An attorney in the housing market

Not all of us have the time, the opportunity, or even the desire to deal with official formalities — that is understandable. This is exactly where the institution of the attorney (pełnomocnik) comes from — a person who can represent us not only before public authorities, but also… when signing a flat sale agreement or a property lease. What should we remember when granting a power of attorney?

Who is an attorney and who can become one?

Put as simply as possible, an attorney is a person to whom we entrust the performance of legal acts — such as handling official matters, managing a lease or even signing a property sale agreement — on our behalf. The attorney will represent us on the basis of our declaration of intent, made of course in writing.

Whom can we grant a power of attorney to? In theory — anyone with the capacity to perform legal acts. In practice, however, the most important thing is to choose a person in whom we have one hundred per cent trust. As a rule, close family members are simply appointed as attorneys; when dealing with official formalities this is often very convenient! We can also safely grant a power of attorney to our lawyer (adwokat) or legal adviser (radca prawny) — especially when we need help with the agreements and deeds we sign.

What can an attorney deal with?

We ourselves decide which acts the attorney will be able to perform on our behalf. In the declaration of intent we can freely define the scope of their authority. There are three variants:

• general power of attorney — covering so-called "acts of ordinary management", that is, for example, representing us before public authorities and individuals;
• generic power of attorney — concerning acts performed repeatedly — for example, concluding short-term property rental agreements, collecting or paying rent;
• special power of attorney — concerning only a strictly defined matter — for example, concluding a property sale agreement.

What is extremely important is that, for an attorney to represent us lawfully, the power of attorney must be drawn up in the same legal form as the act to which it relates. So — since a property sale agreement must be concluded in the form of a notarial deed (akt notarialny), the presence of a notary will also be required when granting a power of attorney to sign it.

It is different for acts connected with renting a property. If we want to be relieved of the duties of signing agreements (rental agreements do not require notarial form!), managing the property or collecting rent from tenants, we can simply grant an ordinary generic power of attorney.

How to appoint an attorney?

Of course, to grant someone a power of attorney we will need an appropriate document. The elements the power of attorney document should contain are regulated by the Civil Code. And, as we read there, it must include information on:

• the type of power of attorney;
• the scope of acts covered by the power of attorney;
• the parties to the power of attorney — details identifying the principal and the attorney;
• the place where the power of attorney is drawn up.