Glossary
The Czech property glossary
Every word you'll meet on a Czech listing or contract, from 2+kk to vyúčtování, explained in plain English. The terms stay in Czech, as you'll see them. Type to find one, or jump to a group.
71 terms
Layouts and sizes
dispozice
Layout
The code every Czech listing gives a flat's layout, such as 2+kk or 3+1. The number counts the rooms you live in, the living room included; the bathroom, the toilet, the hall and storage rooms don't count.
kk
Kitchenette
Short for kuchyňský kout: the kitchen is a row of units along a wall of a room, usually the living room, with no door between them. A 3+kk has three rooms, one of them with the kitchen in it.
+1
Separate kitchen
After the room count, +1 means a kitchen of its own (samostatná kuchyně), with a door and often room for a table. A 2+1 has two rooms and a separate kitchen, a layout common in older buildings.
2+kk
One-bedroom flat
A living room with a kitchenette and one bedroom, the usual first flat for a couple. For English bedrooms, take one off the number: a 2+kk has one bedroom, a 3+kk two.
garsoniéra
Studio
The older word for a one-room flat (also garsonka), often with only a small kitchen niche. A 1+kk is much the same, usually in a newer building, so search for both.
mezonet
Maisonette
A flat on two floors joined by stairs inside it. Its official floor area counts the rooms on both floors, and the stairs only once.
podkroví
Attic flat
A flat under the roof. Its official floor area counts the whole floor of each room, even where the sloping ceiling leaves no room to stand, so check the floor plan.
užitná plocha
Floor area (as listed)
The floor area a listing gives, as the owner or the agency states it. It may or may not include a balcony, a terrace or a cellar, and two flats in one building can be counted differently, so ask what's in it.
podlahová plocha
Official floor area
The floor area the law counts for a flat in a building split into units: its rooms, with the inside walls and the built-in cupboards. Balconies, loggias and terraces aren't part of it.
přízemí
Ground floor
The floor at street level. 1. patro (the first floor) is one floor up, as in British English, but in building plans 1. podlaží or 1. NP is the ground floor itself. Listings use both, so check which one is meant.
lodžie
Loggia
A balcony set into the front of the building, with walls on three sides. In a building split into units it's one of the common parts, even when only your flat reaches it.
komora
Storage room
A small storage room inside the flat, off the hall or the kitchen. It doesn't count as a room in the layout code.
Renting
nájemní smlouva
Lease
Your contract with the owner for renting a home, for a fixed term or open-ended. The Civil Code protects the tenant: clauses that take away the rights it gives you don't count, whatever the lease says.
nájemné
Rent
The sum for the flat itself, paid in advance for each month, by the fifth day unless the lease sets a later one. The advances for services are paid with it, so compare the total monthly cost.
kauce
Deposit
Money the landlord holds against unpaid rent or damage. Together with any penalties the lease sets, it can't be more than three months' rent, and it comes back with interest when the lease ends, less anything you owe.
zálohy na služby
Advances for services
Monthly payments on account for the building's services, such as heating, hot water, water, the lift and cleaning, paid with the rent. Once a year they're settled against what the services really cost.
vyúčtování
Yearly settlement
The statement of what the services cost over the year against the advances you paid. It's due within four months of the year's end; an overpayment comes back to you, and you pay any shortfall.
paušál
Flat-rate charges
Rent and services, or the services alone, paid as one fixed sum if the lease says so. The services in it aren't settled at the end of the year: no refund and no extra bill.
předávací protokol
Handover record
The signed record of the flat when you move in and when you move out: meter readings, keys, the state of each room and any furniture. Add dated photos; it's what the deposit is settled against.
podnájem
Sublet
Renting from a tenant rather than from the owner. A tenant who lives in the flat can sublet part of it; to sublet the whole flat they need the owner's written consent, and the sublet ends with their lease.
drobné opravy
Small repairs
Repairs the tenant pays for, such as taps, switches and the water heater, along with routine upkeep. A government regulation caps them for each repair and for each year; anything beyond is the landlord's.
výpověď
Notice
How a lease ends early. You can end an open-ended lease without giving a reason; a landlord can end it only for a reason the Civil Code lists. Notice is given in writing.
doklad o zajištění ubytování
Proof of accommodation
The document a visa or residence permit application needs to show where you'll live. A signed lease counts; a letter from the owner instead needs an officially verified signature.
Buying and ownership
osobní vlastnictví (OV)
Personal ownership
You own the flat as a unit, with a share in the building's common parts, entered in the land register in your name. You can sell it, let it, leave it to your heirs or pledge it to a bank.
družstevní byt (DB)
Cooperative flat
You own a share in the housing cooperative that owns the building, and the cooperative leases you the flat. A share isn't property in the land register, so banks lend on it differently.
SVJ
Owners' association
Společenství vlastníků jednotek: the body the owners of the flats in a building form to run it. It sets the repair fund, hires the administrator and votes on works.
katastr nemovitostí
Land register
The public register of land and buildings and who owns them, run by ČÚZK. Anyone can look up a flat online for free, and you become the owner only when the register enters you.
list vlastnictví (LV)
Title sheet
The land register's record of a property: who owns it, what it is and, in part C, what weighs on it, such as a mortgage or an easement. Check it before you buy, or before you pay a deposit to rent.
plomba
Pending-change mark
A mark in the land register showing that a change to the property, such as a sale or a new mortgage, is being registered. Find out what it is before you pay anything.
rezervační smlouva
Reservation agreement
An agreement that takes the flat off the market for an agreed time, usually against a reservation fee. Before you sign, read what happens to the fee if your mortgage or the checks fall through.
smlouva o smlouvě budoucí
Future contract
A contract in which you and the seller promise to sign the purchase contract later, usually for a flat that isn’t built yet. It must agree the purchase at least in general terms, and the purchase contract is signed when one side calls on the other: in the agreed period, or otherwise within a year.
kupní smlouva
Purchase contract
The contract by which you buy a property. It must be in writing, with both signatures on the same document, and names the property by its land register details.
úschova
Escrow
Where the price waits until the land register enters you as the owner: with a lawyer, a notary or a bank, never paid straight to the seller.
návrh na vklad
Application for entry
The application that asks the land register to enter you as the owner, filed with the purchase contract. The register tells the current owner and can enter you no sooner than twenty days later.
zástavní právo
Pledge
The lender's right over a property that secures a loan, such as a mortgage: if the loan isn't repaid, the property can be sold to pay it. It's shown in part C of the title sheet.
věcné břemeno
Easement
A right someone else holds over a property, such as a right of way or a right to live in the flat for life. It stays with the property when it's sold, and is shown in part C of the title sheet.
hypotéka
Mortgage
A loan secured by a pledge on a property. Czech mortgages run for decades, with the rate fixed for a few years at a time.
fixace
Fixed-rate period
The years for which a mortgage's rate is fixed. When they end, the bank offers a new rate, and you can repay the loan or move it to another lender without a fee.
LTV
Loan to value
The loan as a share of the property's value, as the bank's valuer sets it. ČNB caps it for every lender, and whatever the loan doesn't cover comes from your own money.
odhad
Valuation
What the bank's valuer (odhadce) says the property is worth. The loan is worked out from it, not from the price, so a low valuation means more of your own money.
Money and costs
hrubá mzda
Gross pay
Pay before social and health insurance and income tax come off: the figure job offers and contracts quote.
čistá mzda
Net pay
What reaches your account: the gross less the employee’s insurance and the income tax after the credits.
poplatky
Charges
What a listing adds to the rent each month: the advances for services and, often, electricity and gas. Bytky adds them up into the total monthly cost on every listing.
energie
Energy
Electricity and gas. Tenants often pay them to the supplier on their own contract rather than through the landlord, so ask whether a listing's charges include them.
fond oprav
Repair fund
The monthly sum every owner pays to the owners' association for the building's repairs. It's the owner's cost: a landlord can't pass it on to a tenant as a charge.
daň z nemovitých věcí
Property tax
A yearly tax every owner of land or a building pays to the municipality. You file a return by the end of January of the year after you buy, and again only if something changes.
daň z nabytí nemovitých věcí
Real estate transfer tax
A tax on buying property that Czechia has abolished. Older guides still mention it, but buyers no longer pay it.
odpočet úroků z hypotéky
Mortgage interest relief
The interest on a mortgage for your own home lowers your income tax, up to a yearly cap. You claim it in your tax return or through your employer.
stavební spoření
Building savings
A Czech savings scheme with a yearly state contribution, which can lead to a loan for housing after at least two years of saving.
Buildings and services
činžovní dům
Apartment house
A brick block of flats from around 1900, with high ceilings and thick walls, often without a lift. Prague's inner neighbourhoods are full of them.
panelový dům (panelák)
Concrete panel block
A block built from prefabricated concrete panels, mostly from the 1960s to the 1980s, usually on an estate. Many have been insulated and renovated since.
cihlová stavba (cihla)
Brick building
A building with load-bearing brick walls: most older tenement houses and villas, and many new builds. Listings say “cihlová” or just “cihla”.
sídliště
Housing estate
A planned estate of blocks, mostly of panel buildings, with its own shops, schools and parks, usually towards the edge of a city.
novostavba
New build
A newly built home, usually with a lift, parking and a better energy class, and a higher price per m².
kolaudace
Approval for use
The building office’s decision that a finished building may be used (kolaudační rozhodnutí). A new building may be lived in only once it has one, and the date a listing gives for it is when the developer expects it.
společné části domu
Common parts
The parts of a building its owners share: the stairs, the lift, the roof, the front of the building, and balconies and loggias even when only one flat reaches them.
správce domu
Building administrator
The company or person that runs a building for its owners: the services, the yearly settlement and the repairs. Tell them when you buy a flat there.
sklep
Cellar storage
A lockable storage compartment in the basement that comes with many flats. Some listings add its area to the flat's, so ask.
bezbariérový
Step-free
A building and flat you can reach without steps, with a wheelchair or a pram.
po rekonstrukci
Renovated
A flat or building that has been renovated. Ask what was done and when: the wiring, the pipes and the windows matter more than a new kitchen.
ústřední topení
Central heating
Heating for the whole building from one source, a boiler room or the city's district heating, paid in the advances and settled once a year. A flat with its own gas boiler has etážové topení.
PENB
Energy performance certificate
Průkaz energetické náročnosti budovy: it grades a building's energy use from A, very economical, to G. A listing for sale or to rent must state the class. An agent who wasn't given the certificate must state G, the worst class.
Listings and agents
realitní kancelář (RK)
Real-estate agency
An agency that lets or sells homes for their owners; listings shorten it to RK. An agency that charges you a fee needs a written contract with you.
makléř
Agent
The person at an agency who handles a listing, shows the flat and negotiates the terms.
provize
Agency fee
What an agency charges for finding you a flat or a buyer. If you're to pay it, the agency needs a written brokerage contract with you that states the fee or how it's worked out.
přímo od majitele
Direct from the owner
A listing by the owner, with no agency and no agency fee. Check in the land register that whoever lets or sells the flat really owns it.
prohlídka
Viewing
A visit to a flat before you rent or buy it. Never pay a deposit for a flat you haven't seen.
rezervováno
Reserved
The flat is held for someone who has signed a reservation. It may come back on the market if their purchase or lease falls through.
k nastěhování ihned
Available now
The flat is free to move into straight away. Otherwise a listing gives the date it's free from.
info o ceně v RK
Price on request
The listing gives no price; the agency will tell you. Without one, Bytky can't compare the listing on price.
dražba
Auction
A sale by public auction. The listed price is the starting bid, not what the home will sell for.
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