Together with our Czech partners, we
shall assist you in registering your company in the Czech Republic;
we shall aid in getting a residence permit, and we shall serve as
mortgage brokers for several Czech banks. We will help American buyers
to obtain mortgages in the Czech Republic for very competitive interest
rates – from 3.5 percent annually.
Step 1
If you have decided to buy real estate in the Czech Republic, you
must follow local laws governing the sale of real estate to foreigners.
A foreigner from a non-EU country can buy real estate in the Czech
Republic only after having registered a company in the Czech Republic
in his/her name. Such registration is the first step necessary for
purchasing real estate here. A person must start a company
in the Czech Republic in his/her name, and then purchase real estate
for this firm.
Step 2
We advise that you contact us 14 days prior to your trip, so that
our employees have an opportunity to examine a variety of real estate
in which you may be interested before your arrival.
We will sign a contract with you regarding real estate services in
which the rights and duties of each of the parties are enumerated.
Our services in the purchase and sale of real estate include:
- Assistance in ensuring the propriety of transactions;
- Assistance in signing contracts to reserve houses/apartments,
agreements about a future sales contracts, contracts regarding
an individual share in construction, and contracts of sale and
purchase;
- Assistance in making changes in a contract about construction
of a house according to the wishes of the client, and assistance
in monitoring and controlling the construction process;
- Assistance in communications between a developer and the client,
i.e., duly notifying the client about all necessary changes during
construction, the translation of all necessary documents into English,
and rendering assistance in the final inspection of the real estate;
- Assistance in obtaining electrical, water and gas supply services.
Before we begin a search for real estate in the Czech Republic,
you should describe as accurately as possible and with as many details
as possible your ideas and requirements for the desired real estate,
with regard to price, type of construction, building material – wood
or brick, if you wish to have a flat in an apartment, the number
of rooms, whether a garage is desired, how close you wish to be to
shops, schools, the subway, and so on.
According to our long-standing practice, real estate searches in
the Czech Republic and signing a purchase contract require approximately
10-14 days. If you do not have a company registered in the Czech
Republic, this amount of time will be sufficient to register such
a company, to search for and decide upon real estate, and to sign
a contract to purchase the real estate you have chosen. If you arrive
in the Czech Republic 10-14 days prior to signing the purchase contract,
you should have sufficient time to locate and purchase real estate
that meets your criteria.
Step 3
A real estate purchase begins with signing a reservation contract
to purchase the real estate.
All the relevant elements regarding the future purchase of the real
estate are specified in the reservation contract: a description of
the property, the price, payment obligations, the time by which the
purchase must be finalized and, in the case of obtaining a mortgage
and/or an individual share in the construction – details on
finalizing a future sale and purchase contract).
If your company is not yet registered in the Czech Republic, the
purchase contract can be signed by an individual, with the obligation
to renew the contract on the same terms with the company as signatory
after it has been registered.
The usual deposit on real estate purchases is approximately $3000.00
to $10,000.00, with the exact amount dependent on the wishes of the
seller and the price of the real estate purchase. Czech law does
not stipulate the size of the deposit for real estate purchases in
the Czech Republic.
After signing the reservation contract, our employees will carry
out all the subsequent tasks involved in preparing an intentions
contract and a sale and purchase contract, on the basis of the power
of attorney signed by you with regard to performing specific actions
necessary for purchasing real estate (and, if needed, for obtaining
a mortgage).
Step 4
At a date that is specified in the reservation contract, you sign
the sale, purchase contract for the real estate, and participate
in drawing up the certificate of receipt and transfer of the real
estate. After these documents are presented to the real estate registry
to record the transfer of the property, the remainder of the funds
for the real estate is transferred to the seller’s account.
The new owner of the real estate then applies for electrical, water
and gas supply services and registers with the local housing agency.
If you purchase a new building or apartment, you enumerate all the
problems or defects with the property in a report that also specifies
the time by which the developer is obliged to eliminate these problems
or defects.
The conditions for transferring property rights for real estate
in the Czech Republic are specified in the sale and purchase contract.
The transfer of property rights depends on method of payment for
the real estate. The most common payment methods are described below.
Using the settlement account of a notary, lawyer, bank, or real
estate company
In this method, the buyer transfers money for the real estate purchase
to the settlement account of a notary, lawyer, bank or real estate
firm, which acts as the guarantor of the transaction. The seller
has no access to the proceeds of the real estate sale until a record
of the transfer of property has been recorded in the real estate
registry. In addition, the buyer cannot occupy the real estate
he/she purchased until the transfer of property has been officially
recorded.
In Prague, the process of recording property transfers in the real
estate registry can take up to six months. In other places of the
Czech Republic, this term tends to be shorter.
Transferring money directly to the seller’s settlement account
In this method, the sale and purchase contract affirms that the
property rights are transferred from seller to buyer on the day that
the sale and purchase contract is signed. Immediately after signing
the sale and purchase contract, the readings on the electrical meters
and water meters are recorded, keys for the property are transferred
to the new owner, the new owner is registered with the electrical,
water and gas supply services and at a local housing agency, and
the new owner can move into the real estate he/she has purchased.
In this method, the sale and purchase contract also affirms that
if the real estate registry contacts the buyer and seller in order
to correct defects in the recordation deed, the participants must
correct these mistakes within 14 days.
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