Can my landlord raise the rent this much?

A Czech landlord can't raise the rent whenever they like. If your lease sets how the rent goes up, a yearly increase by inflation for example, the clause decides. If it rules increases out, the rent changes only if you both agree. If it says nothing, the landlord can propose a higher rent in writing, but only twelve months after the last increase, by at most 20 % over three years, and never above the usual rent for comparable flats in the place. The check tests a proposal against those conditions and dates what happens next.

How to use the check

Have your lease and the landlord's letter in front of you, then fill in three parts:

1. Your lease. What it says about increases (nothing, it sets them, or it rules them out), the day it began and the rent then, without the charges.
2. Earlier increases. Each increase since the lease began: the day it took effect and the new rent. Include the ones you agreed to, since they count too.
3. The proposal. The new rent the landlord proposes, without the charges, and the day the proposal reached you.

Below the result, pick where the flat is, its layout and its floor area. The check then sets the proposed rent against what similar flats nearby ask.

Reading the result

The result leads with the rent you pay now and the proposed rent, with the step between them. Then comes the verdict:

• Your lease sets the increases or rules them out. The 20 % test doesn't apply: the clause decides.
• Too soon. The rent last changed, or the lease began, less than twelve months before the proposal. The check names the earliest day a proposal counts.
• Over the 20 % limit or within it. The check names the rent three years before the proposal, the most the rent can reach and how far the proposal goes above the old rent.

Under the verdict, two figures show the working: the rent three years before, with the number of increases since, and the most the rent can reach under the 20 % test.

“What happens next” turns the rules into dates: the day an agreed rent starts, your last day to agree, and the landlord's last day to go to court.

“Against the asking rents nearby” takes the median asking rent per m² of flats of that layout in the place, without the charges, and multiplies it by your floor area. It says how far the proposal is above or below that. It's a guide to where the usual rent might be, not the proof the law asks for.

A worked example

Your lease began on 1 March 2022 at 16,000 Kč a month and says nothing about increases. From 1 May 2024 you agreed to pay 17,000 Kč. On 15 October 2026 a letter from your landlord proposes 19,800 Kč.

• Time. The rent last changed on 1 May 2024, so a proposal counts from 1 May 2025. This one isn't too soon.
• The limit. Three years before the proposal, on 15 October 2023, the rent was 16,000 Kč. With 20 % on top, the most it can reach is 19,200 Kč. The proposal asks 19,800 Kč, 23.8 % more than then: over the limit by 600 Kč.
• The step. Against the 17,000 Kč you pay now, the proposal is 16.5 % more. That's under 20 %, which is why the step alone misleads: the increase of 2024 counts too.

So the most the landlord could propose is 19,200 Kč, and only if that's no more than the usual rent nearby. If they did and you agreed, you'd pay it from 1 January 2027, the third calendar month after the proposal reached you. If you haven't agreed in writing by 15 December 2026, the landlord has until 15 March 2027 to ask a court to set the rent.

Had the earlier increase come on 1 December 2025 instead, this proposal would be too soon, and wouldn't count: the earliest day a proposal could count would be 1 December 2026.

The usual rent is what comparable flats actually let for, and it moves with the market. This is the median rent with the charges of two-room flats in Prague, with the middle half of asking rents as a band:

The rules behind it

What the lease says. Landlord and tenant can agree in the lease how the rent rises each year, by inflation for example. Then the increases follow that clause.¹ The Civil Code's own test applies only when the lease says nothing.

The landlord's proposal. When the parties haven't agreed an increase, the landlord can propose in writing a rent up to the usual rent for comparable flats in the place, as long as the increase, together with the increases of the last three years, isn't more than 20 %. A proposal made sooner than twelve months after the last increase is disregarded, and so is one that doesn't state the new rent or show that the conditions are met.²

The usual rent. It's the rent paid for comparable flats in the place on comparable terms. A landlord shows it with an expert's opinion or with at least three comparable rents actually paid.³ Asking rents, like Bytky's, are a guide to it, not that evidence.

Your answer. If you agree, the new rent runs from the third calendar month after the proposal reached you. If you haven't agreed within two months, the landlord may ask a court to set the rent within three months more. A later claim fails if you object. A court sets at most the usual rent, from the day of the claim.⁴

Works on the flat. After works that lastingly improve the flat or save energy, a landlord can propose an increase under a separate rule, which the check doesn't cover.⁵

Mistakes people make

• Measuring the 20 % on today's rent. The limit runs from the rent three years before the proposal, so an increase you agreed last year uses up part of it.
• Leaving out an increase you agreed to. Every increase in the three years counts, whether the landlord proposed it or you both agreed it.
• Counting the charges. The test is for the rent alone. The advances for services change with what the services cost, under rules of their own, and the service-charge check reads their yearly settlement.
• Taking silence for agreement. If you don't answer, the rent stays as it is. The landlord's next step is a court, which can set no more than the usual rent.
• Treating a phone call as a proposal. A proposal has to be in writing and name the new rent. Note the day the letter reached you: every date runs from it.
• Reading asking rents as the usual rent. Flats on offer can ask more than tenants actually pay. Use them to judge whether a proposal is plausible, not as proof either way.

What to do next

Read how a Czech lease works, from the deposit to notice. If an increase makes you think of moving, end of lease works out your notice and when the deposit is due back, salary to rent shows what your pay affords, and what renting a flat in Prague costs sets out the rest of the bill. Every word in your lease, from nájemné to kauce, is in the property glossary.

Sources

1. Civil Code (89/2012 Coll.) §2248. ↩

2. Civil Code (89/2012 Coll.) §2249(1). ↩

3. Government Regulation 453/2013 Coll., on comparable rent usual in the place, §3. ↩

4. Civil Code (89/2012 Coll.) §2249(3). ↩

5. Civil Code (89/2012 Coll.) §2250. ↩