The deed is in Polish, and the notary owns the problem
The Law on Notaries opens with the rule: notarial acts are performed in the Polish language. At a party's request the notary may additionally perform the act in a foreign language, either using their own language competence demonstrated in the way required of sworn translators, or with the help of a tłumacz przysięgły — a translator sworn in by the Minister of Justice and entered on a public list.
The provision that reaches your deed is worded from the notary's side. Where a person taking part in a notarial act does not know Polish and no translation into a language they know is attached, the notary should translate the deed personally or with a translator's help — and the rule on the language of notarial acts applies to that translation.
Two things follow, and they matter. The obligation is the notary's, so a notary who knows you do not speak Polish and proceeds anyway is the one at fault. And the requirement of a sworn translator reaches the deed by cross-reference rather than by express words, so the thing to ask about is the notary's own practice: tell them in advance which language you need and let them tell you what they require.
What a sworn translator costs
Poland has an official rate table, and it does not apply to you. The regulation setting sworn translators' fees says in its first paragraph that it covers work performed at the request of a court, a prosecutor, the police or a public authority. A notarial appointment is a private engagement at a freely agreed price.
The official rates are still the most useful benchmark that exists, because translators quote around them. A page is defined as 1,125 characters. Translation into Polish from English, German, French or Russian is 44.07 zł a page; out of Polish into those languages, 57.65 zł. Other European languages and Latin cost more, non-European languages more again, and a non-Latin script or ideograms most of all, at 94.37 zł a page out of Polish.
Interpreting at the appointment is charged by time. The official rate for each started hour of the translator's presence equals the out-of-Polish page rate raised by 30% — about 74.95 zł an hour for English. Specialist terminology adds 25%, a 24-hour turnaround doubles the rate, and evenings, Sundays and public holidays add 20%.
Expect a private quote well above those figures, and expect a minimum call-out. Ask who books the translator — usually the notary's office has one they work with — and settle who pays before the day.
- A page is 1,125 characters, and a started page counts as a whole one
- Official rate into Polish, from English, German, French or Russian: 44.07 zł per page
- Official rate out of Polish into those languages: 57.65 zł per page
- Official rate for interpreting: the out-of-Polish page rate plus 30%, per started hour
Buying by proxy: why the power of attorney needs a notary
Transferring ownership of Polish real property requires a notarial deed. The Civil Code then applies a simple symmetry: where a legal act needs a special form to be valid, the power of attorney to carry out that act must be granted in the same form.
So the document that lets your lawyer, your spouse or your agent sign for you is itself a notarial act. A signature certified by a notary is not the same thing, and a form downloaded and signed at home is worth nothing here.
Inside Poland this is cheap. The maximum notary fee for a power of attorney is 30 zł for one act and 100 zł where it authorises more than one, plus VAT and the cost of copies. The expense and the planning are entirely on the abroad side.
Write the authority to cover what the transaction actually needs: identify the property, allow the attorney to agree the price within limits you set, to sign the preliminary and the final deed, to make the statements the tax relief requires, to collect and hand over the keys, and to sign the handover protocol. A power of attorney that stops short of one of those brings the process to a halt on the day.
Making it abroad: the consulate is the safe route
A Polish consul can perform notarial acts, and the Consular Law says exactly what they are worth: the Law on Notaries applies to them accordingly, and they have the same legal force as acts performed by a notary in Poland. That sentence is why a consular power of attorney raises no argument at the deed.
Two practical conditions. A consul may draw up a notarial deed only after obtaining written authorisation from the Minister of Justice, so not every post can do it — check with the specific consulate before you book. And a consul will certify copies, signatures and dates for a foreign citizen as well as a Polish one, provided the document is to take effect in Poland.
The consular tariff changed on 1 January 2026 and is set in euro. Drawing up a notarial deed together with one copy costs EUR 400. Legalising a document costs EUR 40, certifying a signature EUR 40, and a translation made and certified by the consul EUR 120 per started page.
Consular appointments are the bottleneck rather than the fee. Book early, send the draft wording in advance, and ask the Polish notary handling the purchase to supply that wording.
Making it before a foreign notary: an open question
Polish private international law says the form of a legal act is governed by the law applicable to that act, and adds that observing the form required where the act is performed is enough. Then it takes that alternative away for one category: dispositions concerning immovable property.
Whether that exclusion reaches a power of attorney to buy — which authorises a disposition without being one — is genuinely disputed among Polish lawyers. The Supreme Court was asked to resolve it and declined to give a resolution, so there is no binding answer.
What is not disputed is the test applied in practice. A foreign notarial act is accepted where it is functionally equivalent to a Polish akt notarialny: made by a public officer with comparable status, who establishes the identity of the person appearing, records their declaration in a document retained in the official record, and issues certified copies. Common-law notarisation that amounts to witnessing a signature does not meet that test, which is why buyers from England, Ireland and much of the United States run into trouble here more often than buyers from Germany or Spain.
The person whose opinion decides the matter is the Polish notary who will draw your deed. Send them the proposed wording and the country it will be executed in, and get their answer in writing before you spend money on a foreign appointment. If they hesitate, use the consulate.
Older secondary articles still cite a 2004 Supreme Court judgment for the proposition that a foreign-form power of attorney is sufficient. Treat that as superseded for dispositions of real property, and treat any confident answer you read online with the same suspicion.
Apostille, legalisation and the Polish translation
A document made before a foreign notary has to prove it is genuine before a Polish office will act on it. Poland has been a party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 since 14 August 2005, so for documents from another contracting state the proof is an apostille, issued by the authority that state designates. The United Kingdom has been a party since 1965, the United States since 1981, India since 2005 and Ukraine since 2003.
From a state outside the Convention, the route is consular legalisation instead, and it takes longer. Some bilateral legal-assistance treaties remove the requirement altogether between the two countries, so it is worth asking whether one covers yours.
Then the document needs to be in Polish. A sworn translation is what a Polish notary and a Polish court will expect, and it is cheapest to have it made by a translator on the Polish Ministry of Justice list rather than in the country of origin. A consul can also make and certify the translation, at the consular rate.
Sequence matters, and getting it wrong costs a repeat trip: sign the deed abroad, obtain the apostille on it, and translate the whole thing including the apostille.
Where this comes from
This page describes the position as at 19 August 2026 and explains the rules in general terms. It is not legal advice about your transaction. Where the law is unsettled it says so, and the notary conducting your deed is the person whose requirements govern.
- Law on Notaries (Prawo o notariacie), article 2 §3 and article 87 §1(1), on the language of notarial acts and translation
- Regulation of the Minister of Justice on sworn translators' fees, consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 312, rates in force since 1 January 2024
- Civil Code, articles 99 §1 and 158, on the form of a power of attorney and of a transfer of real property
- Regulation of the Minister of Justice on maximum notarial fees, §8(8), for the fee on a power of attorney
- Consular Law (Prawo konsularne), articles 28–31, on consular notarial acts and their legal force
- Regulation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs on consular fees, Dz.U. 2025 poz. 1523, tariff applicable from 1 January 2026
- Private International Law Act (Prawo prywatne międzynarodowe), article 25
- HCCH status table for the Convention of 5 October 1961 (Apostille)
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a sworn translator at the notary if I do not speak Polish?
Notarial acts are performed in Polish, and where a participant does not understand Polish the notary has to arrange for the deed to be translated. In practice that means a sworn translator present at the appointment. Tell the notary which language you need well before the date, and ask who books the translator and who pays.
How much does the translator cost?
The official rates apply only to work ordered by courts, prosecutors, the police and public authorities, so your appointment is priced on the open market. As a benchmark, the official rate for interpreting is the out-of-Polish page rate plus 30% per started hour, about 74.95 zł an hour for English, and expect a private quote above that with a minimum charge.
Can someone buy the flat for me if I cannot travel?
Yes, on a power of attorney. Because the purchase itself requires a notarial deed, the power of attorney must be granted in notarial form. Made in Poland it costs at most 30 zł for a single act or 100 zł for several, plus VAT; made abroad it needs planning.
Can I sign the power of attorney at a Polish consulate?
That is the route with no legal argument attached: a consular notarial act has the same legal force as one performed by a notary in Poland. Check first that the specific post holds the Minister of Justice's written authorisation to draw up notarial deeds. From 1 January 2026 the consular fee is EUR 400 for a deed with one copy.
Will a power of attorney made before a notary in my own country be accepted?
Often, but it is not guaranteed, and the point is legally unsettled — the Supreme Court was asked and declined to rule. The test used in practice is whether the foreign act is functionally equivalent to a Polish notarial deed. Send the wording to the Polish notary handling your purchase and get their confirmation in writing before you rely on it.
Does the power of attorney need an apostille and a translation?
A document from another party to the 1961 Hague Convention needs an apostille; from a non-party state, consular legalisation, unless a bilateral treaty removes the requirement. It then needs a sworn translation into Polish. Obtain the apostille first and translate the document together with it.