Personal (freehold) ownership of a flat

Osobní vlastnictví (OV, 'personal ownership') is the everyday Czech term for a flat registered in the land register as a unit (jednotka), in effect a freehold flat. Under the Civil Code, a unit consists of the flat as a physically separate part of the building together with an inseparable share in the common parts of the property (Section 1159). A unit is immovable property: the owner can sell it, give it away or mortgage it, and their ownership is recorded on the title sheet (list vlastnictví).

What comes with the flat

The common parts always include the land on which the building stands (or a property right to have the building on someone else's land), the parts essential for preserving the building, including its main structures, and installations that also serve other owners (Section 1160). Government Regulation No. 366/2013 Coll. lists, for example, the roof, external walls, staircases and lifts, and also balconies and loggias accessible only from the flat. The flat owner has exclusive use of those.

The size of the share in the common parts is set by the owner's declaration (prohlášení vlastníka) and is also recorded in the land register. Unless set otherwise, shares follow the ratio of the flat's floor area to the floor area of all flats in the building (Section 1161). The share determines votes in the owners' association (SVJ) and usually also the amount of building management contributions.

Older units under the 1994 act

Units created before 2014 under Act No. 72/1994 Coll. on flat ownership consisted of the flat alone. The share in the building's common parts was a separate co-ownership, and the land under the building was dealt with separately: it might belong to the flat owners, but also to someone else. In buildings where at least one unit was created this way, further units are still created under the old rules (Section 3063 of the Civil Code). For such a flat, it is worth also checking the co-ownership share in the land in the land register.

What it means for a buyer

• Check the unit's title sheet for the owner, mortgages, easements and any pending-change flag (plomba).
• Ask the owners' association or building manager to confirm whether the seller owes anything for contributions and services. Debts the buyer had and could have found out about pass to the buyer with the transfer (Section 1186).
• Find out the monthly payments, the savings for repairs and any planned repairs to the building.
• Unlike a cooperative flat, a freehold flat can be pledged, so it can secure a mortgage.