A note records a fact relating to a property or person, rather than a right. The law distinguishes notes restricting the owner’s dealings with property (enforcement, interim injunctions or seizure) and information-only notes (expropriation proceedings, disputes over rights in rem or the start of security enforcement). Notes appear in Part B of the title sheet and are removed when the grounds for recording them cease to exist.
What types of notes does the cadastre record?
A note is one of the three types of cadastral entry. Unlike constitutive registration or a declaratory record, it does not record a right in rem, only a fact or relationship concerning a property or person (Section 5(3) of the Cadastral Act, No. 162/1995 Coll.). We explain the distinctions in the difference between constitutive registration, a declaratory record and a note.
The law classifies notes by their function (Section 38):
Notes restricting the owner’s dealings with the property. These include, in particular, notes based on a court order for a preliminary (now interim) injunction prohibiting dealings with the property; notice of enforcement by sale of the property; a decision opening tax enforcement proceedings; a decision creating a tax lien; a tax or customs enforcement order; a court order seizing property or assets; a note challenging the reliability of cadastral data; and a note based on a decision approving a land consolidation project (Section 29(1) of Decree No. 461/2009 Coll.).
Information-only notes. These include the commencement of customs enforcement or expropriation proceedings; court proceedings asserting rights in rem over property or seeking a declaration that a voluntary auction is invalid; and the commencement of security enforcement notified by a creditor (Section 29(2) of the Decree).
Notes appear in Part B of the title sheet, alongside the owner, rather than among the encumbrances in Part C (Section 8(1)(b), point 2). Looking only in Part C makes them easy to miss.
A note challenging the reliability of the data
The district office enters this note when the reliability of cadastral data concerning a property right has been challenged (Section 39(2)). The Decree specifies that reliability is challenged where duplicate or multiple ownership of the same property is registered (Section 29(3) of the Decree).
It can be removed through an agreement between those concerned, a court judgment declaring ownership or, if all registered owners and those whose ownership is supported by a document agree, correction of an error in the cadastral records (Section 59(2)(c)). For the correction route, the signatures of those concerned on the application must be officially certified (Section 59(3)). The authority decides the correction application within 30 days, or 90 days in justified cases (Section 59a(3)).
This note should not be confused with rebuttal of the reliability of cadastral data under Section 71(3). That is a different mechanism with a different consequence: the data must no longer be used at all.
Effects and limits of a note about court proceedings
A note about pending court proceedings does more than provide information. It has a direct substantive effect through the Civil Dispute Procedure Code: the operative part of a final judgment declaring a right in rem over property or declaring a voluntary auction invalid also binds a person concerned by an application for constitutive registration of a right in rem, if that application was filed while the note about the court proceedings was recorded in the cadastre (Section 228(2) of the Code).
In other words, someone who buys disputed property from the registered owner during the dispute does not gain protection: the judgment will bind them too. This is the most effective defence against speculative transfers by the opposing party during proceedings.
There is, however, a limit to understand in advance. The provision refers to an application for constitutive registration, meaning contractual transfers. It does not cover changes of ownership arising otherwise than through registration under a contract, such as the fall of the hammer at an auction, where ownership is entered by a declaratory record (Section 34(1)). In property disputes, we therefore usually seek an interim court injunction alongside the note, prohibiting the owner from dealing with the property in any way, rather than only by contract.
How is a note entered and removed?
The district office enters a note on notification from a court or another state authority, at the request of a person entitled under special legislation, or at the request of a party to court or other proceedings (Section 39(1)). It enters the note on the day the document is received, or by the next working day at the latest (Section 43(1)(d)). General administrative procedure rules do not apply to entering a note (Section 40), and no decision is issued.
The authority may remove it on its own initiative or at the request of the person who originally applied for its entry, if the grounds for the note are shown to have ceased to exist (Section 39(3)). In practice, the cadastre needs a document demonstrating this: a final judgment, an order discontinuing enforcement, or notification from the authority that initiated the note.
A special rule applies to auctions: the authority records the auction information for at least three months after receiving the auction minutes. If proceedings to declare the auction invalid have begun, the information remains until those proceedings end (Section 43(2)).
What does a note mean when I am buying property?
A note is a warning, rather than a bar to registration: the cadastre will not automatically refuse registration because of it. The buyer bears the risk, however. If the dispute is decided against the seller, the buyer may lose the property even after being registered. In every due diligence review, we therefore examine Part B as carefully as the encumbrances in Part C. If a dispute is already pending or imminent, we coordinate the defence, including the note, an interim injunction and an action for a declaration of ownership, so that they work together.
This answer provides general information on the law as at 31 July 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.
