch, but the Sanepid website says that domestic kitchens do not satisfy the requirements, even though the EU regulations specifically allow for this option. For some friends of mine who run a small wine bar where they also prepare food the requirements included 2 entrances (one for food/wine deliveries and another for the clients), tiling of the walls, washable floors, separate sinks for washing hands, utensils and preparing fruit/vegetables, an industrial standard dishwasher (with a certificate) and a separate sink for rinsing dirty dishes located in a separate area, a HACCP assessment showing the production route and packaging and storage that is certified for food use. If you plan on using fresh eggs you need a steriliser set up in a separate room for sterilising them (otherwise you can buy pasteurised eggs in cartons). If you plan to transport food you need to have an approved vehicle (refrigerated, if the food is perishable) and facilities and procedures for cleaning it, as well as a separate area for washing out the containers used for transport if they're reusable. You may also have to keep samples of your food for a certain amount of time. Every year you also need to get your water supply tested (600zl) and have a Karta Zdrowia for anyone handling food.

Forget about getting any useful information out of Sanepid - they are there to inspect you, not to help set you up so that they have less work. You will need to get a specialist architect to do the design which is then submitted for approval. You can't start doing business until your premises have been approved.

One way around this might be to set yourself up as a cake decorating consultant and travel to people's houses to do the work there, but you'd have to check!
inkrakow   
14 Feb 2011
Law / Is it possible to open a home based bakery in Poland? [14]

is the post-PRL Sanepid just as able to be pursuaded?

I suspect that things were much easier to 'arrange' with the pre-PRL Sanepid, but this one is much more careful. Many of these rules come out of over-zealous interpretation of the EU Food Hygiene regulations.

Maybe if you know somebody very well. I can think of at least one guy, not Polish, who has a food business in Warsaw that's entirely unregistered, but he's very, very careful.

All it takes is one nosey neighbour to report you and you could have serious problems.
inkrakow   
8 Apr 2011
News / What Poland can't do right [113]

Slightly off-piste, but osypki are quite easy to come by. They're from sheep milk, right?

They're only available in season - from May to October. And yes, sheep milk + up to 40% of cows milk.
inkrakow   
1 May 2011
Work / Price per day... private painting and decorating in Poland [23]

just want some idea of what kind of price a painter charges here in Poland

Here in Krakow I just paid 10zl/m2 to wash down, prime and paint with 2 coats of emulsion.

Also, have a look here for more ideas:

malowanie-warszawa.pl/cennik-malowanie/cennik-malowanie-wnetrz.html
inkrakow   
30 May 2011
Law / Got Polish citizenship, now I need a Pesel and passport [26]

I got the Polish Citizenship Confirmation (the Desicion Certificate) and was happy finally no more of polish burecrazy

In my case it was much, much simpler to do it the other way round - once I had the Decision Certificate, I filled in the application form for a PESEL that the Polish consulate gave me and after some time, I went to pick up my new passport which already had my PESEL in it. Once I had that I went to my Urzad and got my Dowód Osobisty. There was minimal hassle! I only wanted a Dowód because I was moving to Poland - otherwise, there was no need to have it... Why are you doing it this way round? The Urzedy in Poland aren't very good at dealing with exceptions, while the Consulates are.
inkrakow   
31 May 2011
Law / Setting up small business in Poland? [191]

I'm guessing that many have been lured on to credit cards and the never never

high income multiple mortgages

I think you'd be wrong - the vast majority of Poles earn on the side and pay in cash for everything. Spend what you've saved - a novel concept, eh?
inkrakow   
1 Jun 2011
Law / Setting up small business in Poland? [191]

And I would say that 'earning on the side' is rather limited in its prevalence then describing it as 'the vast majority'.

OK, OK, maybe I exaggerated :)

4 Any other tips or advice perhaps?

He should check whether he would also need to buy and register a cash till. There are subsidies available to cover part of the cost of buying an appropriate till, but the rules on registering them are pretty strict.
inkrakow   
28 Jul 2011
Real Estate / Question about Czynsz (Building maintenance fees/utilies) in Poland [129]

The short answer is that yes, there are rules, but it depends on your particular situation. If your administrator doesn't respond to your requests for information, you should talk to a lawyer about sending an official letter and trying to extract the information that way. The administrator can carry out minor repairs without approval of the owners, but all major building works need to be approved by a majority. He/she should also give you a statement of the balance in the renovation fund if you have one.

It's easy, but time consuming, to check who the other owners in the building are by checking the Księgi Wieczyste or getting an extract from the land register at the local Geodezja office, which I believe will also give you addresses as well as names.
inkrakow   
28 Jul 2011
Real Estate / Question about Czynsz (Building maintenance fees/utilies) in Poland [129]

my surprise at the fact that people just pay their czynsz /maintenance fees by receiving a bill without any explanation.

Usually, they don't. I get a break down of what everyone is due to pay and at the end of the year, a statement about how much they've actually paid, a full set of accounts and photocopies of all the invoices and bills. Other people I know get the same and regularly have management company meetings to plan how they're going to spend their Fundusz Remontowy.

What does your administrator tell you when you ask for this information?
inkrakow   
31 Jul 2011
Life / Back from Poland! I belong there! [16]

I went through quite a bit and saw life the way it is.

Yes, but are you ready for the way that life is going here?
inkrakow   
19 Aug 2011
Real Estate / Question about Czynsz (Building maintenance fees/utilies) in Poland [129]

is there a Polish law saying that these bills should be available upon request ?

Of course there is - Art. 208 of the Kodeks Cywilny. If you don't get anywhere, Art. 203 allows you to appeal to the court to appoint an administrator.
inkrakow   
22 Aug 2011
Real Estate / I was adopted - what are my rights? Property inheritance in Poland [11]

what can we do??

It's pretty straightforward, but not easy. There are cases of old owners of properties recovering them fairly frequently in Poland so it's definitely not impossible. You need a lawyer to check the deeds of the properties and on what basis they were managed and sold. They can then advise you what to do next. It won't be quick or particularly cheap and you definitely, definitely need a good lawyer. The fact that you were adopted makes no difference under Polish law.

If your properties are somewhere in the south of Poland (Silesia, Malopolska, Podkarpacie), I too can give you the name of a good (and trustworthy) German-speaking Polish lawyer who operates here.
inkrakow   
29 Aug 2011
Travel / Getting from Krakow to Warsaw [99]

You can find out the fare for a given train on the PKP website - pkp.pl It takes between 2.5-3.5hrs.
inkrakow   
5 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Question about Czynsz (Building maintenance fees/utilies) in Poland [129]

is 670 a month a lot?

Standard rate for an administrator to administer is about 1-1.5zl/m2 which should include building insurance, lighting of common parts (stairs etc), cleaning, minor repairs.

Then there's the Fundusz Remontowy on top, which depends on what the co-owners decide. For example, we've settled for 2zl/m2, but I'd prefer it to be 3-4zl/m2 so that we can gather the funds to do the work quicker. It is entirely feasible that once work is done, you will have a vote and this part can be reduced.
inkrakow   
6 Oct 2011
Real Estate / Question about Czynsz (Building maintenance fees/utilies) in Poland [129]

It seems like 670 is pretty steep considering that a school teacher takes home about twice that a month

You're right - it does sounds very steep. I don't know whether this is standard practice but in our set up, the rubbish and water/scieki are calculated on the basis of how many people actually live in the place (I'll dig out our charges for place in central Krakow when I have some time). Does it include heating (central or district) too? And you're paying quite a bit for the fundusz remontowy as well...
inkrakow   
7 Oct 2011
Food / Grilled Oszczypek/bacon/cranberry sauce - where to find in Krakow? [6]

Does anyone have any ideas where I can find this in Krakow? Any decent restaurants offering it on their menus? I imagine there are plenty, but I don't know where to start looking - thanks!

Try Aperitif on Maly Rynek or the Stary Kleparz market - ask to see the certificate as there are a lot of fakes around. But be quick, the oscypek production season ends at the end of October and they're only around for a month longer. Anything sold after that is made from cow's milk (not sheep or sheep + cow, as is required) and isn't oscypek.
inkrakow   
1 Nov 2011
Classifieds / English cuisine week in Lidl shops in Poland [203]

come to think of it swede is the only UK vegetable that they do not grow in Poland
then again I have not seen too many brussel sprouts over here
I know you can get them though

They don't grow butternut squash, or parsnips here and Jerusalem artichokes, the favourite veg of fancy chefs in the UK, is considered cattlefeed. There are piles of black turnips and horseradish root everywhere (I mean - how much of that stuff can you possibly need!!!). It's a weird place, Poland...
inkrakow   
26 Nov 2011
Life / $3,000-$4,000 a month - would we have enough money to live in Poland? [273]

I'm sorry to hear about your troubles and I hope that the next year is a better one for you. I don't know if this will help but I saw a really interesting talk about phantom pain a while ago - maybe it could help you too...

ted.com/talks/vilayanur_ramachandran_on_your_mind.html
blog.ted.com/2008/03/21/phantom_limb_pa
inkrakow   
1 Dec 2011
Real Estate / Landlords and flat owners in Poland - how do you choose your tenants? [5]

imagine if you went to see a flat and the landlord asked you for your income details.

This is standard practice in the UK. When I rent one of my properties there, the agent does the research and supplies me with 3 months of bank statements for each tenant, an employer's confirmation of employment contract, salary + bonuses and they also check the references that the tenants supply.

Here in Poland I play safe by renting either to friends or friends of friends, or to corporates through an agency. I've yet to be given the same level of detail as in the UK, but I don't see why you can't ask for these details :) Basically I meet the people and decide whether they seem reasonable and then take a month's deposit and hope for the best. So far so good...
inkrakow   
29 Dec 2011
Real Estate / Buying a property in Poland to rent out from the UK [82]

Surely this only holds if it's officially designated as a lokal użytkowy, not a lokal mieszkalny and if the renter is a company not an individual. AFAIK there's still no possibility of 'eksmisja na bruk' for individuals so it makes no difference.
inkrakow   
4 Jan 2012
Law / inFakt all-inclusive service in Poland [5]

Has anyone been tempted by the all-inclusive InFakt service for self employed people? For a paltry 149zl/month they do all your book keeping, send a courier round once a month to collect invoices, file the monthly tax/ZUS/VAT statements for you and give you online access to all your records. It seems like a brilliant service to me, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something. Has anyone got an opinion?

Now if only they did something similar for sp. z o.o. - that would save me a fortune...
inkrakow   
23 Jan 2012
Genealogy / Writing to the council (tracing for father's step sister) [14]

Yes, that looks like the right form. My Polish isn't up to translating the covering letter I'm afraid.

You probably already know this but you need to attach proof of your relationship to this person (e.g. original birth certificates, translated by a sworn translator if they're not Polish). The full description of the process is here:

bip.krakow.pl/?dok_id=3276&sub=procedura&proc=SA-18
inkrakow   
26 Jan 2012
Food / Looking for Recipe/Info on Cake with Preserves/Jam [3]

sounds like a variation on Sacher Torte (or Sachertorte). You could also try googling 'tort warstwy przekładany konfiturą' (cake layers layered with jam) or combinations of that and see if any of the images that come up look like the right thing. I don't have time right now but I'll do a bit more research for you later on today. I'd hate to see a man not get his favourite cake on his birthday!
inkrakow   
2 Feb 2012
Real Estate / Good places to live in Krakow [20]

IBM is located on ul. Armii Krajowej to the north east of the centre which, luckily for you, is near to some nice residential districts. I'd recommend you try and find an apartment in the Krowodrza or Nowa Wies districts - you'll be able to walk to work and in to the Old Town in the evenings. But in any case, there are loads of buses that go past as it's opposite the main university campus and halls of residence.
inkrakow   
9 Feb 2012
Life / Question about hot water in Poland and the use of water heaters? [52]

I'm also in Krakow and strangely enough we had a discussion with the other owners of our building (a 1930's kamienica) today about the possibility of installing district heating. Apparently MPEC will connect us to the system for free (we have a mains pipe either in our street or 50 m away) and possibly even subsidise the distribution pipework within our building, all of which sounds too good to be true! I guess it's to do with Krakow's appalling air quality due to coal burning. Does anyone know anything about this? I'm going to call MPEC in the morning to find out for myself but as we seem to have some people who know what they're talking about here, I thought I'd ask...