You have the purchase contract in your hand, but you are still not the owner. You are about to file a petition for registration of the property in the Land Registry. The usual deeds of title or easement are seemingly not very tricky, but there are a few basic rules you should know so that everything goes smoothly. Let’s break them down.
Deposit is one of the three types of entries in the Land Registry, the others being a record and a note. According to the current legislation, all rights in rem are entered into the Land Register by means of a deposit. The most common ones are:
The conclusion of a purchase agreement for real estate alone is not sufficient for the entry into force. You have to declare the creation, modification or termination of a real right. The competent land registry will thus have to authorise the registration of the property for the right to come into existence.
It should already be stipulated in the purchase contract which party will file the property transfer to the Land Registry and who will pay the associated fee. Both the buyer and the seller can be the petitioner (i.e. the one who signs the petition for registration). However, the signature of one of the parties is sufficient! The parties may also be represented in the registration procedure, for example by a lawyer who prepared the purchase contract and provided the deposit of the purchase price in connection with it. However, the representative is not a party to the proceedings and is entered in a separate box. The power of attorney for the representation of a party must be signed with a certified signature.
Tip: We recommend that both parties sign for verification purposes, but one proponent is sufficient and their signature does not need to be notarized.
Proper orientation is essential. That is why we have written a guide “How to read the Land Registry”.
Measure twice, cut once. That goes for official filings as well. Enrolment in the Land Registry is a formality, but a very important formality that is not to be underestimated. Do you need to register an easement in the Land Registry? Or a lien so you don’t lose the money you borrowed?
The application to initiate the registration procedure must be submitted only on the prescribed form, either electronically, by post or in person. The Land Registry’s online application will make your job easier by being able to retrieve all the necessary data from the Land Registry itself. However, online filing can only be completed with converted attachments.
Tip: Need to get an extract from the Land Registry? Check out our guide.
In this case, you will need to show the subject of the registration on the cadastral map. You will need to supply the relevant land registry with:
Tip: Watch out for the four biggest mistakes that happen when re-writing a property.
The cadastre fee is CZK2,000 (from 1 January 2020, previously CZK 1,000). You can pay it in person at the land registry (also by credit card), or in case of sending it by post using a stamp. You can find all the administrative fee rates on the Land Registry’s website.
As we mentioned above, the procedure of registering a property in the cadastre can be facilitated by an interactive form that will fill in some information by itself after entering the property certificate or a specific property.
However, it is still necessary to make sure that everything necessary and as it should be is filled in the proposal. For example, when transferring a residential or non-residential unit defined under the old Housing Act, the related co-ownership interests in other properties (the land on which the building is located or other adjacent land) must be transferred at the same time as the unit. These co-ownership interests must be specified both in the contract by which ownership of the unit is transferred and in the application for registration. Otherwise, the Land Registry will not register the requested transfer of ownership and the petitioners will have no choice but to withdraw the original application and resubmit it corrected and pay the administrative fee again.
Tip: We have compiled the most common mistakes in land registry entries into a separate article.
Upon receipt of the application for registration, the Land Registry informs both parties and the property is sealed at that time. This indicates that changes are being made to the title deed in question. The Land Registry will decide on the registration after a maximum of 20 days, but usually within a month.
Tip: This is not possible before then.The parties have 20 days to submit their comments against the deposit proposal.
After the expiry of the deadline and the permission of the entry, the property is transcribed at the Land Registry.
The cadastre marks the property with a seal no later than one working day after it receives the proposal to change the ownership right. The seal at the cadastre does not allow any further changes, it lasts for the entire duration of the proceedings and is cancelled by the cadastre after the registration or the decision to discontinue or dismiss the proceedings.
It is therefore advisable for buyers to check whether the property they have already reserved is marked with a seal, to check that the buyer is not trying to deceive them. However, the seal is also an insurance policy for the property owner and may be the first indication that something unfair is going on. Should someone try to fraudulently transfer the property, you must use the 20 day period mentioned above, send a statement to the Land Registry and defend yourself with what is known as an objection.
The Cadastral Office will then examine the application for registration – but only from the angles imposed by law:
In practice, it is important to note that the Land Registry always starts from the situation at the time of the application and will not take into account documents drawn up later.
An available attorney advises: The Land Registry is going for safety and in 2014 it set up the Change Tracking application, which for a fee of CZK 200 per year, will forward all information about changes to you via the channel you choose.
Measure twice, cut once. That goes for official filings as well. Enrolment in the Land Registry is a formality, but a very important formality that is not to be underestimated. Do you need to register an easement in the Land Registry? Or a lien so you don’t lose the money you borrowed?
It is not uncommon for errors to be found in the submission that prevent the Land Registry from granting the application. If the defects are removable (most often clerical errors, unverified signatures, unpaid administrative fees), they can be resolved by correction within the time limit set by the Land Registry. The worse option is irremediable defects (for example, insufficient or incorrect specification of the immovable property or proposed rights), where the cadastre rejects the application completely. Unfortunately, this happens quite often. It is enough, for example, to mislabel a parcel of land or a party to a contract. For example, we once dealt with a case where the signature indicated Zdenka instead of Zdeňka. In the end, however, we managed to reverse the situation in favour of the client and complete the proceedings.
Tip: A preview of the cadastre won’t tell you everything. We’ll tell you what else to look out for.
There is no need to despair the moment you hold in your hands a notice from the Land Registry with irremovable defects. The most appropriate and quickest solution in such a case is to withdraw the application for registration.
The Land Registry has no special form for this, but remember that there is no way to withdraw the application without:
Tip: Want to speed up the process? Add to the request that the parties waive the possibility of appeal.
The application for withdrawal of the proposal for entry must then be signed by all parties and subsequently sent or delivered in person to the office of the Cadastral Office. The submission of this request is free of charge. The following process is followed:
If you don’t file a withdrawal, the Land Registry will forward the refusal to the court in case you want to challenge its decision and the 30-day period for a possible lawsuit starts. This slows down the whole process considerably. We therefore recommend that you also pay attention to these formalities and collect your mail.
Want to make sure the whole process goes off without a hitch? Within 48 hours, we can handle the complete contractual and legal process of buying or selling a property for you flawlessly, professionally and online. Precise submission of the application for the entry of the ownership right into the Land Registry is a matter of course.
Measure twice, cut once. That goes for official filings as well. Enrolment in the Land Registry is a formality, but a very important formality that is not to be underestimated. Do you need to register an easement in the Land Registry? Or a lien so you don’t lose the money you borrowed?
Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 10 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
In person and online. Just choose the appropriate service or opt for an independent consultation when you are unsure.
