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Checklist for newcomers

Moving to Czechia: the checklist

What to do when you rent a home here, in order: before you sign, the day you move in, your first week and your first month. Each step says why, links the guide or tool that helps, the official page and the law. Pick your citizenship to see only your steps, and tick them off as you go.

In short: check the owner and the lease before you sign. On moving day, sign a handover record with the meter readings, then report your address to the police: within 3 working days of arriving if you're not an EU citizen, within 30 days if you are and will stay longer than 30 days. In the first weeks, sort out health insurance, a bank account and your employer's tax declaration; in the first month, the waste fee and the radio and TV fees.

Your citizenship

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Before you sign

Check who you're dealing with, what the lease says and what moving in will cost.

  1. Ask for the owner's name and look the flat up in the land registry: ČÚZK's free search shows who owns any flat. Sign with the owner, or with an agent who shows you the owner's written authority, and pay nothing before you've seen the flat and read the lease.

  2. A lease must be in writing. Check the rent and what the monthly charges cover, the deposit (the law caps it at 3 months' rent), how long the lease runs, how either of you can end it and what you may change in the flat. If it's only in Czech, have it translated before you sign.

  3. The first month's rent, the deposit and any agency fee fall due at once, and the charges come on top of the rent every month. An agency can charge you only under a written brokerage contract you signed with it. Then check that the rent fits your pay.

  4. Non-EU citizens

    A long-stay visa or a residence permit needs proof of where you'll live: the lease, or the owner's confirmation of accommodation with their signature officially verified. Ask the landlord for it before you sign.

Moving in

The day you get the keys, and the address you now have to report.

  1. On the day you get the keys, write down with the landlord the state of each room, every defect, the keys you got and the electricity, gas and water meter readings. Take dated photos and both sign it. When you move out you return the flat as you took it over, apart from normal wear, so this record protects your deposit.

  2. Non-EU citizens

    Within 3 working days of arriving, a citizen of a country outside the EU reports where they live to the Foreign Police, unless the accommodation provider did it for them: a hotel does, a landlord usually doesn't. Reporting gives you no rights to the flat. On a long-stay visa or a long-term permit, report a later move to the Ministry of the Interior within 30 days.

  3. EU citizens

    An EU, EEA or Swiss citizen who will stay longer than 30 days reports where they live to the Foreign Police within 30 days of arriving, unless the accommodation provider did it for them. Reporting gives you no rights to the flat. If you move later, report the new address too.

  4. Ask whether the energy stays in the landlord's name, paid through the charges, or moves to yours. If it's yours, sign with a supplier from the day you move in, using the meter readings in your handover record; the Energy Regulatory Office compares suppliers' prices. Internet is a contract of its own: ask what the building already has.

Your first week

Health insurance, a bank account and the form your employer needs for your tax.

  1. EU citizens

    Working for a Czech employer puts you in public health insurance: choose a health insurer, tell your employer which on your first day, and the employer registers you. Until then, or if you don't work here, your home country's European health insurance card covers necessary care; ask your home insurer what applies to you.

  2. Non-EU citizens

    With a job at a Czech employer you're in public health insurance: choose a health insurer and tell your employer which on your first day. Otherwise, for a stay over 90 days you need travel health insurance, and comprehensive health insurance from an insurer licensed in Czechia within 90 days of arriving. The Ministry of the Interior's page says what it must cover.

  3. Rent, charges and pay usually go by bank transfer, so a Czech account makes the first months easier. Banks ask for your passport and may want your residence document or a second ID too, so check what yours needs before you go. Pay the deposit by transfer, or get a signed receipt.

  4. Within 30 days of starting a job, sign the taxpayer's declaration (prohlášení poplatníka) for your employer, then again by 15. Februar each year. You can sign it with only one employer at a time. It lets the employer take the taxpayer credit off your tax every month; without it you get the credit back only through a tax return.

Your first month

The fees every household pays, a doctor, and the steps for a longer stay.

  1. Every town charges a fee for household waste, either per resident (a foreigner staying longer than 3 months counts as one) or per property. Prague charges it per property: the building's owners' association, or the owner, collects it from the people who live there, usually with the charges, so ask your landlord whether yours include it. Elsewhere, the town hall's website says how to pay.

  2. A household pays a monthly radio fee and a TV fee once someone in it owns or uses a device that can play the broadcasts, and the law counts phones and computers as well as radios and TVs. Register within 15 days on the sites of Česká televize and Český rozhlas, unless someone in your household already pays. If a letter comes after you sign an electricity contract, answer it within 30 days, or you're taken to be a payer.

  3. Find a general practitioner (praktický lékař) and a dentist near home who take new patients; your health insurer's website lists the doctors it has contracts with. In an emergency, call 112.

  4. EU citizens

    Staying longer than 3 months? You may ask the Ministry of the Interior for a registration certificate (potvrzení o přechodném pobytu). You don't have to, but it proves your stay and your address to banks, employers and offices.

  5. Non-EU citizens

    Within 1 year of getting a long-term residence permit, most citizens of countries outside the EU take the adaptation and integration course: a single session on life, rights and duties here, held in several languages. Children, older people, students, investors, intra-company transferees and a few others are exempt.

Every deadline, with its source

The deadlines in the steps as the law sets them, each with the section it comes from and the day we read it.

Questions

Moving to Czechia: questions newcomers ask

What should I do first when I move to Czechia?

Before you sign a lease, check who owns the flat, read the lease and add up the cost of moving in. On moving day, sign a handover record with the meter readings, then report your address to the police: within 3 working days of arriving if you're not an EU citizen, within 30 days if you are and will stay longer than 30 days. In the first weeks, sort out health insurance, a bank account and your employer's tax declaration; in the first month, the waste fee and the radio and TV fees.

Do I have to register my address in Czechia?

Yes. A citizen of a country outside the EU reports their address to the Foreign Police within 3 working days of arriving, unless the accommodation provider did it; on a long-stay visa or a long-term permit, a later move goes to the Ministry of the Interior within 30 days. An EU, EEA or Swiss citizen staying longer than 30 days reports it within 30 days. Reporting gives you no rights to the flat.

Do I need Czech health insurance?

If you work for a Czech employer, you're in public health insurance: choose an insurer and tell your employer which on your first day. A citizen of a country outside the EU who isn't publicly insured needs travel health insurance for a stay over 90 days, and comprehensive cover from an insurer licensed in Czechia within 90 days of arriving. An EU citizen who doesn't work here is usually covered from home; ask your home insurer.

Who pays the waste fee in Prague?

Prague charges the waste fee per property. The people who live in the flat owe it, and the building's owners' association, or the owner where there isn't one, collects it from them and pays the city, usually through the monthly charges. Ask your landlord whether your charges include it.

Do I pay the TV and radio fees if I only have a phone?

Yes, as the law stands: it counts any device that can play the broadcasts, so a phone or a computer as well as a radio or a TV. One registered payer covers the household. Register within 15 days on the sites of Česká televize and Český rozhlas.

Who has to take the integration course?

Most citizens of countries outside the EU, within 1 year of getting a long-term residence permit. Children, older people, students, investors, intra-company transferees and people with international protection are among those exempt; the course's website lists every exemption and books a date.

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