Legal Q&A · 11

Ownership, Land & Lease — questions and answers.

20 answered questions on a subject we handle every day. Find related services in the catalogue: Ownership, Land & Lease.

Answered by , Czech and Slovak attorney, admitted to the Slovak and Czech Bars (SAK 300422 · ČAK 19654).

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Questions about Ownership, Land & Lease

  1. Part of our land is being expropriated for a road. What happens to compensation and encumbrances? On the date the decision becomes final, ownership passes to the expropriating party and security rights, including enforcement and tax security rights, easements other than statutory easements, rights of pre-emption with proprietary effect and the land tenancy end. The Land Register deletes these rights. If you disagree with the compensation amount, you must bring a claim within 30 days of finality, and a missed deadline cannot be excused.
  2. Our company is buying agricultural land. What restrictions apply today? The familiar restrictions, mandatory publication of an offer, three years of farming in the municipality and priority for local buyers, no longer apply. In judgment PL. ÚS 20/2014 of 14 November 2018, the Constitutional Court declared them unconstitutional, and the Act no longer contains them. Obstacles remain, however: pre-emption rights, common-property rules and whether the plot qualifies as agricultural land under the Act.
  3. We are selling a share in an urbarial land community. Must we offer it to the other shareholders first? Yes, when transferring to a third party. The Land Communities Act requires the owner of a share to offer it to the other owners of shares in the common property; the offer may be made through the committee. Only if they express no interest may the share be transferred to a third party. The general right of pre-emption does not apply to transfers between co-owners. Transferring a share in only some of the plots forming common property is prohibited altogether.
  4. An investor wants to buy building land from an urbarial land community. What is the procedure? Through a resolution of the assembly, not through individual shareholders. A newly created plot may be separated from land forming common property only on the basis of a decision by the co-owners at the assembly, and the separated part ceases to be common property only upon registration in the Land Register. The law prohibits transferring a share in only some of the plots forming common property, so bypassing the assembly by approaching shareholders directly will not lead to a valid registration.
  5. We are creating an easement for utilities. How should it be surveyed? The scope of each right must be definite. If an easement burdens only part of a plot, that part must be delineated by a survey plan. Installation of a utility may be limited to a surveyed strip, while access for maintenance may cover the whole clearly identified plot. That difference is not in itself a defect: the agreement must clearly distinguish the individual rights and define their spatial and substantive scope.
  6. We are dividing land using a survey plan. Do all co-owners need to consent? It depends on what the survey plan is intended to achieve. The plan itself is a technical document and recording it does not change rights. However, if it creates a new parcel from parts subject to different legal interests, it can be recorded only together with registration of ownership of all those parts. A legal act is then needed, and all co-owners are jointly and severally entitled and bound by legal acts concerning the jointly owned property.
  7. A co-owner refuses to sell. Can co-ownership be ended against their wishes? Yes. If no agreement is reached, the court terminates and settles co-ownership on the application of any co-owner. It follows an order: first it considers whether the property can feasibly be divided; if not, it awards the property to one or more co-owners against reasonable compensation; if nobody wants it, it orders a sale and divides the proceeds according to shares. An agreement terminating and settling co-ownership of immovable property must be in writing.
  8. A co-ownership share is mortgaged. Can the co-ownership still be settled? Yes, but settlement does not remove the encumbrances. The law expressly states that ending and settling co-ownership cannot prejudice persons holding rights over the property. The bank’s mortgage therefore does not disappear on settlement and continues to burden the property given as security. It must be dealt with separately with the creditor, usually before signing the agreement.
  9. We each own half a house. Can it be divided into two separate flats? Yes, if the building’s technical layout allows it. Undivided shares in the whole house are replaced by separate flats, each carrying a co-ownership share in the common parts, facilities and land. The agreement must meet the requirements of the Flat Ownership Act, and ownership is acquired only upon registration in the Land Register. A house with no more than three flats is also exempt from the obligation to arrange building management.
  10. We are creating an easement over land with several co-owners. Who has to sign? All co-owners. An easement is created by agreement by the owner of the property, and all co-owners are jointly and severally entitled and bound by legal acts concerning jointly owned property. A majority decision, sufficient for managing jointly owned property, is not enough here. Only one agreement may be attached to a registration application, so splitting the arrangement into separate agreements with individual co-owners complicates the proceedings.
  11. Two title sheets name different owners of the same land. How is this resolved? It depends on the duplication. If the entries are merely technically duplicated and both sheets show the same owners, the cadastre reconciles them through a correction record. If different people claim the land, all affected parties must agree a solution for registration, or ownership must be determined in court. The cadastre never chooses for itself which title sheet is correct.
  12. An old lifetime use easement remains on the title record. How do we remove it? It depends on whether the easement still legally exists. Lifetime use is a personal right and ends no later than the beneficiary’s death; an application for an entry by record supported by a death certificate is then sufficient. While the beneficiary is alive, the easement continues even without actual use and can generally be removed only by an agreement terminating it, registered in the Land Register by a constitutive entry.
  13. The land has no title sheet. Who owns it, and how can I acquire it? Land without a title sheet still has an owner. Unregistered land formerly held as public property passed to municipalities within built-up areas and remained state-owned outside them, administered by the Slovak Land Fund. The Fund only administers land of unidentified owners. Ownership can be acquired or resolved by purchase from the municipality or state, proving title in court or confirmation of acquisitive prescription.
  14. We want to divide land among our children. When will the Land Register refuse subdivision under the anti-fragmentation rules? The Land Register refuses registration if subdivision outside a municipality’s built-up area would create agricultural land smaller than 3,000 m² or forest land smaller than 5,000 m². A state levy applies to parts above those minimums but below 20,000 m². Dividing land among children therefore depends on designing compliant parts, using statutory exceptions, or one child taking the land and paying out the others.
  15. A cooperative farms our land without an agreement. How do we get it back for our own use? If the land is used without an agreement, serve the cooperative with a written demand for its return. It must return it within 30 days after harvesting, or by year-end if no crop was planted. If the land is inaccessible or cannot be used rationally, as is typical for shares in the middle of a cultivated field, request allocation of substitute subleased land under Section 12a. If the cooperative does not conclude an agreement within 60 days, the district office decides on creation of the sublease. Beware of inaction: an owner’s silence can create both a tenancy and a right of use.
  16. What rent should we receive for agricultural land, and what is the usual rent figure? For agricultural land leased to a business, the statutory minimum is 3% of its officially assessed value. The usual rent figure reflects local prices: district offices publish the average of actual agreed rents for each cadastral area by 30 June annually, in euros per hectare. This official figure supports negotiations on a new lease and unjust enrichment calculations where land is used without an agreement.
  17. The tenant keeps using the premises after the lease ends. Why must I act quickly to recover possession? Under the general lease rule in Section 676(2), continued use may renew the agreement unless the landlord applies to court for the return of the asset or possession within 30 days. Demands are insufficient, but the parties may exclude this renewal in the agreement. The statutory rule does not apply to residential leases; according to the Slovak Supreme Court, it also does not apply to fixed-term leases of non-residential premises under Act No. 116/1990 Coll. The type of lease and the terms of the agreement must therefore be determined first.
  18. We let out a family house. Do the same notice rules apply as for a flat? No. The protected regime with statutory grounds for notice, alternative accommodation and an action challenging the validity of notice applies to renting a flat. If the tenancy covers a family house as a whole, the general lease rules apply: notice needs no statutory ground, an indefinite tenancy has a three-month notice period, and there is no entitlement to alternative accommodation. Watch for renewal, however: if the tenant continues using the house after the tenancy ends and the landlord does not bring an eviction claim within 30 days, the tenancy renews. The first step in any dispute is therefore to establish precisely what was let.
  19. What is a short-term flat tenancy, and why is it more favourable for landlords? Under Act No. 98/2014 Coll., a short-term flat tenancy is fixed for up to two years and may be extended twice, to six years overall. It offers landlords agreed termination grounds, notice as short as fifteen days, no substitute housing and a shorter deadline to challenge termination without suspending its effect. A written agreement with all required terms is essential. Key benefits are lost without proof of the landlord’s tax registration.
  20. We are creating an easement. When should it benefit a person and when should it benefit land? It depends on whom the right is meant to serve. Access, vehicle passage and utilities should benefit whoever owns the land: they are created for the benefit of property (in rem) and pass to later acquirers. A lifetime right of residence serves a specific person: it is created for that person (in personam) and ends no later than their death. Both types arise only upon registration in the Land Register, and choosing the wrong one is difficult to put right later.

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