Czech landlord did not hand over the flat: 2026 steps

The movers are outside, the lease has started and the landlord says the old tenant needs another week. Or you receive keys, but the apartment has no water, is full of belongings or is materially different from what was promised. Do not reduce all of these situations to “give me my deposit back.” First prove the contract, missed handover, access and condition; then choose whether you still want the flat or need an exit, refund and documented loss.

Start with what happened at the handover

• No one arrived: record the agreed place and time, your attendance, calls and a witness, then offer a very short replacement slot in writing.
• The landlord has no keys: do not accept “the old tenant will call you”; the contracting landlord remains responsible for the promised access.
• The old tenant or belongings remain: access to the building is not delivery of the contracted apartment for your use.
• You received only some keys: identify the missing apartment, building, mailbox, cellar, garage, fob or remote and the resulting obstacle.
• You entered, but the flat is unusable or different: preserve the condition before moving anything and choose the Section 2244 move-in branch promptly.
• The advertiser disappeared or denies authority: stop treating this only as a handover delay and use the rental-fraud response.

Confirm that there is a lease to perform

Preserve the complete lease and amendments, both parties’ signatures or evidence of another valid formation route, the exact apartment, effective date, agreed handover time and every payment. Check whether the person who promised delivery is the owner or an authorised landlord. A public cadastre check helps identify the registered owner, but authority can also arise in another lawful way and must be proved separately.

A draft signed only by the applicant, a reservation agreement and a signed lease are not interchangeable. If the landlord never signed but you were already allowed to use the home, the form analysis may differ; use the oral and unsigned lease guide. If only reservation money was paid and no lease was concluded, start with the reservation refund guide.

When should the apartment have been accessible?

Civil Code Section 2242 starts with the agreed date. If the parties did not agree when the landlord would make a move-in-ready apartment accessible, the statutory fallback is the first day of the month after the contract became effective. The apartment is accessible when the tenant has received the keys and nothing prevents access. A promise to send keys later, a building-entry fob without the apartment key or a former occupant blocking possession does not satisfy that definition.

Do not confuse the contract’s signature date, effective date, lease period, rent period and handover appointment. Put all five on one timeline. If the agreed handover is before the lease period, record whether early access was a binding term or merely a proposed appointment; if it is after the stated start, ask why rent should run before access.

Keys and habitability are different tests

Section 2243 asks whether the apartment matches the contract. If the contract is silent, it should be clean, in a condition usually considered good and supplied with the necessary services. Receiving keys proves neither water, heat, safety nor the promised vacant condition. Conversely, a repairable cosmetic issue does not automatically mean that no apartment was handed over.

Section 2242 allows the parties to agree expressly that a flat unfit for habitation will be delivered, but only with special rights and duties arising from that condition, including the amount and payment of necessary adaptation costs. A last-minute “take it as it is” message is not the same as that complete agreement.

Choose the Section 2244 branch immediately

• Refuse to move in: state the observable obstacle, preserve the flat and keys as offered, demand a cure date and avoid conduct that suggests you accepted normal use.
• Move in despite the defect: state without undue delay that you require the contract to be performed, list the promised condition and reserve the rent reduction.
• Accept a written delayed-handover deal: set the exact new date, rent-free period, temporary-housing contribution, unfinished work, access, automatic fallback and refund mechanics.
• Seek an exit: do not merely announce “I cancel.” Use the contract and general delay/breach rules with Czech advice so the document actually ends the lease and addresses payments.

Section 2244’s special protection does not apply in the same way if the tenant knew the condition when signing, or failed to inspect after a timely and proper invitation. That exception concerns the known condition; it does not make a landlord’s later failure to provide any keys irrelevant. Preserve the advert, viewing photographs, written promises and what changed after signing.

What happens to rent?

Under Section 2245, a tenant who validly uses the right not to move into a defective apartment does not owe rent while the defect continues. A tenant who moves in may claim a reasonable reduction until the landlord removes it; the same applies to a material defect in related services. State the legal and factual basis in writing rather than silently skipping a payment.

A same-day handover-failure record

Attach the lease page with the date, your arrival evidence, exterior and lawful interior photographs, key inventory, names of everyone present and a factual chronology. Do not secretly enter, change locks or remove the former occupant’s belongings. A civil handover breach does not authorise self-help against another person in possession.

If you still want the apartment

• Demand a specific performance date and identify everything required for complete access and habitation.
• Give access for agreed corrective work without signing that the original handover succeeded.
• Require a signed supplement for a new date, rent treatment, temporary accommodation and unfinished items.
• Make any acceptance of partial keys or a defective flat expressly subject to the listed reservations.
• Do not surrender your current accommodation until the replacement date and authority are credible.

A vague promise that “it will be ready soon” shifts all timing risk to the tenant. If the landlord needs the prior tenant, contractor, owner or building manager to cooperate, that is an internal delivery problem unless your agreement validly puts a defined part elsewhere. Require one accountable contact and one written plan.

If you need to exit

First seek a signed ending agreement that identifies the lease, end date, no handover, return of each payment, deadline, account, interest or disputed loss and whether any claim is preserved. Do not sign a global “no further claims” clause before hotel, storage, movers or commission consequences are known.

If agreement fails, general Civil Code rules on substantial or non-substantial delay, an additional reasonable period and withdrawal may become relevant. Classification, timing and the required notice are fact-sensitive, and leases involve continuing performance. Obtain Czech legal review before relying on withdrawal, especially if the landlord says delivery is only postponed. Keep searching for a replacement while preserving the position; do not let legal terminology create avoidable homelessness.

Refunds and damages need separate proof

• Prepaid rent and services: identify the inaccessible period and what was actually provided.
• Security: demand return from the party holding it, subject to any identified valid claim and the lease-ending document.
• Reservation and commission: analyse the separate agreement, promised service and recipient rather than charging both automatically to the landlord.
• Emergency accommodation: preserve necessity, dates, occupants, reasonable price and why a cheaper safe option was unavailable.
• Movers and storage: keep the original booking, failed delivery evidence, cancellation or second-trip invoice and mitigation attempts.
• Other loss: prove the amount and causal link; inconvenience or a self-created upgrade is not automatically recoverable damage.

Section 2913 governs damage caused by breach of a contractual duty, but a receipt alone does not prove entitlement. Preserve the breached promise, actual loss, causal link and reasonable steps taken to limit the loss. Ask the landlord to approve urgent spending where possible without sacrificing safety. Keep a daily ledger rather than presenting one unexplained total later.

When the facts suggest fraud instead of delay

Escalate immediately if the supposed owner denies the lease, the unit is not the viewed home, several applicants arrive with contracts, the recipient identity conflicts with the documents or every contact disappears after payment. Contact the bank promptly, preserve the listing and messages, report to the platform and use the Czech rental-scam evidence and reporting path. A genuine owner’s late contractor is a different case from fabricated authority.

Evidence for urgent legal review

• Lease, amendments, reservation and agency agreements, advert and viewing evidence.
• Owner or representative authority, cadastre result and every identity inconsistency.
• Timeline of signature, effectiveness, lease start, rent start and promised handover.
• All payments with recipient accounts, references, invoices and stated purposes.
• Attendance, witness, calls, photographs, missing-key inventory and observed obstacles.
• Every cure promise, additional deadline, proposed supplement and refusal.
• Replacement housing, movers, storage and mitigation evidence, item by item.