How to let a flat in the Czech Republic without risk

The table summarises what can go wrong when you let a flat, how you can protect yourself, and what changes if you let the flat through guaranteed rent. Each risk is explained in more detail below.

Most of these risks can be reduced considerably with careful preparation. Two of them, however, preparation alone cannot remove: a tenant who passed every check but runs into trouble years later, and the empty months between two tenants. Those are the situations where transferring the risk to someone else comes into play.

In our experience, most letting problems start before the tenant moves in. The owner is in a hurry because an empty flat costs money, and signs with the first likeable applicant. A well-chosen tenant saves more trouble than any contractual penalty or insurance policy.

Before signing, check at least the following:

• Identity. Compare the name, date of birth and address with an identity document and copy them into the contract exactly.
• Public debtor registers. The Czech insolvency register is public and free. Applicants can request extracts from the register of enforcement proceedings and from credit registers themselves and show them to you.
• Income and housing history. Ask where the applicant works and where they lived before. A reference from the previous landlord often tells you more than any extract.
• Consistency. If details differ between the interview, the documents and the extracts, slow down and ask.

The full step-by-step procedure, the registers and the limits of what you may and may not ask applicants are explained in our guide to tenant screening in the Czech Republic. We check applicants in four debtor registers and the criminal record register, and the owner always has the final say on who moves in.

A lease cannot stop a tenant from falling into arrears. It does, however, decide how quickly and how reliably you can enforce your rights afterwards. The Czech Civil Code (Act No. 89/2012 Coll.) protects residential tenants, and under § 2235 any clause that curtails a tenant’s statutory rights is disregarded. A lease therefore cannot contain anything the owner might wish. The table summarises the rules worth knowing. It reflects the version in force from 1 January 2026, which we checked on 14 October 2026.

A few practical conclusions follow. A fixed-term lease, typically for one year, gives you a natural moment to decide whether to continue. Keep an eye on its end date, though, so that you do not renew it unintentionally. State explicitly in the lease whether subletting and pets are allowed, who may live in the flat and how service advances are paid. Attach a handover report with meter readings, an inventory and photographs.

The lease of a Czech flat is normally written in Czech. If you do not read Czech, insist on a bilingual version or a translation so that you know exactly what you are signing, and have unclear points reviewed by a Czech lawyer.

The deposit (jistota, often called kauce) is a sum the tenant pays at the start of the tenancy, from which the landlord can cover unpaid rent or damage. Under § 2254, the deposit together with any contractual penalties may not exceed three months’ rent. Service advances do not count towards this limit.

With a monthly rent of CZK 20,000, the deposit can be at most CZK 60,000. If you also agree a contractual penalty, the sum of both must fit within the same limit. For most owners it is therefore more sensible to take the full deposit and agree no or only low penalties.

How to handle the deposit:

• keep it separate from your everyday money, ideally in a dedicated account, so it is available when the tenancy ends,
• remember that the tenant is entitled to interest on it at no less than the statutory rate,
• at the end of the tenancy you may set off what the tenant owes you, such as unpaid rent, a service-charge balance or the cost of repairing damage beyond normal wear and tear,
• document every deduction, ideally with photos from the handover report and invoices.

A deposit of three months’ rent usually covers only the beginning of a problem. If a tenant stops paying, the debt can easily exceed it before notice takes effect and the flat is vacated. The deposit matters, but on its own it does not make letting risk-free.

A non-paying tenant is the risk owners fear most, and rightly so. The procedure is long, and a mistake at any step can invalidate the notice. The overview follows §§ 2286, 2288, 2290 and 2291 of the Civil Code:

1. React to the first late payment. Rent is due by the fifth day of the month unless a later day was agreed. Send a reminder as soon as the payment is missing and ask what is going on. The longer you wait, the larger the debt.
2. A written request to remedy. If you want to terminate without a notice period, you must first ask the tenant to remedy the breach within a reasonable time, that is, to pay the debt. Without this request the notice is disregarded.
3. Notice without a notice period. This is possible when the tenant has not paid rent and service charges for at least three months. The notice must state what you regard as the particularly serious breach. The tenant must then hand the flat over without undue delay, within one month of the end of the tenancy at the latest.
4. Notice with a three-month period. For a gross breach of duties that does not reach the level of a particularly serious one, you can give notice with a three-month period. The reason must be stated in the notice.
5. Requirements of every notice. Notice must be in writing and must reach the tenant. It must inform the tenant of the right to object and to ask a court to review whether the notice is justified, otherwise it is invalid. The tenant may file for court review within two months of receiving the notice.
6. If the tenant does not leave. If the flat is not handed over, what remains is an action for eviction and, after the court’s decision, its enforcement. Do not change the locks or remove the tenant’s belongings without a court decision. Doing so may be unlawful and can turn against you.

One exception is worth knowing: if the parties disagree about the amount owed and the tenant deposits the disputed sum with a notary and informs you, the lease cannot be terminated for non-payment (§ 2253).

The whole process from the first missed payment to an empty flat can take many months, and during all that time you receive no rent while continuing to pay advances to the building. That is why the best defence is prevention: careful tenant selection, a full deposit and a quick reaction. If you do not want to carry the risk at all, guaranteed rent is the answer, because the company pays the rent even when a subtenant does not.

Disputes about the condition of a flat usually arise at the end of a tenancy but are decided at its beginning. Without a thorough handover report it is hard to prove that a scratched floor or a cracked oven door was caused by the tenant and was not there before.

• Handover report. Record all meter readings, an inventory including the condition of each item, and the number of keys handed over. Take dated photos of every room and of details that are no longer new. Both parties sign.
• Regular inspections. Agree in the lease that you may inspect the flat after prior notice. One or two inspections a year reveal leaks, mould or damage before they grow. For an owner abroad this is the part that is hardest to do alone.
• Normal wear is not damage. The tenant returns the flat in the condition in which it was taken over, apart from normal wear and tear. A worn carpet after five years or faded paint is no reason to withhold the deposit.
• Insurance. As the owner you arrange building insurance yourself. The tenant’s household and liability insurance covers their belongings and damage they cause to you or the neighbours. It is worth requiring it in the lease.
• Alterations. The tenant must remove alterations made without your consent at the end of the tenancy unless you tell them you do not require it. Make replacing furniture or repainting in a different colour subject to your written consent.

With our guaranteed rent you get the flat back in its original condition, allowing for normal wear and tear, cleaned and repainted. Every subtenant must have household and liability insurance, and we inspect the flat twice a year, with a report and photos in the client zone.

Every month without a tenant means losing the full rent plus the service advances you keep paying to the building. With a rent of CZK 20,000, one empty month costs you more than 8 % of your annual income, two months almost 17 %. If the flat is mortgaged, you pay those instalments out of your own pocket.

You can shorten empty periods with a few steps:

• Realistic rent. A flat priced a few per cent above comparable flats can stay empty a month longer, which costs more than the higher rent would bring in over a year.
• Start early. Start looking for the next tenant as soon as you know the current one is leaving, and agree on viewings during their tenancy.
• Good listings. Good photos, a floor plan and clear terms bring more suitable applicants and fewer who only waste your time.
• A flat ready to move into. Small repairs, fresh paint and cleaning before listing usually pay off in a faster let.

Empty months cannot be avoided entirely. Guaranteed rent is the only common option that moves the risk of an empty flat to someone else. With us, the Security variant pays 60 % of the agreed amount for an empty flat and the Comfort variant 100 %.

Three kinds of products promise risk-free letting. They work very differently, mainly in who remains the landlord and what happens when the flat is empty.

With rent insurance or a payment guarantee, always read the terms: for how many months and up to what amount it pays, whether there is a waiting period or excess, what the lease must contain and whether damage to the flat is covered. The advantage is a lower price; the disadvantage is that you remain the landlord, with all the duties and work that involves, which is hard to manage from abroad.

Guaranteed rent costs more, but it transfers the risk of non-payment, depending on the variant also of vacancy, and the work of running the tenancy. A detailed comparison with estate agents and property managers is in our article Letting agent, property manager or do it yourself. How to check any property manager is described in How to choose a property manager in the Czech Republic.

With guaranteed rent, Bohemian Estates rents the flat from you and sublets it to screened tenants. Your only contractual partner is us. Every month we pay you the agreed amount, calculated from the market rent we agree on before signing.

For a flat with a market rent of CZK 20,000 you receive CZK 17,800, 17,200 or 16,600 a month depending on the variant. The start of payments is set in the contract. Security and Comfort are available in regional capitals and their surroundings, Yield after individual assessment. The contract is normally concluded for two years.

To be fair, guaranteed rent does not remove every risk and duty either:

• Ownership costs stay with you. Unless agreed otherwise, you keep paying the real estate tax, contributions to the owners’ association repair fund and building insurance.
• Major repairs are the owner’s. Repairs that the law assigns to the landlord, such as replacing a boiler at the end of its life, are submitted to you for approval.
• You file the income tax return. Rental income from a Czech flat is taxed in Czechia under § 9 of the Czech Income Tax Act, even if you live abroad. How it is treated in your country of residence depends on its tax treaty with Czechia; ask a tax adviser.
• The guarantee is only as strong as the company. Check any provider in the ARES business register, the insolvency register and in reviews before signing. That applies to us too.
• Lower yield. The fee of 11–17 % is the price for transferring risk and work. If you let the flat yourself and everything goes smoothly, you get more.

If you decide to let the flat yourself, go through this list before signing the lease:

1. The rent is based on comparable let flats, not on the highest asking prices on property portals.
2. I have verified the applicant’s identity, checked the insolvency register and seen the extracts they provided.
3. I have spoken to the previous landlord or have other evidence of how the applicant lived until now.
4. The lease is based on a proven template, adapted to the flat, and I understand every clause.
5. The deposit together with any contractual penalties does not exceed three months’ rent.
6. The lease clearly states the rent, the advances, the due date and the bank account.
7. The handover report includes meter readings, an inventory and dated photos.
8. Energy contracts are in the tenant’s name, or it is clearly agreed how energy is paid.
9. I have building insurance, and the tenant has household and liability insurance.
10. The end of the fixed term is in my calendar, and I know the latest date for asking the tenant in writing to leave if I do not want the lease renewed.
11. Someone I trust can reach the flat quickly in an emergency if I live abroad.

If you lack time or confidence for any of these points, that is not a failure. It is a sign that a service taking over that part could be useful.