Buying a flat with a mortgage in 11 steps, from pre-approval to the keys

Buying a flat with a mortgage takes eleven steps in a fixed order: pre-approval, search, reservation agreement, valuation, loan approval, purchase agreement with escrow, pledge agreement, application for registration, drawdown, registration of ownership and handover. With complete documents it usually takes 6–10 weeks from signing the reservation to getting the keys. The longest stretches are the bank's approval (2–4 weeks) and registration in the land registry, which cannot happen until a 20-day protective period has passed.

One rule runs through the whole process: neither your money nor the bank's goes to the seller until the land registry has registered you as the owner. That is what escrow is for. Below is the whole journey in a table, then the steps where people most often go wrong, and a worked example of how much money you need, and when, for a CZK 5 million flat at today's average rate of 5.00 %. The same steps apply to a family house; how a mortgage for buying a house differs on valuation and insurance is covered separately.

How long does buying a flat with a mortgage take?

Usually 6–10 weeks from the reservation to the keys, if your documents are complete. The bank's approval (2–4 weeks) and the land registry, which cannot register you sooner than 20 days after notifying the seller, take the longest.

Our article How long does a mortgage take covers the timing day by day, including what happens inside the bank. Here we focus on the order and the money.

Pre-approval, search and reservation (steps 1–3)

Pre-approval (předschválení) takes a few days and is based on proof of income. It tells you how much the bank will lend under its usual internal limits (total debt payments up to 45 % of net income, 50 % under 36). Without it you risk reserving a flat you cannot finance. Check your ceiling first with the How much can I borrow calculator.

Once you have picked a flat, download its title sheet (list vlastnictví) from the land registry before you reserve it. It shows who the owner is, whether the flat is in personal ownership (osobní vlastnictví; banks finance cooperative flats differently) and what liens or easements are registered.

The reservation agreement (rezervační smlouva) holds the flat for you in exchange for a deposit that is later credited against the price. Two things matter: how long the reservation runs (it must cover loan approval, so at least 4–6 weeks) and what happens to the deposit if the bank turns your mortgage down. Without an explicit clause refunding the deposit if the loan is refused, you can lose it.

Foreign buyers follow the same steps, with two additions: a check on where the money comes from and a contract in Czech. Our guide to buying property in Czechia as a foreigner covers the rest, including which foreigners can get a mortgage.

Valuation and loan approval (steps 4–5)

The bank orders the valuation (odhad), and the buyer usually pays for it: CZK 3,000–6,000, often less for flats valued online. It lends against the lower of the purchase price and the valuation. The ČNB limit is LTV 80 % (90 % under 36), so if the valuation comes in below the price, you cover the shortfall from your own funds.

Approval usually takes 2–4 weeks from complete documents. The result is a loan agreement with drawdown conditions (podmínky čerpání), a list of what the bank needs before it releases the money. Typically that means the signed purchase agreement, the escrow agreement, the pledge agreement, the application for registration with the pending-change flag marked, property insurance assigned to the bank and proof that you have paid in your own funds. Send this list to the seller and to the lawyer drafting the purchase agreement before it is signed.

Three signatures and an application (steps 6–8)

In practice three documents are signed within a few days of each other.

1. The purchase agreement (kupní smlouva) and the escrow agreement, with your own funds paid into attorney, notary or bank escrow straight away and the mortgage following later. What the text must cover is set out in our guide to the purchase agreement for a flat with a mortgage.
2. The loan agreement with the bank, unless you signed it at approval; you get a 14-day reflection period before signing, but no statutory right to withdraw afterwards. What to check first is in our checklist for signing the mortgage agreement.
3. The pledge agreement (zástavní smlouva), which creates the bank's lien on the flat you are buying.

Next, the application for registration (návrh na vklad) of your ownership and the application to register the lien go to the land registry, each with an administrative fee of CZK 2,000. The registry immediately marks a pending-change flag (plomba) on the title sheet to show that proceedings are under way. An extract showing the flag is usually one of the bank's drawdown conditions.

Drawdown, registration and handover (steps 9–11)

Once the drawdown conditions are met, the bank sends the mortgage into escrow, not to the seller. Interest runs from that day, and the first regular payment usually falls due the following month, depending on the drawdown date. What the bank needs to see before the mortgage drawdown is covered in a separate article.

The land registry enters the change no earlier than 20 days after notifying the existing owner. Once you are registered, the escrow agent checks the title sheet extract and pays the seller. If the flat had a mortgage on it, the seller's loan is repaid first and the seller gets the rest.

Handover is set in the purchase agreement, either after registration of ownership or after the price is paid out. Record meter readings, keys, defects and fittings in a handover report. Then transfer the utilities and tell the SVJ (owners' association) or the building manager that the flat has a new owner.

How much money do you need, and when?

If you buy through an estate agency, the commission is usually built into the price and paid by the seller; check this in the reservation agreement.

10 mistakes that delay the purchase or make it dearer

1. Reserving without pre-approval, then finding out the bank will lend less than you need.
2. A reservation period shorter than 4 weeks, so loan approval cannot be finished in time.
3. A deposit with no clause on refunding it if the mortgage is refused.
4. Own funds calculated from the price rather than the valuation: if the valuation comes in lower, money is missing.
5. A purchase agreement signed before the bank has approved it, which then fails the drawdown conditions and has to be rewritten.
6. Paying the price, or part of it, directly to the seller outside escrow.
7. A new loan, lease or credit card between approval and drawdown, which can make the bank suspend the drawdown.
8. Changing jobs while the mortgage is being arranged (see our article on getting a mortgage during a probation period).
9. Property insurance without an assignment to the bank.
10. Taking over the flat without a handover report and meter readings, which leads to disputes over defects and unpaid bills.