Mortgage advisers in Czechia: what they do, who pays them and how to choose one

A mortgage adviser (hypoteční poradce) helps you find a mortgage and get it. They compare lenders' offers, prepare your application and deal with the bank until the money is paid out. In Czechia only someone authorised by ČNB, the Czech central bank, or entered in its register may arrange a mortgage, and the law sets out how they may be paid and what they must tell you. If the lender pays them, their help costs you nothing directly. Check them in ČNB's register before you share your papers.

What does a mortgage adviser do?

An adviser works between you and the lenders. This is what a good one does for you:

• Works out what you can borrow, from your income, your debts and your savings, within ČNB's limits on how much a bank may lend.
• Compares lenders. They set offers from the lenders they work with side by side, and tell you which lenders' loans they chose from.¹
• Prepares the application. They tell you which information and papers the lender needs, collect them and pass them on.²
• Deals with the bank. They follow the application through, arrange the bank's valuation (odhad) of the flat, and go through the offer and the contract with you.
• Sees it through to the money. A bank pays out the loan (čerpání) only once the conditions in the contract are met. The adviser keeps track of them with you.

What an adviser doesn't do:

• Lend, or decide. The lender assesses whether you can repay, and decides.³
• Stretch ČNB's limits. Every lender must keep to them, whoever brings the application. They're explained in getting a mortgage as a foreigner.
• Act as your lawyer. The purchase contract, the escrow and the land register are a lawyer's work. See the steps of a purchase.
• Value the flat. The bank's valuer (odhadce) does that.

At a bank, the person who arranges your mortgage, often called a mortgage specialist (hypoteční specialista), works for that bank and offers its loans. If they're the bank's employee, they aren't an intermediary. Some banks also work through tied agents, who are, and are in ČNB's register.

Who may work as a mortgage adviser?

In Czechia, arranging a loan for a consumer takes ČNB's authorisation, and a mortgage you take as a private person is a consumer loan. The law allows four kinds of intermediary, and three of them may arrange a mortgage:⁴

Samostatný means the intermediary works in its own right. It doesn't mean independent: the law keeps that word for a narrower group, explained below.

An adviser may be a licensed intermediary in person, a tied agent of a lender or of a licensed intermediary, or an employee of either. An employee isn't in the register; their employer is.⁵ A licensed intermediary answers for its own work and for its tied agents. A tied agent's work is the responsibility of the lender or firm it works for.⁶

Everyone who arranges a mortgage, employees included, must have finished secondary school with the maturita exam or have a higher education, and must have passed a professional exam for housing loans. The exam is held by bodies ČNB accredits. Besides loans, it covers how property is valued, the property market, how a purchase works and the land register. It's taken once and doesn't need repeating, though their firm must make sure they keep their knowledge up to date. Anyone who had already done the work for at least three years without a break by December 2016 needn't have the maturita.⁷ They must also be trustworthy: for example, no conviction for a crime against property, an economic crime or another intentional crime, and no bankruptcy in the last five years.⁸

Arranging loans without authorisation is an offence. Under the law in force in 2026, ČNB can fine a business up to 20,000,000 Kč for it.⁹

How do you check an adviser in ČNB's register?

Before you hand over your papers:

1. Ask for their registration number. Before they arrange anything, they must tell you which register they're in, their number and how to check it.¹⁰
2. Open ČNB's register of financial-market firms and search for the adviser or their firm by name.
3. Read the entry:¹¹
   • the kind: licensed intermediary (samostatný zprostředkovatel) or tied agent (vázaný zástupce);
   • the scope, which must include housing loans (spotřebitelský úvěr na bydlení);
   • for a tied agent, who it works for;
   • the dates of the authorisation.
4. If the adviser is an employee, check their firm instead, and ask to see their exam certificate (osvědčení).
5. For any fines, look the firm up in ČNB's final decisions.¹²

ČNB gives the same advice for any loan: find out who you're dealing with and whether they're authorised before you sign anything.¹³

Who pays the adviser?

An adviser is paid in one of two ways:¹⁴

• A commission from the lender whose loan you take. You pay the adviser nothing directly.
• A fee from you, under a written contract.

They can't take pay for the same loan from both you and the lender or anyone else.

Nothing before the loan contract. Until you sign the loan contract, neither the lender nor the adviser is entitled to a fee or any other payment from you. The only exceptions are taxes, official fees and the like, and the reasonable cost of valuing the flat the loan is secured on. If you pay for the valuation, they must give you its result and the reasons for it.¹⁵ An adviser who wants money up front, whatever it's called, is asking for something the law doesn't entitle them to.

If you pay a fee. Your contract with the adviser (smlouva o zprostředkování spotřebitelského úvěru) must then be in writing, or it's void. It must state:¹⁶

• the fee, or how it's worked out, and when it's due;
• the loan you're after: its type, term and amount, the most you'll pay a month, and the highest rate and total cost you'll accept;
• your right to withdraw, and what happens if you pay late.

You get a copy. You can withdraw within 14 days, without a reason or a penalty, unless a loan contract has already been signed through it. The adviser can't make the contract depend on you signing another one, and can't take a bill of exchange or a cheque from you.

What the lender pays them. Before arranging a mortgage, the adviser must tell you what the lender will pay for it, to them or to the firm they work for. If they can only give the method, such as a percentage of the loan, the exact amount must then appear in the European Standardised Information Sheet (ESIS), the summary the lender gives you before you sign.¹⁷ You can also ask what commission each lender they work with pays them on mortgages. Ask. If the lender they recommend pays them more than the others, ask why its offer is the one for you.

Clawbacks. Advisers sometimes mention a clawback (storno): commission a lender takes back from them if a loan is repaid early. The Consumer Credit Act doesn't deal with it. It's a matter between the adviser and the lender, and anything you'd owe the adviser yourself has to be in your written contract. What the lender may charge you for repaying early is limited by law, and the foreigners' guide explains when it's free.

What must an adviser tell you before they start?

In good time before arranging a loan, an adviser must tell you:¹⁰

• what kind of intermediary they are, and who they represent;
• their contact details, and those of the lender or firm they represent;
• the register they're in, their registration number and how to check it;
• whether they give advice, and which lenders' offers it's based on;
• that their contract with you can't be tied to any other service;
• the commission the lender pays them, or that it will be in the ESIS;
• any fee you pay them, and that they can't be paid by both you and the lender or anyone else;
• that you can ask what commission each lender pays them;
• how to complain, that a dispute can go to the financial arbiter (finanční arbitr) without a court, and who supervises them.

At your first contact they must say at least what kind of intermediary they are and, for a tied agent, who it works for.¹⁸ “In good time” means long enough to read it all without hurry and compare it with other offers.¹⁹

What does “independent” mean?

An adviser may call themselves independent (nezávislý) only if they consider loans from most of the lenders on the market, and the way they and their people are paid doesn't stand in the way of acting in your best interest. In particular, the pay mustn't depend on sales targets. The rule covers translations and synonyms of the word too.²⁰ A tied agent of a single bank can't be independent.

The law also separates advice (rada) from a recommendation (doporučení). Advice rests on an analysis of your finances, your needs and the risks over the whole life of the loan, and on a choice from enough suitable loans: for a licensed intermediary and its tied agents, from those available on the market; for a bank, at least from its own range. The adviser must tell you which lenders' loans the advice rests on, and you get a written record of it: your needs, the reasons for the advice, what it means for you and the risks.¹ Someone who only recommends must tell you it isn't advice under the law. At a licensed intermediary, the pay of whoever advises you mustn't depend on meeting sales targets.²¹

Adviser or straight to the bank?

Both work. Here's how they compare:

An adviser earns their place when your case isn't simple: income that's hard to prove, self-employment, a residence permit, income from abroad or a small deposit. Each bank weighs these by its own rules, and an adviser knows them across several lenders. Going straight to a bank is simpler when your income is plain, and your own bank already sees it arrive every month.

Whichever way you go, ask for offers in writing and compare them, as ČNB advises.¹³ The annual percentage rate of charge (RPSN) in each ESIS counts the fees as well as the interest. ČNB advises comparing the total you'd repay too.¹³ You can also do both: ask your own bank for an offer, then see whether an adviser can find a better one.

Want an adviser who speaks your language? Bytky doesn't arrange loans itself, but you can ask us for one here:

When does an adviser matter more for a foreigner?

When the bank has to weigh something it doesn't see every day:

• A residence permit from outside the EU. Banks differ on which permits they lend on and how long one must still run.
• Income from abroad, or in another currency. It's harder for a bank to weigh, and each bank treats it its own way.
• Papers in another language. Before you pay for translations, ask which papers the bank needs translated, and whether it wants certified translations (úřední překlad).
• The Czech. The offer, the ESIS and the contract are usually in Czech. Ask whether the bank will give them in English too. An adviser, like the bank, must explain the offer well enough for you to judge whether it suits you.²² One who speaks your language makes that real.

Who can borrow, how much ČNB lets a bank lend and the papers a bank asks for are in getting a mortgage in Czechia as a foreigner.

How do you choose a mortgage adviser?

Look for an adviser who:

• is in ČNB's register for housing loans, or works for a firm that is;
• works with several lenders, and tells you which;
• explains how they're paid before you ask, and tells you what each lender pays them when you do;
• says plainly whether they're giving you advice under the law or a recommendation;
• has arranged mortgages for people in your situation: your residence, your kind of income, your deposit;
• speaks your language, or brings someone who does;
• asks for nothing up front, and doesn't make their help depend on you buying anything else from them.

Before the first meeting, work out roughly what you could borrow with the mortgage calculator. It uses your income and savings, applies ČNB's limits and needs no account.

What to ask at the first meeting

• Are you a licensed intermediary or a tied agent, and for whom? What's your registration number?
• Which lenders do you work with?
• Is this advice under the Consumer Credit Act, or a recommendation?
• What will the lender pay you, or the firm you work for? What does each lender you work with pay you on mortgages?
• Will I pay you anything? If so, how much, when, and where's the contract?
• Have you arranged mortgages for someone with my residence permit and my kind of income?
• Is anything I'd owe you tied to repaying or moving the loan early?
• Who do I complain to if something goes wrong?

And bring, or have ready:

• your passport, and your residence permit if you're from outside the EU;
• proof of income: a confirmation from your employer (potvrzení o příjmu) and payslips, or your tax returns if you're self-employed;
• recent bank statements;
• a list of your loans and other debts;
• what you've saved for the deposit and the costs of buying;
• the flat's details, if you've found one.

The adviser must tell you what they need from you, and you must give complete and true information.²

Sources

1. Consumer Credit Act (Act 257/2016 Coll.), §85: advice, the lenders it rests on and the written record, and a recommendation that isn't advice. ↩ ↩²

2. Consumer Credit Act, §84(1) and (2). ↩ ↩²

3. Consumer Credit Act, §86(1). ↩

4. Consumer Credit Act, §2(2) and (3), §3(1)(b) and (l), §16, §17, §27, §37, §47 and §48(3). Czech National Bank, basic information for businesses under the Consumer Credit Act. ↩

5. Consumer Credit Act, §3(1)(f), §27(2) and §34. Czech National Bank, basic information for businesses under the Consumer Credit Act: an employee needs no authorisation or registration of their own. ↩

6. Consumer Credit Act, §26, §35 and §36. Under §26 the lender also answers for the damage if it chose a licensed intermediary carelessly or didn't supervise it enough. Czech National Bank, basic information for businesses under the Consumer Credit Act. ↩

7. Consumer Credit Act, §23(2), §60 to §62 and §176(3). Czech National Bank, basic information for businesses under the Consumer Credit Act: the exam is run by accredited bodies and taken once. ↩

8. Consumer Credit Act, §72(2). ↩

9. Consumer Credit Act, §157(1)(e) and (3)(c), as in force in 2026. ↩

10. Consumer Credit Act, §93(1). ↩ ↩²

11. Consumer Credit Act, §53 to §55. Czech National Bank, register of financial-market firms (JERRS). ↩

12. Consumer Credit Act, §159(1). ↩

13. Czech National Bank, ten things to watch when taking out a loan, points 2, 3 and 4. ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. Consumer Credit Act, §80 and §93(1)(g). ↩

15. Consumer Credit Act, §83. ↩

16. Consumer Credit Act, §125 to §128, §130 and §131. ↩

17. Consumer Credit Act, §93(1)(f) and (h). Czech National Bank, answers on the Consumer Credit Act (RS2017-02), question 10. ↩

18. Consumer Credit Act, §76(2) and §93(3). ↩

19. Czech National Bank, answers on the Consumer Credit Act (RS2017-02), question 8. ↩

20. Consumer Credit Act, §81. ↩

21. Consumer Credit Act, §23(4). ↩

22. Consumer Credit Act, §94(2) and (3). ↩