(Dis)advantageous restitution: Compensatory damages for returned Warsaw real estate
After reprivatisation proceedings lasting many years, the legal successors of the former owners of real estate manage to regain the property that was once lost. But often the current value is grossly low, which justifies pursuing compensatory damages.
Reprivatisation claims and the acquisition of adjacent real estate by residential cooperatives
Monetary compensation for former owners of Warsaw Decree properties could help in many instances to remove the barrier to acquisition by residential cooperatives of adjacent plots of land to improve the conditions for development of their own real estate.
Proposed amendments to the Developers Act
Poland’s consumer protection authority has drawn up guidelines for amending the Act on Protection of Rights of Buyers of Residential Units and Single-Family Houses of 16 September 2011, popularly known as the Developers Act. Real estate developers are not pleased.
Converting perpetual usufruct into ownership: Unconstitutional giveaway from local governments to private businesses
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has held that regulations giving economic entities the right to demand conversion of perpetual usufruct of land into ownership violate constitutional principles of social justice and local government autonomy.
Effectiveness of foreign notarial deeds in Polish reprivatisation cases
In reprivatisation cases, the claimants’ legal succession from the prior owners is sometimes determined from foreign notarial deeds. Their effectiveness in Poland depends on certain factors.
Is purchasing property in a bailiff's auction worth the trouble?
Real estate auctioned off in execution proceedings may be tempting because of below-market prices. But a low price also has its price.
Maintaining of construction documentation by the owner of a building
Is it cause for concern if, with the passage of time, construction documentation for buildings and other structures gets mislaid?
After reprivatisation: Steps to take and accounts to settle
Regaining real estate through the reprivatisation process is the beginning of the stage of mutual settling of accounts with the former public holder of the property and the stage of rectifying the legal status of the property.
What if the State Treasury refuses to turn over real estate?
Entry in the land and mortgage register of the heirs of the former owner of nationalised or expropriated real estate does not always end the battle to regain the property.
Reimbursement of investments in reprivatised real estate
A public entity will not always be compensated for investments made in real estate regained by the right owners through reprivatisation.
Elimination of joint ownership of reprivatised real estate
After developed real estate is restored to the heirs of the former owners, it is usually necessary to divide the regained property among its co-owners. This often raises both legal and tax issues.
Perpetual usufruct: an obstacle race
Most investors in Poland regard perpetual usufruct as equivalent, in practical terms, to freehold. There are many obvious similarities, but the special features of perpetual usufruct can make it an obstacle race for the unwary.
