Apartment Rules and Regulations in Prague

22. 9. 2017

If you are going to be renting or purchasing an apartment in Prague, you will need to get acquainted with the Apartment Rules and Regulations. The purpose of these rules is to make sure that the relationship between the landlords and apartment owners/tenants is calm and friendly. The rules also protect the rights and interests of the landlords.

Below is a list of key rules, that residents should follow:

1. Use of the apartment
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Under no circumstances should the apartment unit be used for a purpose other than for which it was approved. Apartments may not be used for commercial or other purposes that are illegal or anyhow harmful to the apartment building as a whole. In general, any use of the apartment that is inconsistent with its residential purpose, is forbidden.

2. Regular payments
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Monthly payments for the maintenance and cleaning of the apartment building are obligatory and are paid according to the repayment schedule. Timely payment is a duty of each individual owner and can be punished.

3. Disturbance of peace
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Owners, tenants and people living with them are forbidden to:
- Use any loud devices that disturb the overall peace in the apartment building during weekdays from 20:00 – 8:00 (e.g. washing machine).
- Disturb the peace in the apartment with the use of machines, building tools or other loud equipment during weekends and during weekdays from the time of 18:00 – 9:00.

In general, owners, tenants, people living with them and any visitors in the apartment building are required to keep the noise disturbance to a minimum during weekdays from 22:00 – 6:00, during weekends and holidays from 23:00 – 9:00.

4. Dangerous activities
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- Residents should do everything in their power to prevent a fire, which means that any items that can ignite by themselves cannot be stored anywhere in the building.
- Items, especially flamboyant items such as cigarettes, matches or fireworks cannot be thrown out of windows, balconies or other common spaces.
- If the resident of the apartment is unavailable and cannot be reached, in the case of a dangerous situation that needs to be prevented or dealt with, entrance to the apartment by force is at the expense of the owner of the apartment. This can be avoided by duplicate keys. A designated person may be entrusted with duplicate keys to a certain unit after receiving consent from the owner of the apartment unit.
- The owner of the unit also bears responsibility for any damage to common spaces caused by the owner himself, a member of his household, tenants or guests.
- Any repairs or modifications to the structure of the unit complies with the Building Act and the owner may not carry out any repairs or modifications without the consent of relevant authorities.
- For safety reasons, it is forbidden to leave items in hallways, stairways and any other escape routes.

5. Waste
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Waste, garbage boxes or bags, shoes, carpets, etc. may not be stored in hallways, stairways or other common areas. All waste must be dry and carefully packed in plastic bags before it is placed in a garbage container. Excessive waste, hazardous waste, electronic waste, etc. may not be place in garbage containers. Furthermore, cloths, mops, carpets, etc., may not be cleaned from windows, balconies and terraces.

6. Outside appearance
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- No banners, posters, billboards or advertisements may be placed in common areas and on the exterior of the building without the prior written consent of the landlord.
- No shades, screens, blinds, air-conditioning units, smoke chimneys, radio or television antennas can hang from the building without prior written consent of the landlord.
- No clothes, bed linen or other things should hang or be placed in windows, balconies or other parts of the building so that they are directly visible from outside. Items should not be stored on balconies.
- The exterior appearance of the whole building must under no circumstances be altered including benches and other appliances located in common areas, without the prior written consent of the landlord.

7. Parking and garages
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- Residents can only use the parking space that is assigned to their apartment.
- Vehicles cannot be washed in these parking spaces. Furthermore, no repairs should be carried out anywhere in the premises of the apartment building.
- No vehicles may park on escape routes or in other areas, which are not marked as parking spaces.
- Parking garages may only be used for motor vehicles.
- At the request of the landlord, the user of the parking garage is obliged to provide information about the parked vehicle, namely brand and model, license plate and colour.

8. Storage rooms and cellar
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As for rules concerning the cellar, no hazardous substances or materials are allowed to be stored in these rooms or cellars. The alleyways in the cellars should not be blocked by any items and should remain clean.

9. Bicycles and strollers
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Bicycles, strollers, carts, etc., can be stored in the cellar or in a common room reserved for that purpose. It is forbidden to store bicycles, strollers, carts and similar objects, even for a short time, in corridors, staircases, entrance areas to buildings, and where such objects could cause an injury or block the fire escape route.

10. Moving
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It is the responsibility of each owner to notify the landlord of any moving in or moving out of the building. Moving must take place between the hours of 8:00 and 18:00. The owner has to ensure that the moving does not damage any common areas. In the case of damages, the owner is obliged to fix them at his/her own expense.

11. Pets
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According to the law in the Czech Republic, tenants have the right to have pets in the apartment if the pet does not cause inconvenience to the landlord or other residents. If the pet calls for increased costs of maintenance in common areas of the building, the tenant will pay the owner for these costs.

The pet’s owner is responsible for cleaning up after the animal. All dogs must be kept on a leash and be under permanent control when moving around in a common space. If the landlord, on the basis of testimony of several residents of the building, recognizes that the pet bothers other residents, then pet must be removed from the building within 15 days after the written notification.

12. Safety
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Residents must not leave the entrance door to the building open or in an open position. They also musn’t allow any suppliers, messengers, courier companies, or other people to do the same for fire safety reasons. It is imperative that residents of the building do not open the door to people they do not know through the electric door entry system. At the same time, the residents must not allow strangers to enter the building simultaneously as they are entering. Furthermore, residents, who lose their keys or electronic input chip (or other device allowing residents to enter the building) are obliged to notify the landlord immediately.