Investor Guide to Europe 2014
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As part of the re-codification of Czech private law, as of 1 January
2014 the New Civil Code became effective, introducing numerous
changes and new legal institutes to the Czech law, in particular
with respect to legal relationships regarding real estate.
TYPES of oWnERSHIP
•
Czech law differentiates between the following types of
ownership: sole ownership, co-ownership and matrimonial co-
ownership.
ownership
•
Owner generally entitled to freely dispose of things in his
ownership.
•
Ownership may be acquired under a purchase agreement,
contract of donation or another agreement, inheritance, deci-
sion of a state authority, or by virtue of other circumstances
stipulated by law, such as usucaption (acquisitive prescription).
•
Transfer of ownership (and the creation of other rights in rem)
regarding real estate generally to be entered in the Land Re-
gistry; registration constitutes ownership (if the law not states
otherwise, e.g., regarding usucaption); therefore, ownership to
real estate may only be transferred on the basis of a legal title
(e.g., a purchase agreement) followed by registration in the
Land Registry.
•
The environmental context :
- under the applicable laws on protection of the envi-
ronment, a party causing ecological damage (such as
contamination of land) can be held liable.
- if the polluter is not known, the owner of the contamina-
ted real property may be held liable for the contamination
as a subsidiary.
Co-ownership
•
All co-owners incur rights and obligations jointly and severally
from legal acts relating to the joint object.
•
Decisions of co-owners regarding the management of the co-
owned object by either a simple or qualified majority of votes,
calculated on the basis of the sizes of their respective stakes.
accessory co-ownership
•
Special type of co-ownership.
•
A thing is in accessory co-ownership if it is jointly co-owned
by owners of separately owned things that create a locally
and purposely defined complex and serves to a joint purpose,
whereas these separate things cannot easily be used without
the jointly co-owned thing (e.g., a road in an industrial area with
more sites co-owned by the particular owners of the sites).
•
The co-ownership interest in the jointly co-owned thing cannot
be transferred without the transfer of ownership to the sepa-
rate thing.
RIGHTS affECTInG oWnERSHIP
Î
Right of construction
•
The right in rem to have a construction on a plot.
•
Establishment based on an agreement and registration in the
Land Registry.
•
Temporary nature as the main feature of the right of construc-
tion, can be established for up to 99 years, but can be ex-
tended later.
•
Transferable, and may also be encumbered in favour of third
parties.
Î
Easements
(servitudes, real easements)
•
Two types of easements in the New Civil Code:
- servitudes affect the owner in the way that it must suffer
something or refrain from doing something in favour of
a person (personal servitudes) or every owner of a plot
(land servitudes), e.g.:
- right of way,
- right to place utility infrastructure.
- unlike in the case of personal servitudes, land servitudes
do not cease to exist after transfer of ownership to the
entitled plots.
- real easements impose a duty to the owner of a plot to
give something or to act in favour of another.
•
Both types of easements are acquired upon registration in the
Land Registry.
Î
Mortgage
•
Real estate may be pledged in favour of the financing bank
already when negotiating the loan documentation (future
mortgage).
•
Mortgage is acquired upon registration in the Land Registry
Î
Pre-emption right
•
Might be stipulated as a right in rem upon registration in the
Land Registry
•
Owner of real estate burdened with a pre-emtive right obliged
to make an offer to the entitled person, if he intends to transfer
the ownership to the real estate to a third party.
Î
Prohibition of transfer or encumbrance (e.g.
mortgage) of real estate
•
Effective towards third parties only as a right in rem registered
in the Land Registry.
PRoPERTY LaW
