Legal items

Apostille Stamp

The ‘Apostille', which is a French term for ‘certification', is issued by a designated government official of the country that issued the document to authenticated. The sole function of the apostille is to certify the authenticity of the signature on the document and the identity of any stamp or seal affixed to the document. The ‘apostille stamp' basically internationalizes a document such as a Power of Attorney allowing it to be used officially by the holder in a foreign country.

Reservation Contract

This type of contract is generally used by developers to allow the purchaser to hold a property for a period of 2/3 weeks prior to signing a preliminary agreement. This period is sometimes necessary for the preparation of certain documentation in order to sign the preliminary contract. This type of contract is usually in civil form and rarely in Notarial form. Often a developer will require a small payment of up to 1000 Euro as a deposit to accompany this contract.
Another reason this type of contract is used by developers is when the developer has not yet received a building permit for a particular development. According to Polish law, developers are not allowed sign preliminary agreements for developments which don't have valid building permits, therefore a reservation contract allows them to begin taking reservations long before the building permit has been granted.

Public Notary

In Ireland and the UK Public Notaries do not play such an important role in the transfer of property ownership as they do on the continent. The concept of a notary stems from the days when apart from the clergy, nobility and a select few no-one could read or write. It was then deemed necessary for an independent party who could read and write to make a ‘note' of  any transaction or witness the signing of important documents or contracts. This gave rise to the occupation of ‘Public Notary'. In many European countries such as Poland, Notaries still play a very important role in the witnessing of property ownership transfer and the signing of contracts and agreements. A document, which is to be signed by a Public Notary in Ireland or the UK cannot be signed by a Solicitor, Commissioner for Oaths or Lawyer. Only in the case of them having separate title of ‘Notary Public' can they sign this document.

Land & Mortgage Register

In Poland, every single piece of real estate whether it be a site, building, apartment, house or castle has it's own ‘book' which is kept in the Land & Mortgage registry court. What this means is that the history of that property from as far back is as possible is recorded in this ‘book'. All changes of ownership, dates when property changed hands, the Public Notary which witnessed the sale and all other relevant details are recorded in the register.
Quite important also, is the fact that any mortgage, loan or encumberment is also noted in this register and it is usually the bank which has provided the mortgage that takes on the responsibility of registering the loan in the land & mortgage court.
One will find that from the moment the bank release the first instalment of a mortgage ‘Bridging Insurance' is added to the monthly repayments. This insurance will continue to be paid on a monthly basis until the full amount of the mortgage has been paid out by the bank and the property has been registered in the new owners name and subsequently the mortgage taken out by the new owner to purchase the property has then to be registered in the property's ‘book'. Then the bank have secured their loan using the entry into the Land & Mortgage register as collateral. The bridging insurance will then stop being charged.

Preliminary agreement

Most often preliminary agreements are encountered when purchasing apartments off-plan. Some developers require them to be signed in Notarial form but very often they are signed in standard civil contract format. A purchaser has every right according to Polish law to demand that the contract is signed in Notarial form which is basically a stronger type of contract. This type of contract secures the exclusive rights to purchase a particular property when the ownership is ready to be transferred from the developer to the purchaser, i.e. when the building has been constructed. It is on the basis of this contract that all payments are made to the development company.
If an investor is availing of bank financing to purchase a property then the bank will require a copy of the preliminary agreement as part of the mortgage application.
This is also true when purchasing second hand or existing property by way of bank financing. Rather than sign a final contract to transfer the ownership one must first sign a preliminary contract which secures the investor's rights to purchase the apartment and at the same time allows the bank time to process the mortgage application This generally takes about 4 weeks.
In all cases a payment of up to 20% is standard when signing a preliminary contract. 10% is perceived as the norm when purchasing second hand property.

Final sales contracts

In all cases where a piece of real estate changes ownership the final sales contract is signed in Notarial form. It is only after the signing of such a contract that the property can be registered in the name of the purchaser. The final sales contract in Notarial form represents the deeds of the property in Poland.
When purchasing a second property it is possible to avoid signing a preliminary contract and go directly to signing the final sales agreement if financing is already in place and one does not intend to use bank financing to purchase the property.