Ladies and Gentlemen!

I am pleased to provide you with the next issue of CPRF Newsletter regarding “Commercial Properties Market and Valuation in Poland” issued twice a year in February and September. It is the first time that the whole CPRF Newsletter is devoted to the properties valuation area. The current edition has been concentrated on property valuation sensitive topics, such as valuation for: property highest and best use, assessment of planning gain tax, assessment of compensation for the easement of access and taken-over land for public roads. I encourage you to review the various blocks of the Newsletter. I hope that it will meet with your interest.

Yours sincerely,
Roman Fortuna MRICS

The National Valuation Standard KSWP1 of the Polish Federation of Valuers’ Associations (PFVA) entitled “Market Value and Replacement Value” requires the valuer to identify the most probable use of the property in order to establish the Market Value. Such use may be a continuation of a current use or other potential (alternative) use. Please note that National Valuation Standards of PFVA suggest that the analysis of the highest and best use may be treated as a separate study. However, if agreed with the client, such analysis can be included in the valuation report. Therefore it is worth noting that the National Valuation Standard of PFVA raise the importance of the highest and best use.

Acceptance of a new local master plan or amending an existing plan is most often interpreted as enhancement of the property value. Therefore, owner or perpetual usufructor is obliged upon sale to pay a zoning fee to the local municipality.

The legislation in this area is clear and evident, however in practice it brings about many misunderstandings and problems. Their main reason are incorrect calculations and groundless collection of the fee, which result in the town/municipality baseless claim against the property owner.

Driveway and walkway easement is the most frequent land easement treated as property itself at a common law, giving a holder a right to walk or drive through somebody else’s property. In practice it is most commonly used when the property does not border a public road and has to have secured a legal access to a public road through other properties.

The right-of-way, permitting to walk or drive through a property is established together with a compensation that should be paid by the owner of the property which has no access to a public road to the owner of the property that is used for a driveway. Setting the amount of the compensation is not an easy task. Frequently, the parties involved have a lot of disputes over the amount. Seemingly simple case of establishing the driveway and walkway easement may require consideration of many factors affecting the amount of compensation.

Property valuers preparing valuation reports should have a thorough understating of the contents and application of legal regulations binding in Poland and regarding assessment of value of properties taken over by the State Treasury or local governments for a construction of roads as they serve as a basis for determining a compensation for this take-over.

Since the beginning of 2008, CPRF has appraised existing and planned office buildings, warehouse parks, industrial properties, retail properties, residential complexes and development sites totaling in value to approximately 0.5 billion Euro.

As far an agency services is concerned, CPRF has secured lease agreements for approximately 30,000 m² of commercial space and sale agreements of about 15.0ha of development properties with a total value of approximately 10.0 million Euro.