How a reverse mortgage works in Czechia, and what it really costs

A reverse mortgage is a loan secured on your home with no monthly repayments. Interest is added to the debt, and everything is settled from the sale of the property after you die or move out. As of October 2026 Czech banks do not offer it. The only provider we could verify is the non-bank FINEMO.CZ with its Renta z nemovitosti product. It charges 10.4 % a year, so the debt grows about 2.8 times in 10 years.

For a pensioner who wants to stay at home and has no heirs, or has already provided for them, it can be a solution. Without paying any interest, though, you can release the money in your flat by selling it and buying a smaller one. Other routes are a sale with a lifelong right to stay (věcné břemeno dožití) or an ordinary loan with repayments, if your pension can cover them. The conditions for a bank mortgage after 50 are summarised in up to what age banks lend.

How does a reverse mortgage work?

Czech law has no definition of a reverse mortgage (reverzní or zpětná hypotéka). In its opinion of 26 March 2020, the ČNB distinguishes two models sold under that name:

• A loan secured on the property. You remain the owner, the provider has a lien in the land registry and pays you a lump sum, a monthly annuity or both. This is consumer credit for housing, so only a bank or a non-bank provider authorised by the ČNB may offer it, and the property may secure the debt only through a lien (§ 7 and § 113(2) of the Consumer Credit Act).
• A sale with the right to stay. You sell the property, receive the price at once or in instalments, and go on living there. This is a property deal, not a loan: a trade licence is enough, and the ČNB does not supervise it.

In the loan model the debt is repaid from the sale of the property, not by monthly instalments. Interest is added to the principal, so you pay interest on earlier interest too, and the debt grows ever faster. In the meantime you pay everything any owner pays: property tax, insurance, maintenance and energy.

For such a loan the law even waives the duty to state the APRC, if the provider takes an amount from the proceeds of a future sale and repayment depends on a specific event, such as death (§ 6(4)). You then have to work out the price yourself from the interest rate and fees. The provider must still assess creditworthiness; it may rely on the value of the property alone only if it will not ask you for anything beyond the proceeds of the sale (ČNB, § 86).

Does anyone offer a reverse mortgage in Czechia in 2026?

Banks do not. Moneta says on its website that you will not find this kind of mortgage on the banking market, and Partners Banka calls it the domain of non-bank providers.

From public sources we verified a single provider: FINEMO.CZ SE with its Renta z nemovitosti (property annuity) product. According to the ČNB register extract it publishes on its website, it was authorised as a non-bank consumer credit provider on 26 April 2018, including housing loans. Its terms, according to its website and a July 2026 document:

• aimed mainly at people over 60 who live in a property they own; a flat must be in personal ownership, not a cooperative flat, and the applicant must own at least half of it;
• paid out as a lump sum, monthly, or a combination of both;
• a rate of 10.4 % a year with interest added monthly; once a year it may move in line with PRIBOR, but never below 9.4 %; APRC indicatively 12.0 %;
• the initial fee is added to the debt, CZK 75,000 in the representative example; for a family house you also pay for the valuation and insurance;
• if the debt with interest outgrew the value of the property during your lifetime, the provider would not claim the difference from you or your heirs.

This is not a recommendation, and other offers may exist. Before you sign anything, check the provider in the ČNB list of regulated entities, as with any non-bank mortgage.

Reverse mortgage, ordinary loan or sale with a right to stay

An ordinary secured loan is cheaper, because you repay it and the interest does not pile up. It does, however, run into the banks' age limits and income requirements; the conditions are described in American mortgage.

With a sale and the right to stay, you receive less than the market price, because the buyer takes a flat burdened with your right to live in it. The ČNB advises checking that your housing is secured by a right registered in the land registry, not just a promise in the contract, and bearing in mind that if the price is paid in instalments you may lose the unpaid part should the buyer go bust. How a life tenancy works and why banks will not lend on it is covered in easement and mortgage.

How fast the debt grows

With a guarantee that the debt cannot outgrow the value of the property, the provider would bear the amount above CZK 5,000,000. Without one, the heirs would have to deal with it.

What do the children inherit, and who repays the debt?

On the borrower's death the reverse mortgage falls due; for a married couple with the verified provider, only after the second spouse dies. The debt passes to the heirs together with the property and the lien, and the heirs can choose to:

• repay the debt from their own money and keep the flat;
• sell the flat, repay the debt from the price and keep the rest;
• accept the inheritance subject to an inventory, in which case they pay debts only up to the value of the inherited assets (§ 1706 of the Civil Code);
• disclaim the inheritance within 1 month of being notified by the court, or within 3 months if their only residence is abroad (§ 1487).

The ČNB warns that contracts in which the total debt is not capped at the proceeds from selling the collateral can leave the estate over-indebted. So ask whether the contract has such a cap, and insist on having it in writing. Probate for a property with a loan on it is described in mortgage after the borrower dies.

If the family has an interest in the flat, it is fairer to talk it through beforehand. The children can then decide whether to help their parents themselves, rather than facing, 15 years later, a debt five times the amount paid out.

Questions to ask before you sign

1. When the loan becomes due while you are still alive. With the verified provider, for example, when you move out, even into a care home, and the debt must then be repaid within 3 months. Also on a sale, on insolvency, and on a breach of contract that you do not remedy within a period of at least 30 days.
2. How the rate changes. An annual market adjustment can speed up the growth of the debt or slow it down; the rate will not fall below the agreed minimum.
3. What happens if the property loses value. The ČNB recommends knowing in advance how the loan will be repaid after a fire or flood. If after such an event the value falls below 75 % of the original valuation, the verified provider requires you to top up the security when asked, or the loan ends.
4. Whether the debt is capped at the value of the property. Without that clause, the heirs may inherit more debt than assets.
5. What you go on paying. If your pension does not cover property tax, insurance and maintenance, a reverse mortgage only postpones the problem.
6. What happens to annuities not yet paid if the provider closes down. With monthly payouts, ask who would take them over.

Have a lawyer or notary read the contract before you sign, and take a family member with you to the meeting. By law you have 14 days to think it over, during which the provider may not change or withdraw the offer.