A Czech lease of a flat (nájemní smlouva) sits on top of the Civil Code, and the Code protects the tenant. A clause that cuts the rights the Code gives you doesn't count, even if you signed it, and neither does one that puts a plainly unreasonable duty on you.1 So the question to ask of each clause is what it adds within the law. This guide takes them in order and ends with a checklist. It isn't legal advice: if a lease has something unusual in it, ask a lawyer before you sign.
Which rules apply to your lease?
The tenant's protection covers a flat or house let for you to live in. It doesn't cover a flat let for a holiday or another clearly short-term purpose.1
A lease must be in writing. If it isn't, the landlord can't use that against you, and once you've lived in the flat for three years in good faith, the lease counts as properly made.2
How long does it run?
A lease is either for a fixed term (na dobu určitou), often a year, or for an indefinite term (na dobu neurčitou). If the lease doesn't say, it's indefinite.3
A fixed-term lease ends on its date. If you stay on for three months after it and the landlord doesn't ask you in writing to leave, it renews for the same term, two years at most, unless the lease says otherwise.4 Don't rely on that: ask for a new lease before the old one ends.
Rent and how it can rise
The rent is a fixed sum, presumed to be per month, and you pay it in advance by the fifth day of the month unless the lease sets a later day. The charges for services are paid with it.5 Beyond the rent, the charges and the deposit, the landlord may not ask you for any other payment, whatever it's called.5
How the rent can rise depends on the lease:
| What the lease says | How the rent can change |
|---|---|
| A yearly increase, often by inflation | As the clause says, once a year6 |
| Nothing about increases | The landlord can propose in writing a rise up to the usual rent for similar flats, by at most 20 % over three years, and not within 12 months of the last rise7 |
| Increases ruled out | None |
If you agree, you pay the new rent from the third month after the proposal reached you. If you don't agree in writing within two months, the landlord can ask a court to set it.7 You can propose a cut the same way. The usual rent has to be shown by an expert's opinion or by documented rents of at least three comparable flats.8 Asking rents on listings are a guide to the market, not that proof.
The rent increase check tests a proposal against these rules and shows the days you and the landlord have to act by.
Here's what two-room flats in Prague ask each month, rent plus charges, since Bytky began recording it:
After works that lastingly improve the flat or save energy, the landlord can also propose a rise of a share of their cost.9
The deposit and penalties
Most leases ask for a deposit (kauce, or jistota in the Code). It and any contractual penalties (smluvní pokuta) the lease sets can't add up to more than three months' rent. At the end of the lease the landlord returns the deposit with interest, at least at the statutory rate, less anything you owe.10
The move-in costs calculator checks a deposit against that cap and adds up the cash you need on the day.
Read the penalty clauses carefully: a penalty for breaking the lease's terms, such as paying late, counts towards that cap.
Charges and the yearly settlement
The charges (zálohy na služby) are monthly advances for the building's services: heating, water, the lift, cleaning and lighting the shared parts and so on. Once a year, the landlord settles them against the real costs.11
| Step | Deadline |
|---|---|
| The landlord delivers the settlement (vyúčtování) | Within 4 months of the end of the billing period |
| You ask for the documents behind it, or object | Within 30 days of receiving it |
| The overpayment or underpayment is paid | Within 4 months of delivery |
If the landlord delivers the settlement late, the law sets a penalty of up to 50 Kč for each day.11
The service-charge check works out these days for your settlement, shows which of its items aren't services, such as the repair fund, and prints a letter in Czech to ask for the documents or to object.
Repairs: who pays for what?
The landlord keeps the flat fit to live in. You pay for routine maintenance, such as painting, and for small repairs.12 A government regulation lists what counts as a small repair, and on 1 January 2026 it raised the limits:13
- By kind: repairs to door handles and locks, switches, sockets and light bulbs, taps, showers and the water heater, the cooker, oven, kitchen units and built-in cupboards, among others. The list leaves out radiators and the central heating pipes.
- By cost: any other repair costing up to 1,500 Kč, with related repairs to the same thing added together.
- Yearly cap: once small repairs in a calendar year cost more than 150 Kč per m² of the flat's floor area, further repairs that year are the landlord's. Balconies, terraces and cellars count at half for this.
Report a defect to the landlord as soon as you find it. If the landlord doesn't fix it in reasonable time, you can have it fixed and ask for the cost, or a cut in the rent.14
The repair check tells you whose a repair is, works out how much of your yearly cap is left, and prints a letter in Czech to report a defect or claim the cost back.
Pets, flatmates and subletting
Pets. You have the right to keep an animal, as long as it doesn't cause the landlord or the neighbours unreasonable trouble, and you pay for any extra cleaning of the shared parts.15 Whether a lease can ban pets outright is disputed, so if yours does and it matters, ask a lawyer.
Household. You can take anyone into your household, but tell the landlord promptly when more people move in: not telling them within two months is a serious breach. The lease can require the landlord's written consent to a new member, except for close family, and the number of people must stay reasonable for the flat's size.16
Subletting. If you live in the flat, you can sublet part of it without asking. To sublet the whole flat you need the landlord's written consent, which counts as given if they don't answer within a month, unless the lease bans subletting.17
The landlord can come in to check the flat or repair it after telling you in good time, and in the lease's last three months you let people who'd like to rent it see it, with you there.18
How does the lease end?
Every notice (výpověď) must be in writing and must reach the other side. The notice period runs from the first day of the month after it arrives.19
| Who | When | Notice period |
|---|---|---|
| You, indefinite lease | Any time, no reason needed | 3 months20 |
| You, fixed-term lease | Only if circumstances change so much that you can't reasonably be asked to stay | Check with a lawyer21 |
| The landlord, any lease | A gross breach, a conviction for a crime against the landlord or the neighbours, the flat must be cleared for the public good, or a similarly serious reason | 3 months22 |
| The landlord, indefinite lease | Also: the landlord needs the flat to live in, or for a relative such as a child, parent or sibling | 3 months22 |
| The landlord, any lease | A particularly serious breach, such as three months' unpaid rent and charges, after first asking you to put it right | None. You hand over within a month23 |
A landlord's notice must name its reason and tell you that you can object and ask a court to review it, or it isn't valid. You have two months from receiving it to go to court.24 If a landlord ends the lease because they need the flat and then doesn't use it that way within a month of you leaving, they must let it to you again or pay you damages.25
The end-of-lease tool works out the day your lease ends, checks a landlord's notice against these rules and prints your own notice as a letter in Czech.
Moving out and the handover
On the last day you hand back the keys and the flat in the state you took it, apart from normal wear. If you hand it over late, the landlord can claim the rent for each day until you do.26
Since 1 January 2026, a court can tell a former tenant who hasn't left to clear the flat with an eviction order (rozkaz k vyklizení), without a hearing. You then have 15 days to leave or to object. The landlord must first have asked you in writing to leave, at least 14 days before going to court, and no order can be issued while a court is reviewing the notice.27 If you receive one, see a lawyer at once.
What changed in 2026?
- Small repairs: the limits rose from 1,000 Kč to 1,500 Kč a repair, and from 100 Kč to 150 Kč per m² a year.13
- Data boxes: a clause on delivering papers to your data box (datová schránka) is presumed fair, so notices may reach you there.28
- Eviction orders: a court can act fast once a lease has ended.27
- Company "subleases": two ministries said in January 2026 that when a company rents a flat only to let it on, your contract with it is in substance a lease, with a tenant's full protection.29 That's their view, not a law: a court decides each case.
Before you sign, check the rent against what similar flats nearby ask:
Eine typische Größe für diese Aufteilung. Ändere sie auf deine.
0 ist das Erdgeschoss.
Karte. Klick, um die Immobilie zu platzieren; die ähnlichen Immobilien sind nummeriert.
Such eine Adresse oder klick auf die Karte, um die Immobilie zu platzieren.
Such eine Adresse oder klick auf die Karte, um die Immobilie zu platzieren.
What to check before you sign
- Who lets the flat: the owner on the land register, a tenant with the owner's consent or a company. Ask for proof.
- The term: fixed or indefinite, and what happens at the end.
- The rent: the amount, the due day, the account, and any yearly increase and its index.
- The charges: what they cover and what last year's settlement came to.
- The deposit and penalties: together no more than three months' rent.
- Repairs: nothing beyond small repairs and routine maintenance put on you.
- Notice: nothing that lets the landlord end the lease more easily than the law does.
- The handover record (předávací protokol): meter readings, keys, the state of each room and, if furnished, the furniture, with dated photos.
- The language: a version you can read, and which one prevails.
Every word you'll meet in a lease, from kauce to vyúčtování, is explained in the property glossary.
Can a lease take away my rights as a tenant?
No. A clause that cuts the rights the Civil Code gives a tenant doesn't count, even if you signed it.
How much notice do I give to leave?
For an indefinite lease, three months in writing, from the first day of the month after the landlord receives it. Leaving a fixed-term lease early needs the landlord's agreement or a serious change of circumstances.
Can my landlord raise the rent whenever they like?
No. It rises as the lease says. If the lease says nothing, the landlord can propose a rise up to the usual rent, by at most 20 % over three years.
Who pays when a tap or the water heater breaks?
Repairs to taps, showers and the water heater are small repairs, so you pay for them until small repairs that year reach 150 Kč per m² of the flat. Replacing a whole appliance that costs more than 1,500 Kč is the landlord's, unless you broke it.
What happens to my deposit at the end?
The landlord returns it with interest, less anything you owe, such as unpaid rent or damage beyond normal wear. A good handover record settles most disputes.
Sources
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2237 and §2238. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2204. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2285. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2248. ↩
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Government Regulation 453/2013 Coll., on comparable rent, §3. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2250. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2254. ↩
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Act 67/2013 Coll., on services connected with the use of flats, §7, §8 and §13. ↩ ↩2
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2257. ↩
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Government Regulation 308/2015 Coll., on small repairs, §2 to §6, as amended from 1 January 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2264 and §2265. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2258. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2272. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2274 to §2276. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2219 and §2233. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2286. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2231. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2287. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2291. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2286(2), §2288(3) and §2290. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2289. ↩
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2292, §2293 and §2295. ↩
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Civil Procedure Code (Act 99/1963 Coll.), §175a, in force from 1 January 2026. ↩ ↩2
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Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2239, as in force from 1 January 2026. ↩
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Ministry of Justice and Ministry for Regional Development, statement on practice in the rental market, 14 January 2026. ↩
