How to settle czech permanent residence of your tenant

23.3. 2021

For many landlords, permanent residence is a sensitive issue. Should I allow tenants to register their permanent residence in my place? What’s the danger in it for me? Can I then terminate the rental agreement with such a tenant or what if an execution is imposed on the tenant? Landlords are worried, some concerns are partly justified and some are myths. We´ll sort it out.

Why the tenant wants permanent residence

The most important reasons include the enrolment of children in the school or kindergarten in the given place. These institutions prefer children living in their immediate vicinity. Therefore, permanent residence concerns most often apartments or houses for families because the tenants are families with children. For these tenants, the reluctance of the landlord to enable the registration of permanent residence may be the reason for not choosing your apartment or the reason for premature termination of the rental agreement. The second common reason is the possibility of parking which is provided for a reduced fee to residents only. The reason may also be obtaining social benefits or housing allowances, however, in this case I don´t think that such tenants would be the ideal tenants we should choose for our property, at least not in Prague where there are enough tenants with sufficient income.

What danger can tenant’s permanent residence present to us

I´ll first start with what landlords are not in danger of. In spite of permanent residence, the landlord isn´t obliged to provide the tenant with alternative housing after the termination of the rental agreement, there is no legal basis for such a claim. The landlord doesn´t have to worry that the permanent residence couldn´t be terminated if the tenant didn´t terminate it by themselves. The landlord doesn´t have to worry either that the  execution of tenant’s property would affect the ownership of the landlord´s real estate, execution imposed on the tenant can only affect the equipment and furnishing of the landlord’s real estate which may be confiscated by mistake, however, there are precautionary steps that the landlord can take to prevent this.

How the landlord should ensure their equipment and furnishing isn´t confiscated in execution

If the executor accidentally confiscates the landlord’s equipment and furnishing, I recommend the following measures so that the landlord is convincingly able to prove their ownership and get it back:

  • in the handover protocol, always state the list of equipment and furnishing that is handed over to the tenant for use at the beginning of the rental (read how to properly hand over the property in the article here),
  • put a registration tag with the name of the landlord onto each piece of equipment and furnishing,
  • when purchasing equipment and furnishing, keep the receipts.

I´d just like to add that if the landlord exercises sufficient care when choosing a tenant, they won´t have to deal with anything like that.

Reporting and terminating permanent residence of the tenant

The tenant doesn´t need the landlord’s consent to register permanent residence, all they need is the rental agreement and one visit to the municipal office. The municipality will register the permanent residence even though it´s explicitly stated in the rental agreement that the tenant cannot register the permanent residence in the property. The landlord has no chance to prevent the registration of permanent residence. Tenants know this, however, they don´t want to go against the will of the landlord in most cases so even if they don´t need the landlord´s consent, they don´t register permanent residence in the property, either they come to terms with it or don´t choose to rent the property or terminate the rental agreement and move elsewhere.

After the rental is terminated, the landlord can cancel the permanent residence at the locally competent municipal office, unless the tenants do so by themselves. All the landlord needs is the proof of termination of the rental. It can be a rental agreement that indicates that the time of rental has already expired or it can be a rental termination agreement or a termination notice and a handover protocol.

The sublease of the property operates in a special regime. The sublessee can´t establish permanent residence without the written officially verified consent of the property owner.

How to ensure that the tenant cancels their permanent residence after the end of the rental

So that the landlord doesn´t have to waste time by going to the office and cancelling the tenant’s permanent residence, it´s possible to condition the return of the deposit by doing so only after the tenant proves that they have already registered their permanent residence at a different address.

In conclusion, I´d like to direct you to some other materials that will help you with the rental of the property: