Noisy neighbours and quiet hours in a let flat in the Czech Republic: what to do when your tenant is noisy, and when your tenant complains

• The night-time quiet period (noční klid) runs from 10 pm to 6 am. Breaching it is an administrative offence. An individual faces a fine of up to CZK 10,000, or up to CZK 15,000 for a repeat. A municipality may set exceptions by ordinance, for example for festivities.
• Noise outside quiet hours is not automatically allowed. The Civil Code restricts noise beyond what is reasonable for local conditions, and apartment buildings also have house rules or owners’ association rules.
• You answer to the building for your tenant. A unit owner must make sure that the building’s rules are also followed by anyone they let into the flat, which includes the tenant.
• Repeated noise can justify notice. It must amount to a gross breach of the tenant’s duties and you must be able to prove it. Without a prior written warning and good records, notice is unlikely to survive a dispute.
• When your tenant complains about neighbours, you deal with it through the owners’ association or building manager and with the owner of the neighbouring flat. For breaches of the quiet period, the tenant can call the police directly.

The quiet period is set by section 5(7) of the Czech Act on Certain Offences: from 10 pm to 6 am. A municipality may, by generally binding ordinance, set exceptional cases, especially festivities or similar social or family events, when the quiet period is shorter or need not be observed. Typical examples are New Year’s Eve or local festivals. Municipal ordinances are published on the municipality’s website.

Breaching the quiet period is an offence against public order (section 5(1)(d)). The act sets these fines:

• for an individual up to CZK 10,000,
• for a repeat after a final decision on the same offence up to CZK 15,000 (sections 5(3) and 5(4)),
• an individual may also be given a restrictive measure (section 5(5)).

The offence is committed by whoever makes the noise, not by the owner of the flat. If your tenant or their guests break the quiet period, the tenant or the specific guest is liable for the offence, not you. That does not mean the noise is not your concern. You have your own duties towards the building and under the lease, covered in the next section.

And during the day?

The common belief that anything goes before 10 pm is wrong. The Act on Certain Offences does not treat daytime noise as a separate offence, but:

• Under section 1013 of the Civil Code, an owner must refrain from anything that causes noise and other emissions to reach a neighbour to an extent that is unreasonable for local conditions and substantially restricts normal use.
• A tenant must follow the usual rules of conduct in the building and the landlord’s reasonable instructions for keeping proper order (section 2256(2)).
• House rules or owners’ association rules often set quiet hours, for example for drilling or music.
• Municipalities may restrict activities that could disturb public order to certain places and times by ordinance (section 10 of the Municipalities Act). Some use this to regulate noisy work on Sundays and public holidays.
• Deliberate harassment of a neighbour, such as spiteful acts or other gross conduct, can be an offence against civil coexistence (section 7 of the Act on Certain Offences).

What matters is degree and context. Ordinary sounds of living, such as footsteps, conversation or a crying child, are part of life in an apartment building. Loud music, repeated parties or long drilling at unusual hours are not. For ordinary neighbour noise the law sets no fixed decibel limit. What counts is what is usual in that building and area.

A landlord of a flat in a building with an owners’ association (SVJ) sits between two relationships. Towards the tenant you are the landlord; towards the building you are a unit owner. Both bring duties:

• Towards the building. A unit owner must follow the rules for managing the building and using the common parts and ensure that they are followed by persons the owner let into the building or flat (section 1176 of the Civil Code). Exercising a unit owner’s rights must not make it harder for other owners to exercise the same rights (section 1175(1)). Neighbours’ complaints about your tenant are therefore rightly addressed to you.
• Towards the tenant. The tenant must follow the usual rules of conduct in the building and your reasonable instructions for keeping order (section 2256(2)). If you own the whole building, you must also maintain proper order in it as usual for local conditions (section 2256(1)).

In practice, you should respond to a complaint about your tenant. Ignoring it damages relations in the building and leaves you without the records you may need if the noise continues.

Neighbours or the association committee complain about noise from your flat. Go step by step. Each step is stronger than the last but needs better evidence.

1. Establish the facts. Ask exactly when the noise happened, how long it lasted and what it was. Ask the complainant to log incidents. One complaint about a birthday party is different from music every weekend.
2. Talk to the tenant. They often do not know about the problem, for example with footstep noise, a washing machine at night or a dog that barks when they are out. Agree a concrete fix: a rug, felt pads under furniture, no laundry at night, parties ending by 10 pm.
3. Send a written warning. If the noise continues, ask the tenant in writing to stop. State specific dates, refer to the lease and house rules, and warn that a repeat may be treated as a gross breach of the tenant’s duties.
4. Collect evidence. Neighbours’ logs, police records, e-mails from the association committee, your written warnings and the tenant’s replies.
5. Consider notice. Only once warnings have failed and you have evidence; see the next section.

With a tenant you are otherwise happy with, a practical solution is worth looking for. Replacing a tenant means an empty flat, a new search and the risk that the next one is worse.

What a written warning should contain

The warning need not be long, but it must be specific. A vague “neighbours are complaining about noise” does not tell the tenant what to change and will not help you in a dispute. A good warning includes:

• dates and times of incidents you know about and a short description of the noise,
• a reference to the lease and house rules provisions the tenant is breaching,
• a clear request, for example to end music and visits by 10 pm or not to run the washing machine at night,
• a reasonable deadline or immediate effect, depending on the problem,
• a warning that if the disturbance continues, you will treat it as a gross breach of the tenant’s duties that may lead to notice.

Deliver the warning in a way you can prove: registered post, a Czech data box, e-mail with confirmation, or in person against signature. If the lease sets a method of delivery, use it.

A dog that barks when the tenant is out

A frequent source of complaints that the tenant may genuinely not know about: the dog barks or howls only when left alone. Give the tenant specific times from the neighbours’ logs and agree a solution, such as a dog sitter, a midday walk or a trainer. With new tenants, set rules on pets in the lease.

The Czech Civil Code protects residential tenants, and a landlord can give notice only on statutory grounds. Two are relevant to noise:

Notice with a three-month period

A landlord may terminate a fixed-term or open-ended lease with three months’ notice if the tenant grossly breaches a duty arising from the lease (section 2288(1)(a)). The ground must be stated in the notice (section 2288(3)). Repeated, documented disturbance of neighbours in breach of the lease and house rules after prior warnings can be such a breach. A one-off incident usually is not.

Notice without a notice period

If the tenant breaches a duty in a particularly serious way, you may terminate without a notice period and the tenant must hand over the flat within one month at the latest. The act’s examples include a tenant who causes serious difficulties to the landlord or to people living in the building (section 2291(2)). The notice is disregarded, however, if it does not state what the particularly serious breach is, or if you did not first ask the tenant to remedy the conduct within a reasonable time before delivering the notice (section 2291(3)).

Requirements without which notice is invalid

• written form and delivery to the tenant (section 2286(1)),
• information on the tenant’s right to object and to ask a court to review whether the notice is justified, otherwise the notice is invalid (section 2286(2)),
• a specific ground for notice.

Within two months of receiving notice, the tenant may ask a court to review whether it is justified (section 2290). What you can prove then decides the case. Whether repeated disturbance reached the level of a gross or particularly serious breach is for the court to judge on the facts. Before giving notice over noise, it is worth consulting a lawyer. How to protect yourself if a tenant does not leave or stops paying is covered in our guide How to let a flat in the Czech Republic without risk.

Neighbours’ complaints can be frustrating, especially when they keep coming. Some reactions make things worse and can backfire:

• Do not enter the flat unannounced. You must give the tenant reasonable advance notice of an inspection. Without notice you may enter only when necessary to prevent damage or where delay would be dangerous (section 2219(1)). Checking whether the tenant is having a party is not such a case.
• Do not cut off water, electricity or heating. Disconnecting services as a “punishment” for noise breaches your duties as landlord and gives the tenant a strong position in any later dispute.
• Do not change the locks. Until the lease has ended and the flat has been handed over, the tenant has the right to enter.
• Do not post names on the building notice board. Publicly labelling a tenant as a nuisance can infringe their honour and privacy. Deal with them and with the association committee.
• Do not threaten. Communicate factually and in writing. Every message you send can become evidence, for or against you.

When the flat itself is noisy

Not all noise comes from the tenant. A humming boiler, a vibrating fridge, whistling pipes or noisy ventilation can be defects of the flat. The landlord keeps the flat and building fit for use during the lease (section 2257(1)). The tenant pays only for routine maintenance and minor repairs (section 2257(2)). If neighbours complain about noise from your equipment, the repair is yours. The same applies when your tenant complains about noise from the building’s common parts, such as the lift or boiler room; you pass it on to the association committee or building manager.

The opposite situation is just as common. The tenant calls to say the neighbours upstairs are noisy and asks what you will do. Your tenant has no relationship with the owners’ association or the owner of the neighbouring flat. You do.

1. Ask the tenant to log the noise just as neighbours would in scenario A. Without specifics you have nothing to work with.
2. For breaches of the quiet period, the tenant can call the municipal police where it exists, or the national police. A record of the call-out is valuable for later steps.
3. Contact the owners’ association committee or building manager. Pass on the logs and ask them to raise it with the owner of the noisy flat. A unit owner must ensure that the building’s rules are followed by people they let into the flat (section 1176).
4. Contact the owner of the neighbouring flat directly. If it is let, they are the noisy tenant’s landlord and have the tools described in scenario A.
5. Court action is the last resort. Emissions beyond what is reasonable for local conditions can be challenged in court under section 1013 of the Civil Code. It is a slow step, worthwhile only for a long-term, well-documented problem and after legal advice.

If you own the whole building, things are both simpler and harder. The noisy neighbour is then usually also your tenant, and you must maintain proper order in the building (section 2256(1)).

What to tell your tenant

Be open about what you can and cannot do. You cannot order a neighbour to do anything, but you can deal with the building and with the neighbouring owner. Tell the tenant what you have done and when you will be back in touch. Agree that they send you logs regularly, for example weekly, not months later. And remind them that for breaches of the quiet period they need not wait for you and can call the police themselves.

Why it pays to respond

A good tenant who is constantly disturbed by neighbours will eventually leave. Helping with a noise problem costs you a few e-mails and calls; losing the tenant costs months without rent and a new search. A tenant may also terminate a fixed-term lease if circumstances change so much that they cannot reasonably be expected to continue (section 2287).

Choosing a tenant

At the viewing and interview, ask about things that relate to noise: how many people will live there, whether they work shifts, whether they have a dog, a musical instrument or small children. The point is not to reject these applicants but to match them with a suitable flat. A family with small children will be happier on the ground floor than above an elderly neighbour who has complained before. Selection criteria should be objective and the same for all applicants. See Tenant screening in the Czech Republic.

Be open about the building

If you know the building has weak footstep insulation, a restaurant on the ground floor or a neighbour sensitive to noise, tell applicants in advance. This prevents complaints and the dissatisfaction of a tenant who would otherwise feel something was kept from them.

Furnishing the flat

Furnishing solves part of the problem. Rugs in the living room, felt pads under chairs, a washing machine on anti-vibration pads or a quiet dishwasher reduce footstep and vibration noise, which travels furthest in apartment buildings. With floating floors in living areas, consider a good impact-sound underlay at the next renovation.

Noise from your own renovation

Landlords make noise too. Renovation between tenants is the most common time neighbours complain directly about you. Before work starts, find out which hours the house rules and any municipal ordinance allow for noisy work, tell the neighbours and the association committee, and give them a contact for you or the site manager. Concentrate noisy work on weekdays and give tradespeople the house rules in writing. Good relations with neighbours pay off when you need their help with noise from another flat.

Relations with the owners’ association

Landlords who do not live in the building are often anonymous to the other owners, so complaints arrive only when the problem is big. It helps if the committee or building manager has your current contact details, you know when meetings are held and you answer complaints quickly. If a property manager looks after the flat, give the building their contact. Neighbours then have someone to call instead of calling the police straight away.

In the lease

• house rules or association rules as an annex and a duty to follow them,
• a duty to ensure that the tenant’s guests follow them too,
• rules on pets,
• a ban on short-term subletting without your written consent,
• the number of people who will live in the flat.

Who lives in the flat and how that shows in the population register is explained in our guide Tenant residence registration in the Czech Republic.

1. “Anything goes until 10 pm.” False. Noise beyond what is reasonable for local conditions is not allowed during the day either, and house rules may set further quiet hours.
2. “I am not responsible for my tenant.” The person making noise is liable for the offence. Towards the building, however, you must make sure the rules are followed by those you let into the flat.
3. “I can give notice over noise straight away.” Only for a gross or particularly serious breach. Notice without a notice period also needs a prior call to remedy.
4. “Without the police I cannot prove anything.” A police record helps, but logs, witnesses, recordings and correspondence also prove noise.
5. “Neighbours’ complaints about my tenant are not my business.” An ignored complaint usually returns stronger, and you lose the time when talking could have solved it.

• Letting without an agent. Other landlord duties, from the energy rating in the advert to the service charge statement, are in Letting a flat in Czechia without an agent.
• Tenant residence registration. What a tenant’s registration means and how to cancel it after the lease is in Tenant residence registration in the Czech Republic.
• Letting without risk. Protection against non-paying tenants and damage is covered in How to let a flat in the Czech Republic without risk.

This article reflects the legislation in force on the date of publication. Before an important decision, check for later amendments. The Czech statutes are available in Czech.

• Act on Certain Offences (Act No. 251/2016 Coll.), sections 5 and 7: quiet period, fines, offences against civil coexistence.
• Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012 Coll.), sections 1013, 1175, 1176, 2219, 2256, 2257 and 2286 to 2291: emissions, unit owners’ duties, inspection, order in the building, repairs, notice.
• Municipalities Act (Act No. 128/2000 Coll.), section 10: generally binding ordinances on public order.

This is a general guide, not legal advice for a specific case.