Polish developer refusing to refund money

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oregak

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I bought a property from JW Construction, a Polish property developer. According to the contract, either parties can terminate the contract, but will loose 5%. I tried to terminate the contract at end of Oct, but they are refusing to accept the termination and are refusing to refund the money that I have paid (less the 5%). Anyone got any advice or know lawer that can help?
 
Your own lawyer in Poland should be your first port of call. There's little point in talking to an Irish law firm; their knowledge of Polish law is likely to be nil, and if you engage them they will have to subcontract the job to a Polish law firm anyway. Go and see the lawyer that you used in Poland when you were signing the contract.
 
I'm inclined to think that you didn't do your homework. JWC have a bit of a reputation.... Where's the property?
 
Correct. I didnt do my homework. I've done more when investing in a new TV. But I have learnt a valuable lesson.

The apartment is in Wola in Warsaw.

I've now been told that they will not cancel the contract as it seems that the polish version does not have a termination clause. The english version clearly has one where you loose 5% and the will refund the other payments.

I've contacted the lawyer in Poland that acted as broker and notarie. But it just seems to be going around and around. I just want to get it resolved and put it down to experience.

Thanks,
Kevin
 
If the Polish version doesn't mention the 5%, then almost definitely, you will have no legal standing. The English 'translation' is usually only a guideline.
 
oregak said:
Correct. I didnt do my homework. I've done more when investing in a new TV. But I have learnt a valuable lesson.

The apartment is in Wola in Warsaw.

I've now been told that they will not cancel the contract as it seems that the polish version does not have a termination clause. The english version clearly has one where you loose 5% and the will refund the other payments.

I've contacted the lawyer in Poland that acted as broker and notarie. But it just seems to be going around and around. I just want to get it resolved and put it down to experience.

Thanks,
Kevin
Click to expand...

There is a clause in almost all such contracts to the effect that the local (Polish in this case) language version of the contract of sale forms the actual legal document, and that in the case of dispute or litigation this (Polish)version will be the one that is referred to. Your lawyer should have pointed this out to you, and I'm sure that the English version would have had a clause to this effect.
This is normal practice all over Europe, and I would be amazed if your lawyer hadn't said this to you at the time of signing. While I don't know all the facts in your case, I would reckon that you have little or no chance of getting around this problem.
In effect, the English version is just a translation, and has no legal standing.
 
Perhaps it is in almost all such contracts and most lawyers may point it out, but I in this case I dealt with the Lawyers contact in Ireland. I was presented with the English version, I had to inital each page. As far as I was concered the worst case was that I'd loose 5% to JW Construction and also the additional fees for the broker/lawyer of 5%. The polis version was signed by the lawer who had POA.

The english version does not mention that the Polish version superseeds the english version. This is all that it includes.

Respective provisions of the Civil Code and the Act of June 24th 1994 on the ownership of dwellings (Journal of Laws of 1994 No 85 item. 388) as amended shall apply to matters not regulated by this Agreement.

Any possible disputes between the Parties unresolved amicably shall be submitted by the Parties to the decision of the competent public court.

It amazes me that the difference isnt exactly a typo...the contracts are differnet. This is not a translation error!!!! I'm not even sure that there is a termination clause in the Polish version.
 
Is there any mention/reference on your copy that there is another copy - i.e. is it implied that yours is a copy/duplicate anywhere? If so, surely they haven't a leg to stand on if their 'copy' is different.

In any case, I find it hard to see how any contract signed by both parties can be binding if the copies are not identical.
 
oregak said:
in this case I dealt with the Lawyers contact in Ireland.
Click to expand...

Was this "contact" an Irish law firm or just an individual? If the latter, then it seems as though you didn't have the benefit of legal advice at all when you bought this property.
If I were in your shoes, I would be inclined to get myself a decent lawyer in Poland to try to sort out this mess. If a good lawyer were to contact the lawyer who signed for you under a POA, then the lawyer who signed may get windy and try to get you back your money. Long shot though I'd say, but might be worth a try depending on the amount involved.
On the other hand, if you aren't woried about losing the deposit and are just concerned about being tied to the full contract, it may be the case that the lawyer who signed did so on the basis of a spurious POA, and the lability may not lie with you.
In other words, you need good legal advice from a proper Polish law firm, in Poland. Don't waste your time either with Irish law firms or Irish "representatives" of Polish lawyers.
 
Did you sign a version of the contract, which had Polish language on one side and English on the other or did you sign a fully English contract? In any case, it sounds like an obvious deception by the Polish company. The best advice, as mentioned above, is to explain the situation to a Polish lawyer.
 
The Irish contact was an individaual and he was not a lawyer. I recieved the English version, initialed it as requested and I assume that the Lawer would sign any additional documets as required after that. I didnt think to much about it, I guess, hence the problems now.

There was no mention of another copy although I knew it was a translation but I assumed that it was an exact translation. The Irish contact forwarded an email to me and in that it stated the below. I did what was requested and after that I aigned a seperate agreement wiht the Lawyer for POA.



From the Irish contact:-
For the purpose of signinig the purchase agreement J.W requires that all Investors approve and sign this draft. Please spread this draft to all of your collegaus and ask them to put their initials on the bottom of every page and state "I have read the above and approved it" with todays date, on the last page. This is crucial as without that J.W Construction will not allow Michał to sign the purchase agreements

The total abount paid is about 35,000 including fees. I should get back about 20,000 if they were prepared to return it.

Anyone know a lawyer in Poland...hopefully its not the same guy !!

Thanks for the advice :)
 
Can't vouch for any of them but here's a list from the US Embassy of lawyers in Warsaw:
[broken link removed]
 
When I purchased in Berlin the contract was in german on the left and the english translation on the right of each page but it clearly stated that the authoritative version was of course the german text. To my mind a contract for a polish property purchase, including a POA declaration should be in the polish language as the laws of Poland are written in polish!

Even my POA declaration was written in german with a translation. I can't imagine you could have been deemed to have given POA to your polish lawyer at all given you didn't sign a polish POA. Imagine someone coming to Ireland and trying to enforce a contract written in polish in the irish courts. I can't see it standing up but perhaps the solicitors on here would know better?

It sounds like an attempt at deception when I compare to my almost overly transparent german purchase where everything was notified to me directly from my lawyer in Berlin both by email (pdf) and snail mail follow ups. Everything notarised at the german embassy. When you signed what you signed, was it even notarised by anyone?
 
Hi all
This from a contract i signed in 04
This preliminary agreement has been prepared in Hungarian and in English.
In case of any dispute the English language version shall prevail.
The parties accept this agreement as a case report.
This had to be notarised apostille and each page signed.
 
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