What will change for leases of business premises under the new Civil Code bill?

Leases of offices, business units and warehouses are among the longest contracts a business signs, and they often run beyond the anticipated effective date of the new Civil Code. The government bill before the National Council as parliamentary print 1312 changes this very area more substantially than might appear. This overview is based on the wording submitted to the National Council. On 15 September 2026 the Constitutional Law Committee recommended that the bill be passed as amended, and the amendments bring only legislative-technical adjustments and clarifications to the rules described here. The final wording will be decided by the plenary. Once passed, the sections of the bill will be renumbered, which is why we cite the numbering of print 1312.

The position today

Leases of non-residential premises are governed by Act No. 116/1990 Zb. The contract must be in writing and must state the subject and purpose of the lease, the amount of the rent and its due date, the method of payment and, for a fixed-term lease, the period for which it is concluded. The sanction for a defect is strict:

If the contract does not contain the particulars under subsection 3, it is invalid.

— Section 3(4) of Act No. 116/1990 Zb. (unofficial English translation)

Rent is set by agreement (Section 7) and the statute contains no specific regulation of indexation clauses. A fixed-term lease may be terminated before the agreed period expires on the grounds listed in Section 9, and an open-ended lease may be terminated without stating a reason unless otherwise agreed (Section 10). The notice period is three months unless otherwise agreed, and runs from the first day of the month following delivery of the notice (Section 12).

What the new code proposes

The repealing provision of the bill abolishes Act No. 116/1990 Zb. In place of the lease of non-residential premises it introduces the lease of business premises, tied not to the building classification of the space but to the purpose of the lease: it is a lease of a building, part of it or other premises where the purpose is the tenant’s business or professional activity, or where the purpose of the lease relates to them (Section 948 of the bill). The most important changes for businesses:

• Form. The bill also contemplates a contract not concluded in writing. The landlord then issues, at the tenant’s request, a written confirmation that it has been concluded (Section 949 of the bill). We nevertheless recommend a written contract, because without one the agreed terms are hard to litigate.
• Indexation clause. Where the parties agree to increase the rent by year-on-year inflation, the rate of inflation measured by the consumer price index is decisive. The increased rent is payable from the month following delivery of a notice, which must state the inflation figure. If the landlord fails to give notice of the increase by the end of the calendar year, the right to the increased rent for that year lapses (Section 885 of the bill).
• Monetary deposit and lien. The bill expressly regulates the monetary deposit, its replenishment, return and set-off. Failure to replenish the deposit after it has been drawn on is a gross breach of obligations. The statutory ceiling on the amount of the deposit applies only to residential leases. The landlord also has a lien over the tenant’s movable things in the leased premises (Sections 881 to 884 of the bill).
• Termination. An open-ended lease may be terminated without stating a reason. For a lease of immovable property the notice period is two months, and any reason required must be stated and described, failing which the notice is disregarded (Section 890 of the bill).
• Customer base. The parties may agree that, where the landlord gives notice, the tenant is entitled to compensation for the benefit the landlord or a new tenant obtains by taking over the customers built up by the departing tenant. This does not apply where notice is given for the tenant’s breach of obligations, and the right must be asserted within three months of the end of the lease (Section 952 of the bill).
• Signage. The tenant may, with the landlord’s consent, put up signage on the premises and on the building. If the landlord does not object within the prescribed period after being notified of the size, shape and position of the signage, consent is deemed given (Section 950 of the bill).

Where the business premises consist of a building or part of one, the general rules on leases of buildings are also to apply, and to a lease of part of a building mutatis mutandis (Section 896 of the bill). They include, for instance, rules on maintenance and modernisation measures and on notifying them.

What about leases already running

A lease is a contractual relationship, so the bill’s basic transitional rule would apply to it: relationships arising before the effective date are governed by the existing legislation unless the parties agree in writing to move under the new statute (Sections 1889(3) and (4) of the bill). We discuss it in more detail in our answer on contracts concluded before the new code takes effect. A lease signed today must therefore meet the requirements of Act No. 116/1990 Zb., failing which it risks invalidity regardless of what arrives after 2027.

We prepare or review a lease under the law in force through non-residential premises leases. If you want to know which of your leases and other long-term contracts the change will affect, we will map them as part of preparation for the new Civil Code.