Have just been informed by my lawyers on the above development that the car parking spaces that were purchased along with my apartments were not registered with the land registry at the same time as the units.  I am now informed that I will have to pay additional lawyer and Notary costs to the tune of GBP600 per car park (I have bought two in this development) to register them.  I am assuming that  I am not alone in this and that this willl be the case for a lot of other people  who have purchased  in this development.  Someone is making a lot of money.. The notary fees add up to GBP500 of the cost.  I live in Hong Kong and to get a notary to witness and stamp a document costs around GBP50.  Hong Kong is an expensive city!Does anyone else have the same concerns.Andrew

Hi, I was told about this some weeks ago by my lawyer (Adwokatura). I was told that there would be additional, unspecified legal and notary costs.

I posted on this forum (don't ask me where) but it did not raise much interest at the time.

I have heard, through other sources, that many people are caught up in this.

I asked my solicitor to explain who was to blame, but getting to the bottom of it was beyond what they were prepared to do. The develper seems to be blaming the court, but who knows. Maybe PS can shed some light on it.

Anyway, there is no doubt who will have to pay. Maybe there is some scope for a lot of us to get together and sue the developers (ho ho).

What we need to know is, was this an error by the Developer, our Lawyer (Adwokatura), or PS. Why should we pay professionals for their errors ?
There needs to be accountability, after all we are supposed to be paying for their expertise, not their mistakes !

David, good luck if you intend to get to the bottom of this. I would be happy to support you in any concerted effort to get justice, but I would not hold out too much hope.

Perhaps we can get Oliver Watts Head of i-PropertyAssets
or Stanislaw Staromlynski, or Debbie le Goff to get the inside story on this.

Hi all

I recently got stung for the same thing - 'only' £120 to the lawyer and 'only' £290 to the Polish notary, so there seems to be an element of rapid inflation here, if the fees you are quoting are accurate. So far as I can understand, it seems to be the case that the notaries and lawyers are profiteering from investors' need/wish to complete the purchase process without too much delay. I don't think PS has any way of controlling the rip-off as far as the notaries are concerned, but I think it's only reasonable from now on at least to expect PS to establish agreements with the lawyers for future developments that they offer an overall fee which will cover ALL the costs of purchase. Alternatively it might be simple common sense to use an independent lawyer rather than one who is in bed with the developer, etc. though I imagine PS will have sharpened up a little in its choice of lawyers - they've certainly been on a rapid learning curve over the last few years and in spite of their occasional excruciatingly transparent attempts to remain teflon-clean, I think their loyalties are broadly in the right place.

As for the notaries, I guess - and I have no specialist knowledge - that it will be some time before they will be a high enough priority for any Polish government to intervene. One might hope that Tsk's election would presage an end to the obscurantism and xenophobia of the twins, and that a more pro-business government would tend to put the brakes on this kind of profiteering, but I really haven't followed events in Poland enough to have any definite comment. And after all, what would the response of the average Pole in the street be - 'Aw diddums!'?

Hi Howard, is your lawyer Adwokatura ?

They have not yet quoted me a figure for this service, and I would be interested to compare prices.

However, Adwokatura did quote me in the region of 300 euros (plus VAT) to pick up a letter from the court, and post it to my mortgage bank. This is in respect of the Land and Mortgage book entry which I have now received, 14 months after completion.

My 1 bed in W17 car park legal fees were 452 PLN for Adwokatura, 1396 PLN for the "notorius" Notary. Total =1848 PLN = £378

Hi Mike A

Yes, Adwokatura.

Hi Mike A

My figures inclusive of VAT, by the way.

David, Howard,

thanks for that.

Mike