Where to Park Your Car

In our previous articles we have briefly described the process of acquisition of a house or a flat in which you could live in the Czech Republic. We have also mentioned the conditions under which you can let a flat and explained what the “co-operative flat” actually means. We assume that most of you have cars and would like to solve not only the question where to live but also where to park your car. As you will find out below there are several possibilities (apart from the one that you hope to be lucky and find some parking place in front of your entrance door every evening at least). We would always recommend deciding this question and choosing the real property at once.

At first we can distinguish between “parking places” and “garages”. Generally the garage represents a separate closed space where the car or several cars are parked. Garages usually require registration in the Cadastral Register. On the other hand parking places usually represent a determined part of an open space close to the building you live in. In particular case actual description may differ.

And what is the difference from legal point of view? Namely the title based on which you own, co-own or use the garage or a parking place. It is very important to distinguish the type of parking in contracts you enter into concerning acquisition of the parking place or a garage. The differences must be taken into account. There are namely the following possibilities:

1. You can purchase a garage which represents a kind of a real property, separate building, which must be registered in the Cadastral Register. In such a case standard purchase contract concerning the garage is concluded and filed with relevant Cadastral Office for registration. You become the owner of the garage.

2. It is possible to determine one of the units in a block of flats as a non-residential unit which will serve as a garage. In such a unit several separate parking places can be marked. In case you are interested in one of such parking places in the non-residential unit, co-ownership share on the non-residential unit will be transferred based on a purchase contract. In the purchase contract there must be also mentioned that sole usage of the parking place in question is connected with the ownership of the transferred co-ownership share on the non-residential unit. You become the co-owner of the non-residential unit – garage – and can solely use the parking place in it.

This way is very popular these days but there is one inconvenience. Since you acquire a co-ownership share on a non-residential unit, the seller, being one of the co-owners of the non-residential unit, should offer his share to all other co-owners of the non-residential unit first. According to the Czech Law the other co-owners have the right of first refusal as far as any transfer of a co-ownership share is concerned. Only in case none of the other co-owners accepts the offer the seller is fully entitled to sell the co-ownership share to you.

3. Another possibility is to determine several parking places in so called common parts of the building (block of flats). All the owners of units in the building are the co-owners of common parts of the building where the parking places are situated. Their co-ownership shares correspond to the area covered by the unit in their ownership. In such a case no separate non-residential unit is determined as a garage in the building. This way is possible for you only in case you purchase a flat or any other unit in the building and in the purchase contract there is also mentioned that you have the right to solely use common parts of the building corresponding to the parking place in question. You are the owner of the flat or another unit in the building, the co-owner of common parts of the building and can solely use the common parts corresponding to the parking place.

4. Finally some common parts of the building (where the parking places are situated) can be determined for sole usage of the owners of some units in the building (not all owners, apart from the above mentioned solution). You have to own a flat or any other unit in the building again so that this way was applicable for you. We can not recommend this solution since it influences standard co-ownership shares on common parts of the building and the land under the building connected with particular units in the building and may cause problems in cadastral procedures.

Based on the above mentioned we would highly recommend to check actual legal status of each garage or a parking place you may be offered. Based on particular situation proper specification must be used in the purchase contract otherwise the contract can not be registered by the Cadastral Office. We would also like to point out that the garage or a parking place are not parts or accessories of buildings, flats or other units. In case you do not explicitly mention them in the contract you will not become their owner/user especially as far as a garage (point 1) or a co-ownership share on a non-residential unit (point 2) are concerned.