Renting a flat in Czechia as a foreigner

As a foreigner, you rent a flat in Czechia on the same terms as anyone else: the same lease, the same cap on the deposit and the same protection from the Civil Code. What's different is the work the lease has to do for you. If you need a visa or a residence permit, it's your proof of accommodation, so it has to be one the Ministry of the Interior accepts, and once you're in, you report the address. This guide takes the paperwork in the order you'll meet it, then shows where to look while you do.

What do landlords ask a newcomer for?

Most landlords and agencies want to know two things: who you are, and that you can pay. Expect to show your passport or ID card and something that shows your income, such as an employment contract, a letter from your employer or recent payslips. If you've come for a job or a place at a university, the letter that brought you here often does. Some ask for a reference from a previous landlord.

Then come the payments. Before you get the keys you usually pay the first month's rent and charges, a deposit (kauce) and, if an agency lets the flat, its fee. The deposit and any penalty the lease sets can't add up to more than three months' rent. Beyond the rent, the charges and that deposit, the landlord may not ask you for any other payment, whatever it's called.¹

The move-in costs calculator adds them up for a flat and checks the deposit against that limit.

Which lease works for a visa or residence permit?

When you apply for a long-term visa or a residence permit, you'll be asked for proof of accommodation (doklad o zajištění ubytování) for the time you'll stay. The Foreigners Act accepts three kinds.²

The flat must be in a building with a house number that's meant for living in. The owner can have a signature verified at a notary or at a Czech POINT counter, which many post offices and town halls have. The Ministry of the Interior also accepts a confirmation the owner signs in front of its own officer, or sends electronically with a recognised electronic signature.³ The proof of accommodation page fills in the owner's confirmation in Czech, laid out as the ministry's form, ready to print and sign.

An embassy may also want to see that whoever signed has the right to let the flat, such as an extract from the land register (výpis z katastru nemovitostí).⁴ If you sublet, the owner's written consent to the sublease is worth having too: a tenant needs it to sublet a whole flat.⁵

Does the lease need to be in Czech?

Czech offices work in Czech. A document in another language has to come with an official translation into Czech (úřední překlad), unless the office says it can do without.⁶ So a lease written only in English can cost you a certified translation before your appointment. Ask the office if you're unsure what it accepts.

A lease written side by side in Czech and English saves the translation and lets you read what you sign. If the two versions could ever differ, look for a clause saying which one prevails, and ask for one if there isn't.

When do you report your address?

Reporting where you live is separate from the lease, and the duty is yours, not the landlord's.

Some landlords worry that letting you register their flat as your address gives you a claim on it. It doesn't: the Foreigners Act says reporting your address gives you no rights to the building or against its owner.⁷

As an EU citizen, you can also ask the Ministry for a registration certificate (osvědčení o registraci) if you're staying longer than three months. It's optional, and it too needs proof of accommodation.⁹

What can an agency charge you?

Many flats are let through a real-estate agency (realitní kancelář), and many agencies charge the tenant a fee. An agency that works for you does so under a brokerage contract (smlouva o realitním zprostředkování), and the Real Estate Brokerage Act sets what it must contain:

• It must be in writing, and state the flat, the rent and the agency's fee, or how the fee is worked out.¹⁰
• On the day you sign, the agency must give you an extract from the land register for the flat, no more than three working days old. If it doesn't, you can withdraw from the contract within 14 days.¹¹
• The agency must tell you about known defects of the flat, and what fee it agreed with the landlord for the same flat.¹¹

Read the brokerage contract before you pay the fee, and keep a copy. An agency may hold your money in escrow only if you ask in writing, and only in a separate bank account.¹²

What if a company offers you a "sublease"?

Some companies rent flats from their owners only to let them on, and offer you a sublease (podnájem) with fewer rights than a lease. In January 2026 the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry for Regional Development said that when you live in such a flat, your contract with the company is in substance a lease of a flat, with all the protection the Civil Code gives a tenant, whatever its title says.¹³

That's the ministries' view, not a new law, and a court decides each case. If a company's contract asks you to give up rights a tenant would have, or the company points to that clause when you object, it's worth asking a lawyer.

Can a landlord turn you down for being a foreigner?

A landlord chooses their tenant, and can weigh your income and references. But housing offered to the public falls under the Anti-Discrimination Act, which forbids treating someone worse for, among other things, their nationality or ethnic origin.¹⁴ The Public Defender of Rights (veřejný ochránce práv) says refusing an applicant for an advertised flat only because they're a foreigner is discrimination, and helps the people who meet it.¹⁵ If it happens to you, keep the listing and every message.

Where to start looking

If you've just arrived, a furnished flat (zařízený byt) saves buying everything at once. These are the newest furnished flats to rent in Prague, each with its total monthly cost and a fair-price verdict:

Outside Prague, the map shows every flat to rent in Brno today:

Rather than checking the listings every day, save a search: Bytky sends you each new match, so you can call the landlord the day it's listed.

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The words on listings and leases, from 2+kk to kauce, are explained in the property glossary.

Sources

1. Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2251(2) and §2254. ↩

2. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §31(1)(d) and (5), and §71(2) for permanent residence. ↩

3. Ministry of the Interior, "Proof of accommodation", ipc.gov.cz. ↩

4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Doklad o zajištění ubytování", mzv.gov.cz. ↩

5. Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §2275. ↩

6. Administrative Procedure Code (Act 500/2004 Coll.), §16(2). ↩

7. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §93. ↩ ↩² ↩³

8. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §98(1) and (3). ↩ ↩²

9. Foreigners Act (Act 326/1999 Coll.), §87a. ↩

10. Real Estate Brokerage Act (Act 39/2020 Coll.), §9 and §10. ↩

11. Real Estate Brokerage Act (Act 39/2020 Coll.), §11 and §12. ↩ ↩²

12. Real Estate Brokerage Act (Act 39/2020 Coll.), §4. ↩

13. Ministry of Justice and Ministry for Regional Development, statement on practice in the rental market, 14 January 2026; Civil Code (Act 89/2012 Coll.), §555 and §2235. ↩

14. Anti-Discrimination Act (Act 198/2009 Coll.), §1(1)(j) and §2(3). ↩

15. Public Defender of Rights Act (Act 349/1999 Coll.), §21d; Public Defender of Rights, leaflet on equal treatment, ochrance.cz. ↩