A new amendment to Act No. 265/1992 Coll., On the Registration of Ownership Rights and Other Rights to Property (in Czech: Zákon o zápisech vlastnických a jiných věcných práv k nemovitostem) came into force, effective from 1 January 2012. The most important changes are:

Statutory form applications

The amendment introduces an obligation to submit applications for the registration of rights to the Real Estate Register on specified forms. Until 31 December 2012 the specified forms for the registrations will be voluntary (but recommended). From 1 January 2013, the forms will be mandatory.

Increase of the administrative fees

The administrative fee for the application of the registration of any right has been increased from CZK 500 to CZK 1000 per application.

Commencement of the proceedings

Commencement of the registration proceedings is linked to a specific moment of the delivery of the application, it means that the register will mark the specific hour and minute of the application (rather than the day of delivery of the application as was the case so far). This amendment, therefore, enables a person to safety submit subsequent (connected) applications in one day.

Note of disputability

The amendment introduces a completely new concept - the note of disputability (in Czech "poznámka spornosti") (the "Note"). The Note is recorded in the event that there is a dispute regarding the ownership right to the property. The Note should not necessarily result in the suspension of any registration proceedings. A Note recorded:

  1. prior to the submission of an application to initiate proceedings for the registration of a right, will not result in the suspension of the proceedings;
  2. after the submission of the application will result in the suspension of the proceedings, unless the parties of the proceedings agree to the continuation of the registration proceedings.

If the Cadastral Authority has permitted the registration and the court makes a decision that is not consistent with the new registration, the Cadastral Authority will delete the permitted registration and all subsequent registrations and follow the court's decision.

The purpose of the Note is to restrict the impact of the claims filed which aim to suspend registration proceedings or harm the other party and further restrict the owner from disposing with the property for a long time. At the same time the Note provides a warning to a potential buyer of any possible issue regarding the acquisition of the property.

Simplification of the applications

Under the amendment it is no longer necessary to submit the extract from the Commercial Register and the acquisition title evidencing the right to dispose of the property that was acquired prior to 1 January 1993 with the application.

Action against a negative decision

The only defence against the decision refusing the registration is an action according to Section V. of the Civil Procedure Code. The period for filling the action has been reduced from 60 days to 30 days. During the 30-days period any other registration proceedings are suspended. If an action is filed, all registration proceedings regarding this property are suspended until a legally effective decision of the court concerning the filed action is delivered to the Cadastral Authority. 

Deletion of mortgages

Subject to the fulfilment of certain technical formalities, very old mortgages that were taken over to the Real Estate Register from former land registers can be now deleted.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

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The original publication date for this article was 13/01/2012.