If you’ve just bought an apartment in Poland, it should quickly come to your attention that you have to pay monthly communal fees. This is the czynsz administracyjny bill.
“Czynsz administracyjny” or “czynsz najmu”?
As the name czynsz administracyjny suggests, it’s an administrative fee that has been adopted as a definition of the sum of benefits and fees to be paid by apartment owners to the accounts of housing associations or members of housing co-operatives on their behalf.
People in Poland are used to bandying about the word “czynsz”. However, they might not always be referring to the czynsz administracyjny bill.
There’s also czynsz najmu. This is the actual rental fee determined by the property owner, minus the monthly communal costs.
Breaking down my czynsz administracyjny bill
My monthly czynsz administracyjny bill for December 2023 amounted to 882,80 zl. That’s around 200 euros for a 75 m2 flat.
If I hadn’t purchased the komórka lokatorska (storage unit in the underground garage, 11 zl) and two parking spaces (100 zl) from the previous owner, my current czynsz administracyjny bill would only come to 771,80 zl.
In the image above, you may see a breakdown of the monthly communal fees I have to cover. These include:
Centralne ogrzewanie – opłata stała – Central heating – standing charge
Zimna woda i ścieki – Cold water and canalisation
Fundusz remontowy – Renovation fund
Summary
In the summer of 2023, it came to light that the administrator of our building had driven our mini-community of three buildings deep into debt. Hence, residents united to kick out this company and bring in a new administrator. With the new appointment, communal fees rose. Considering that I’d been used to paying around 600-650 zl per month for around four years, having to pay 882,80 zl is somewhat financially burdensome. However, this figure may be entirely realistic because residents here had underpaid for many years, hence the massive debt that had accrued.
Despite the sudden increase in my cost of living, I’m generally satisfied with the state of the building I live in. Moreover, the underground garage and green spaces around the building are generally clean and well-maintained.
If you’re looking at buying a flat in Poland to live in or indeed buy-to-let, I believe that you and your tenants will be satisfied with the transparency and relative inexpensiveness of communal charges.