Buying a property – safety first

Buying a flat or a house is – contrary to appearances – a rather complicated process, so we need the help of an estate agency to avoid stressful situations and save quite a lot. If we try to find our way around the property market on our own, we may be taken advantage of by dishonest sellers. This is too serious an undertaking to do without professionals.

Technical condition

If we have already made the first visit to our potential flat and see no cause for concern, we should… arrange another visit. Usually we are impressed by a perfectly prepared flat (beautiful photographs, a detailed description, very nice sellers), but in time it turns out that the technical condition of the building is – to put it mildly – unsatisfactory. If you decide to buy a flat on the secondary market, you should check:

• the condition of the staircase, the facade and the roof
• the history of renovations
• the year the block of flats was built
• how the property is managed (a homeowners' association or a housing cooperative)

Verifying documents

The legal status. If you do not consider yourself competent in this matter, it is worth commissioning a lawyer or a trusted estate agent to do it. Of course, it is possible to verify the documents in person. Then you can also ask about a few additional matters that you did not have time to raise during the viewing.

The question we should start with concerns the owner of the flat. The person who shows us the flat is not always listed in the documents as authorised. They may be doing so on behalf of their client or a family member. It is therefore worth asking for the notarial deed (akt notarialny) or a certificate of the ownership right. Very important is the entry in the land and mortgage register (księga wieczysta), where we can check whether the flat is encumbered with a mortgage. In addition, for safety, let us ask for documents confirming that the premises are free of any debts (e.g. the service charge – czynsz – or utility bills).

Another matter is third parties registered as residents in the flat. Here, too, an appropriate certificate will be key, so that we can be sure that all the documentation is in order and that no unpleasant surprise awaits us in the future in the form of a visit from a registered resident or someone else's correspondence.

Property = formalities

The last stage of finalising the transaction. For safety, it is worth taking care of a number of formalities that will help us avoid problems in the future. Some of them are not essential for buying a property, but they can be treated as additional protection. We mean above all signing a preliminary agreement (umowa przedwstępna) as a notarial deed, which will contain – in the form of a written record – information on the technical condition of the flat, its fittings, additional rooms and the price of the property.

We recommend going through the sale and purchase agreement several times, verifying that it contains all the arrangements from the preliminary agreement.

If we are buying a property with a mortgage, the right order is very important. First we sign the mortgage agreement, and only then the agreement to acquire the property.