Katastr nemovitostí

Under Czech law

The cadastre is governed by the Cadastral Act (katastrální zákon, Act No. 256/2013 Sb.). It is a public register — anyone can inspect entries and obtain extracts (výpis z listu vlastnictví). Rights in rem to registered property (ownership, mortgages, easements, pre-emption rights) are created by vklad: registration with constitutive effect (§ 11), backdated to the moment the application reached the cadastral office. The material publicity principle of § 980–§ 986 of the Civil Code protects good-faith buyers who rely on the register — with the counterweight that true owners must guard their entries (the cadastre notifies owners of incoming filings, and a "plomba" seal marks pending proceedings).

The registration fee for a vklad application is 2 000 Kč. The office has a statutory review scope and a waiting period before permitting the entry; a typical clean filing completes in roughly a month.

A practical example

A buyer pays a seller directly on signing, skipping escrow "to save costs". Before the cadastre registers the transfer, a creditor''s execution lien lands on the property — filed one day earlier. The lien has priority; the buyer now owns a property burdened by someone else''s debt and must chase the seller for the money. Escrow tied to clean registration exists precisely for this.

When you need a lawyer

Reading an extract before buying (liens, easements, seals, mismatched owners), drafting the vklad application so it is not returned for defects, and reacting fast when a plomba appears on your property that you did not cause — the register''s speed is exactly why bad filings must be opposed immediately.