On 12 June 2024 , the Government approved an amendment to Act No. 99/1963 Coll., the Code of Civil Procedure, which is to provide landlords with to make it easier to evict former tenants by means of an eviction order.
According to Minister Pavel Blažek, the amendment aims to simplify the process of evicting properties and reduce the risk of their long-term unauthorized use without legal title. Landlords will thus have a more effective tool in the eviction order to protect their rights and property, thanks to which they will be able to regain the use of their properties more quickly. In practice, this should lead to greater flexibility in the rental housing market and, in economic theory, the reduced riskiness of the rental relationship should be reflected in the price of rent, with landlords taking less risk of long-term foreclosure of their property and loss of income.
It is worth recalling that under the current legislation, landlords have only limited possibilities to defend themselves against unauthorised use of their property. If the former tenant continues to stay in the apartment after the end of the lease, either by expiry of the lease term or by notice, the only option to evict him is a so-called eviction action. However, court proceedings can take many months or years in such cases , where the landlord has no rental income and often has to pay utility and service costs. Any attempt to evict an unauthorised occupier of a flat on your own may be considered a criminal offence of breach of the right to liberty. Landlords are thus often forced to suffer this injustice for a long time. The proposed eviction order is intended to help resolve this bleak situation and speed up the eviction process.
According to the amendment, the issuance of an eviction order will be decided in a simplified procedure on the basis of an application by the plaintiff (landlord). Three conditions will have to be met for the application to be filed. First, the claimant must be the owner of the leased property. Secondly, the lease relationship has already ended at the time of filing the application and the tenant does not have a valid legal title to use the property. Thirdly , the landlord must give written notice to the former tenant to vacate the property at least 14 days before the application is lodged. It can be assumed that these facts can in practice be evidenced in particular by an extract from the Land Registry, a lease agreement showing that the lease period has expired, or a notice of termination of the lease including a confirmation of its delivery, and the notice to vacate itself with a confirmation of delivery.
The court will then be able to issue an eviction order on the basis of the application and the evidence submitted, requiring the former tenant to vacate the property and pay the costs of the proceedings within 15 days of the service of the order. As in the case of a payment order, the court will be able to decide without a hearing. The defendant will have the right to oppose the eviction order, which will annul it and the court will order a hearing as in the case of an action for eviction.
Although this legislative initiative and the effort to simplify the eviction process can be welcomed, the importance of this newly promoted institute cannot be overestimated. Simply by filing an objection, landlords will be placed in the same disadvantageous situation that already prevails in the legal system and will be referred to lengthy court proceedings. The question is whether the proposal should not have been a little more ambitious in this respect. It will also be interesting to see whether and, if necessary, what changes to it will be made in the legislative process, and whether the eviction order will eventually be implemented in the Czech legal system.
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or guidance for any particular case.