Owners of flats in the CZ:
Municipalities/towns
Housing Co-operatives
Other Owners

Living in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, the housing situation is very complicated and in the case that you are looking for cheap rented accommodation, your task will not be an easy one. The supply of flats in the market in the CZ is influenced by local conditions and in each town or region the situation varies. It usually applies that the larger the town is and the more job opportunities it has, the more expensive and less available accommodation is. In the following text you can get general information about forms of ownership of flats in the Czech Republic.

Owners of flats in the CZ

In the Czech Republic, flats may be owned by individuals or legal entities. There are two types of ownership, these are the ownership of flats (pursuant to Act No. 72/1994 of the Collection of Laws, on Flat Ownership) and the ownership of houses (pursuant to Act No. 40/1964 of the Collection of Laws, the Commercial Code as amended by subsequent regulations).

Municipalities/towns:

The municipality independently manages the flats, which are in its ownership. The competence of municipalities is governed by the Act on Municipalities, flat renting is regulated by the Civil Code. The municipality itself may set other rules for renting flats.

Municipal flats are always rented flats - people, who live in them, have an occupational lease concluded with the municipality and pay rent. Recently, the number of municipal flats has been steadily falling. Some older buildings were returned to the families of the original owner s in the so-called restitution. Other buildings are being privatised - individual flats are sold to tenant s or whole buildings are sold to legal entities (for example, associations), which tenants set up. Tenants usually live in municipal flats for many years, even generations, because municipal flats are considered to be the most stable and at the same time cheap accommodation. The actual rules, set forth by municipalities sometimes disadvantage or exclude foreigners from renting municipal . ats, for example they stipulate a condition of long-term permanent residency in the municipality or Czech state citizenship. In some municipalities, a list of applications for flats is not kept at all and flats are rented in the form of a selection procedure.

We recommend that you get acquainted with the actual rules of renting flats at a housing section of the relevant town or municipal authority. Here you can also submit a written application, if the municipality takes applications. In such a case, the reality is that there will be many years of waiting. Since your situation, compared with Czech citizens, is always non-standard, you could also try personal negotiation with a higher representative of the town authority- a member of the town council or the Mayor.

Housing Co-operatives:

A housing co-operative (hereinafter referred to only as the co-operative) is a legal entity formed by members of the co-operative, which has its own rules and governing bodies. The co-operative is the owner of the building, flats are rented to members of the co-operative. Renting of flats is governed by the rules of the co-operative and Civil Code. Tenants of individual flats - co-operative members - pay rent for their accommodation. You may often hear the expression “a sale of a co-operative . at”. In reality, this means only the transfer of the membership in the housing co-operative, not the sale of a flat into one's ownership. The prices are only a little lower than prices of personally owned flats. An agreement of membership rights and obligations transfer does not have to be approved by the co-operative, but must be in accordance with the rules. Since cooperatives may have varying rules, there are not standard rules as to whether or not a foreigner may become a member of the co-operative. In reality you may also encounter offers of “renting a co-operative flat.” Usually, a member of the housing co-operative, not the co-operative itself, wants to let a flat. Since the member of the housing co-operative is a tenant himself, he cannot let the flat to a different person in the form of renting, but he may sublet it. This person - a subtenant - will not become a member of the co-operative.

The issues concerning co-operatives are regulated by Act No. 513/1991 of the Collection of Laws, Commercial Code, particularly part two - “trading companies and co-operatives.”

Other Owner s

The term “other owners” in this brochure means individuals and legal entities with the exception of municipalities and housing co-operatives. These owners may own in the Czech Republic family house s, blocks of flats, as well as individual flats.

An individual flat, which is a separate unit, is denoted as “a flat in one's ownership.” In practice, the term “personally owned . at” is more often used (Czech abbreviation OV). If the flat is located in a larger block (at least . ve residential or non-residential units, out of which, at least 3 units are owned by 3 different owner s), all flat owners form a unit owner community, which is a legal entity. This community deals with matters in connection with the building administration and it also collects payments from all the owners for the building administration, repairs and reconstruction of the building and advanced payments for services in connection with using a flat. Repairs of common parts of the building are covered by the contributions for repairs and reconstruction, repairs in individual flats are paid for by the owners themselves.

A flat in one's ownership may be bought and sold. After purchasing the flat, a new owner automatically becomes a member of the housing unit owner community and thus assumes rights and obligations connected therewith. An owner of the flat in his ownership may also let the . at to another person on the strength of an occupational lease. Accommodation in flats in one's ownership is regulated by:

Act No.72/1994 of the Collection of Laws, on Flat Ownership and Government Decree No. 322/2000 of the Collection of Laws, by means of which, model rules of unit owner communities are stipulated. Apart from blocks divided into flats in one's ownership, there are also blocks of flats which are in the ownership of an owner as a whole. In such a building it is not possible to buy or purchase a separate flat. Flats in these buildings are rented flats and the building owner lets them on the basis of occupational leases. Renting of . ats is governed by the Civil Code.

The text of this brochure may be accessed at the Internet address: www.p-p-i.cz (see related links).