Utilities (utility networks)

Utilities (inženýrské sítě) are the lines of technical infrastructure: water supply, sewerage, electricity, gas, district heat and electronic communications. The Czech Building Act calls them technical infrastructure networks and counts them as public infrastructure. A house or plot connects to them through service connections.

What a 'serviced plot' means

A 'serviced plot' (zasíťovaný pozemek) is not a legal term. In listings it can mean finished connections on the plot, but also just that the networks run along the street. The difference matters: connections still have to be built and paid for, longer ones also permitted under the Building Act, and their route may cross other people's land.

Where the networks run is shown in the regional digital technical map. The network owner must give anyone who asks, free of charge, the connection conditions and information on protection zones (Section 168 of the Building Act).

How to prove a connection

Whether a house is really connected and the services work is best shown by documents from the seller and the network operators:

• bills and contracts with suppliers or with the water and sewer operator,
• inspection reports for the electrical and gas installations,
• statements from network operators for the plot.

Public records are only indicative. The RÚIAN register does record, for buildings with a house number, whether they are connected to water, sewer and gas, but under the Czech Statistical Office's methodology the gas entry only means that a connection point exists, not that gas is actually used, and the value may also be 'undefined'.

What to watch for outside towns

For houses outside continuous built-up areas, check whether there is a public sewer or whether waste water goes to a cesspit or household treatment plant, and whether water comes from the mains or a well. The Water Act requires builders of new buildings to drain waste water into a sewer; where there is none, treatment with discharge comes next, and a cesspit is allowed only where no other solution is technically feasible.