Having obtained an Enforcement Order, you are now ready to visit the debt collector’s office. Debt collectors have an appalling reputation in Poland, mainly due to their relentlessness during debt recovery.
Application to the bailiff
After obtaining the enforcement clause, you can apply to the bailiff with jurisdiction over the enforcement of the debtor’s assets. The request may be submitted in writing at the bailiff’s office or sent by post – attaching the enforcement title to the request. In the request, you should specify the identity of the debtor, indicate the extent of the claim, and indicate information about the debtor’s assets.
After receiving the request for enforcement, the debt collector examines whether the enforcement request has formal defects preventing the initiation of enforcement and whether the bailiff selected by the creditor is competent to carry out enforcement against the debtor’s assets. If there are any obstacles to the initiation of the enforcement proceedings, the bailiff will inform you about them, and you are obliged to take certain actions, e.g. to remove formal defects in the enforcement request. If there are no obstacles to the institution of proceedings, the judicial officer proceeds with the action.
Debtor Notification
As a next step, the bailiff informs the debtor in writing about the initiation of enforcement proceedings by serving him or her with an appropriate letter and a summons to pay the debt. At the same time, the bailiff will ask you make appropriate advance payments for the costs of the enforcement proceedings – the costs of sending documents by post, the costs of obtaining data from the Social Security Office and the Tax Office, and the costs of travel in connection with field activities. The debtor will cover all those costs in the end.
What if the debtor still doesn’t pay?
If the debtor fails to pay the amount due after a call for payment, the bailiff is obliged to take further enforcement action. The debt collector has numerous ways of enforcing him to pay. We will present some of them.
Seizing the debtor’s bank accounts
This is the easiest and the most popular way of returning the money to the creditor. The bailiff, thanks to the Ognivo system, has data about every Polish bank account of the debtor.
The bailiff will send to the bank in which the debtor holds an account a notice of attachment of the debtor’s pecuniary claim arising from the bank account up to the amount of the claim subject to enforcement, together with enforcement costs, and shall request the bank not to make any withdrawals from the account without the bailiff’s consent up to the amount of the seized claim, but to transfer without delay the seized amount to cover the claim, or to notify the bailiff within seven days of an obstacle to the transfer of the seized amount
In doing so, the bailiff does not have to indicate a specific bank account number. At the same time, this means that if the debtor has several accounts at the bank – all of them remain seized, up to the amount of the debt in the respective proceedings. The seizure covers not only the funds that are already in the account, but also those that are yet to be credited to it in the future.
There are, however, some payments that are exempted from being seized. Those are mainly payments related to families and kids benefits.
How debtors avoid seizing their accounts? Ognivo has data only from Polish banks. Foreign banks, including Revolut, are not included. So, many debtors sets accounts there. While it’s impossible for a Polish bailiff to seize an account in a foreign bank, you may still get a European Enforcement Order and turn to the bailiff in that country.
And one more important information – the debt collector can only seize bank accounts if there is a surplus over 3 200 PLN (in all debtor bank accounts).
Seizing movable property belonging to the debtor
If seizing a bank account fails, the bailiff will try to seize the debtor’s property. He will enter his flat and look for valuables. If the debtor resists, the police will assist. He seizes anything that can be auctioned and sold, except for:
- underwear, daily clothing, clothing necessary for occupation,
- necessary household appliances,
- objects for work,
- supplies of food and fuel necessary for survival of the month,
- objects necessary for education,
- sacrifices, items necessary for religious practices,
- medical products, rehabilitation equipment,
- household animals necessary for family maintenance
The bad reputation of debt collectors in Poland comes from this part of their job, as there are reported many abuses (seizing a debtor’s dog, for example).
Seized property is then put up on auction and sold.
Seizing real estate of the debtor
This is usually treated as the last resort, as often the value of the house or plot is much higher than the debt. The debt collector won’t turn to this, unless the debt is worth more than 5% of the property. The property is seized and there is a note put in the registry. Then, the value is estimated, and the property is sold at auction.
Seizing overpayments of income tax and VAT refunds at the tax office
If the debtor has income in Poland and pays tax in advance, the tax return can be seized by the bailiff. This typically happens at the beginning of the year.
Cost of collecting the debt with the help of a bailiff
What are bailiff costs?
The conduct of enforcement proceedings involves costs. Depending on the outcome of the proceedings, these are temporarily borne by the creditor who has referred the request to the bailiff or by the debtor – if enforcement is successful. You need to pay some costs in advance. When the advanced payment doesn’t cover all the costs, you will be summoned to make another payment.
The bailiff’s costs consist of the bailiff’s fee and the expenses of the proceedings. In simpler terms, the fees represent the amount due to the bailiff and the expenses are the costs that the bailiff himself has to incur in connection with the conduct of the proceedings (e.g. the cost of sending letters paid to the Polish Post Office). Although expenses are included in the bailiff’s costs, they do not constitute the bailiff’s remuneration. The amount of particular expenses is the same throughout Poland, as the rates for particular types of expenses are regulated top-down.
Bailiff’s fee
The basic component of bailiff costs is the fee. In the enforcement of monetary benefits, i.e. in the vast majority of cases, the bailiff’s fee is a commission on the amount of the debt enforced. As a rule, the fee is charged at a rate of 10% of the amount transferred to the creditor. For example, if a debtor enforced an amount of PLN 2200, the judicial officer transfers PLN 2000 to the creditor and retains PLN 200 as the fee due.
It is also important to note that the final fee cannot be less than PLN 200 and more than PLN 50,000 in a single case.
Expenses
The most common expenses include the cost of delivery of correspondence, i.e. sending registered letters via a postal operator and the cost of obtaining information or documents necessary to conduct the proceedings (currently an enquiry to the Social Insurance Institution involves the cost of 45 PLN, to the Tax Office – 50 PLN and to the Central Database of Land and Mortgage Registers – 20PLN). When enforcing enforcement proceedings against real estate, the cost of preparing an appraisal report by a court expert must be considered. It may amount even to several thousand PLN, excluding the cost of making announcements and notices of the planned auction.
