Yes. A tenant of a cooperative apartment who is a member of the cooperative is entitled to have the apartment transferred into ownership, and the cooperative must conclude an agreement with them within two years of the request; after that period they may apply to the court. The price you pay the cooperative is the outstanding investment loan attributable to the apartment, together with its accessories. You can make the request only once the transfer of membership has taken effect in relation to the cooperative.
By buying a cooperative apartment you acquired membership rights and duties in a housing cooperative and, with them, the tenancy of the apartment. The cooperative remains the owner and your name will not appear on the title sheet. Many buyers count on obtaining the apartment into individual ownership later and ask whether they are entitled to it, by when the cooperative must act and what it will cost them. The answers are given by the Act on Ownership of Flats and Non-Residential Premises.
The entitlement of a member who is the tenant
A tenant of a cooperative apartment who is a member of the housing cooperative is entitled to have ownership transferred (Section 28 of Act No. 182/1993 Coll.). Once the request has been made, the cooperative has a statutory period in which to conclude the agreement:
[…] housing cooperatives are obliged to conclude with the tenant of a flat or garage, or with the tenant of a studio, an agreement transferring ownership of the flat, garage or studio within two years of the day on which the tenant requests the transfer of ownership of the flat, garage or studio. After that period has expired, the tenant may apply to the court to order performance of that duty.
— Section 29(2) of Act No. 182/1993 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
The law exempts certain categories of flat from that duty, for example flats in family houses or flats in an inner spa area and in the territory of national parks (Section 29(3)). If the building stands in such an area, the exemption should be checked before the purchase.
When you can make the request
What matters is when you became a member. Membership rights and duties pass to the acquirer in relation to the cooperative upon submission of the membership transfer agreement to the cooperative, or on a later date specified in the agreement (Section 230 of the Commercial Code). Only from that moment are you, for the cooperative, a member and tenant who can request the transfer.
If the previous member already requested a transfer, check with the cooperative how it dealt with that request and whether it records it as applying to you as well. It is safer to submit your own written request after the transfer of membership, with a record of the date of delivery from which the two-year period will run.
What you pay the cooperative
The price on a transfer from a cooperative is not negotiated by reference to the market. The law ties it to the loan from which the building was constructed:
Where a flat or studio is transferred from the ownership of a housing cooperative into the ownership of a member of the housing cooperative who is its tenant, the member is obliged to pay the housing cooperative, as the price of the flat, the outstanding investment loan with its accessories attributable to that flat. On transfer of ownership of a cooperative flat, the member’s entitlement to the return of the membership contribution ceases.
— Section 17(7) of Act No. 182/1993 Coll. (unofficial English translation)
The outstanding part of the loan, often referred to in advertisements as the annuity, becomes the price of the apartment on transfer into ownership. If you want to own the apartment later, you will pay two sums: one to the seller for the membership rights and then the outstanding loan to the cooperative. In assessing whether the price offered is reasonable, you need both figures in front of you. It also follows from the law that the transfer of the apartment extinguishes the entitlement to the return of the membership contribution, so do not count on it as a reserve.
What follows the agreement
The agreement with the cooperative is an agreement transferring ownership of a flat under the Act on Ownership of Flats. Ownership of property transferred by agreement is, however, acquired only upon registration in the cadastre (Section 133(2) of the Civil Code), so signing the agreement with the cooperative does not yet make you the owner. The required elements of an agreement transferring a flat under the Act on Ownership of Flats are discussed, using a new building as an example, in the required elements of a flat transfer agreement. The transfer of the apartment also involves the share in the land beneath the building, which is discussed in land beneath a block of flats and adjoining land.
What to do
If you are still only buying the cooperative apartment, find out from the cooperative before signing what the outstanding loan on the apartment is, whether the cooperative carries out transfers into ownership in the building, and whether a request has been made for the apartment. Those details belong in the membership rights transfer agreement and in your own calculation. Once the transfer of membership has taken effect, submit your own written request and keep proof of its delivery. We handle the checks at the cooperative, the membership rights transfer agreement and the subsequent steps as part of our housing cooperative interest transfer service; the differences compared with an apartment held in ownership are summarised in buying a cooperative apartment.
This answer provides general information on the law as at 12 September 2026. It does not constitute legal services or replace an assessment of an individual case. The details of your situation may differ. Book a consultation to discuss them.
