The First Amendment of the Civil Code

Act no. 460/2016 Coll.

With effect from: 28 February 2017 (1 January 2018 in part)

The term linear construction is newly incorporated into the Civil Code. It is also provided that such linear construction does not form a part of the land. The owner of the land with a linear construction does not have a pre-emptive right to such construction. The other way round, neither the owner of the linear construction has a pre-emptive right to the land through which the linear construction leads.

Based on the amendment, legal pre-emptive right of the joint owners to the common property is reinstated. This particular regulation will come into effect on 1 January 2018.

The amendment further regulates the legislation of trust funds. Newly, the trust fund will be established by registration with a special trust fund register which will be newly founded. The register should be a parallel to the existing Commercial Register. The name of the beneficiary will also be filed with the register, however only to its non-public part. This regulation will come into effect on 1 January 2018, as well.

The amendment further clarifies the form of granting a power of attorney for legal actions which should be made in the form of a public deed. The Civil Code newly provides that it is sufficient that such power of attorney is granted with a certified signature (and not in the form of a pubic deed).

Last but not least, the amendment also relates to the lease of flats, in particular to the maximum amount of security which can be agreed between the tenant and the landlord. Originally this maximum amounted to six times of the monthly rent, newly it is limited to three times of the monthly rent. (open the official wording)