When the tenant of a flat dies: transfer of the lease, belongings in the flat and eviction in Slovakia and Czechia

A landlord often learns of a tenant’s death from the neighbours, or only when the rent stops arriving. Furniture and personal belongings remain in the flat, and sometimes a relative who lived with the deceased. The natural reaction is to open the flat, remove the belongings and let it again. That step tends to be the riskiest of all: the deceased’s belongings form part of the estate, and the lease may have passed to someone else by operation of law. The procedure differs according to the type of lease and according to whether the flat is in Slovakia or in Czechia.

Slovakia: when the lease passes to members of the household

For a lease of a flat under the Civil Code, the statute itself determines the circle of persons to whom the lease passes:

Where the tenant dies and the flat is not held in joint tenancy by spouses, the tenants (joint tenants) become his children, grandchildren, parents, siblings, son-in-law and daughter-in-law who lived with him in a common household on the day of his death and who do not have a flat of their own.

— Section 706(1) of Act No. 40/1964 Coll. (unofficial English translation)

The lease also passes to a person who cared for the common household or was dependent on the tenant for maintenance, provided that person lived with the tenant in a common household for at least three years before the death and does not have a flat of his own. Where spouses held the flat in joint tenancy, the surviving spouse becomes the sole tenant (Section 707(1)). If the landlord doubts that the conditions were met, it may seek a court declaration that the lease did not pass; the claim must be brought within three months of the moment the landlord learned of the circumstances, and at the latest within three years of the tenant’s death (Section 706(2)). If nobody meeting the conditions lives in the flat, the lease passes to no one. Unlike Czech law, Slovak law does not provide for a lease of a flat to pass to the heirs, with the exception of a cooperative flat (Section 706(3)), which is why the commentaries proceed on the basis that the lease terminates on the tenant’s death.

A short-term lease is an exception. Act No. 98/2014 Coll. expressly excludes the application of Section 706 of the Civil Code (Section 10(2)), so a lease under that Act does not pass to relatives from the household. How a short-term lease comes to an end after the tenant’s death is not specifically addressed by the statute. The landlord should therefore agree a clear procedure in the lease for such a case, for instance a ground for notice and a method of handing over the flat.

The deceased’s belongings and rent arrears

Movable property in the flat forms part of the estate and it is for the court in the probate proceedings to decide to whom it will pass. The landlord may not sell it or throw it away. Where the flat has to be cleared before an heir is known, the court deals with the matter:

Where necessary, the court shall take urgent steps even without an application, in particular secure the estate, carry out an inventory on the spot, entrust items of personal use to the deceased’s spouse or another member of the household, arrange for the sale of items that cannot be kept without the risk of damage or disproportionate costs, or appoint an administrator of the estate or part of it.

— Section 179 of Act No. 161/2015 Coll. (unofficial English translation)

Securing the estate is carried out in particular by placing the property in custody or by sealing it in the deceased’s flat (Section 180(1)). The landlord should therefore contact the notary conducting the probate proceedings as a court commissioner as soon as possible and propose an inventory and the securing of the property, or the appointment of an administrator. Rent and service charges unpaid up to the tenant’s death are debts of the deceased. They have to be notified to the notary conducting the probate proceedings, and the heirs are liable for them up to the value of the estate they acquire (Section 470(1)). Where a deposit was agreed, its use and accounting are governed by the lease and, in the case of a short-term lease, by Section 5 of Act No. 98/2014 Coll.; the balance forms part of the estate.

Czechia: the lease passes to the heirs as well

Czech law is in some respects stricter for the landlord and in others clearer. The lease passes to a member of the household who lived in the flat on the day of death and does not have a flat of his own; where the person concerned is someone other than a spouse, partner, parent, sibling, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, child or grandchild, it passes only with the landlord’s consent (Section 2279(1) of Act No. 89/2012 Sb.). A lease passing in this way ends at the latest on the expiry of two years, with exceptions for persons over seventy and under eighteen (subsection 2). Where the lease passes to nobody in the household, it passes under Section 2282 of the Czech Civil Code to the heirs. The landlord may then terminate it without giving a reason, with a two-month notice period, within three months of learning of the death, of the fact that the lease did not pass to the household and of the identity of the heir or the administrator of the estate (Section 2283(1) of the Czech Act).

For the situation where the heir is not known, the Czech Act contains an express rule: if the heir is not known even six months after the tenant’s death, the landlord may clear the flat, whereby the lease terminates (Section 2284 of Act No. 89/2012 Sb.). The belongings from the flat must, however, be stored at the heir’s expense in a public warehouse or with another depositary, and may be sold only where the heir does not collect them without undue delay; the Slovak Civil Code contains no such rule.

How this will work under the new Civil Code

On 1 October 2026, the National Council of the Slovak Republic approved the new Slovak Civil Code, which will take effect on 1 July 2027. It regulates the passing of a lease of a flat on the tenant’s death differently from the Slovak rules we describe above:

• The lease will pass to members of the tenant’s household who lived with the tenant in the flat for at least one year before the death and do not have their own housing secured. Kinship is not decisive, so the lease may pass, for example, to a partner as well. In a joint tenancy by spouses, the surviving spouse remains the sole tenant.
• Anyone who wishes to continue the lease must notify the landlord in writing no later than the end of the third month after the tenant’s death. Otherwise the lease is deemed not to have passed. Until the flat is returned, the members of the household then pay rent and service charges.
• The landlord will be able to seek a court declaration that the lease did not pass only within three months of delivery of the notification.
• A procedure will be added for items left in the flat that do not belong to the landlord: a call to remove them, storage with a third party at the tenant’s expense and, after three months, sale. According to the explanatory memorandum, it may also be applied mutatis mutandis after the tenant’s death, but the Act does not say so expressly. The deceased’s belongings, however, form part of the estate, so the notary must still be contacted.

The exception for short-term leases will disappear together with Act No. 98/2014 Coll. For a lease concluded by 30 June 2027, in our interpretation, the passing of the lease would be assessed under the existing rules even if the tenant dies on or after 1 July 2027. However, there is no express transitional rule for this case.

The new Act requires the tenant to notify changes in the number of household members. In new leases, therefore, ask for a list of them and for it to be kept up to date. After the tenant’s death, record the date on which the notification of the passing of the lease was delivered; the time limit for an action runs from that date.

Status as of 22 October 2026: the act has been approved and was signed by the President on 20 October 2026, but has not yet been promulgated in the Collection of Laws. Until 30 June 2027, the rules described above in this article apply.

What to do first

Establish who lived in the flat and on what basis, document the condition of the flat and the meter readings, remove nothing from the flat and contact the notary conducting the probate proceedings. What happens next depends on whether the lease passed, to whom, and under which regime it was concluded; where the transfer is disputed, the court decides. We assist with this step and with the recovery of rent arrears as part of our recovery of rent and eviction service, in Slovakia and in Czechia alike. So that the lease provides for such a situation in advance, we prepare it as part of our lease of a flat or house service; the question on short-term leases of flats is also relevant here.