Attorney or notary escrow (advokátní / notářská úschova)
Deposit of the purchase price with an attorney (§ 52e et seq. of Act No. 85/1996 Coll., on the Legal Profession) or a notary (Notarial Code, Act No. 358/1992 Coll.) in a separate account until agreed conditions are met, typically the registration of the buyer's ownership in the land registry. It protects both sides: the seller knows the money exists, and the buyer knows the seller will receive it only after the transfer.
Example
Purchase price CZK 5,000,000: the buyer deposits CZK 1,000,000 of own money into escrow; once the filed application for registration is documented, the bank transfers CZK 4,000,000 from the mortgage at 5.00 %. After ownership is registered (a protective period of at least 20 days), the attorney first pays off the seller's old loan at his bank and then pays the rest to the seller.
In practice
Interest on the mortgage runs from the day the money lands in escrow, so you pay it while you wait for the land registry too. The escrow agreement (smlouva o úschově) has to match both the purchase agreement and the bank's drawdown conditions, and the bank usually signs it off. Agree the attorney's fee in advance. Never send money straight to the seller or to an estate agency, bypassing escrow.
How it differs
Bank escrow works on the same principle but is run by a bank and tends to be more formal. Attorney escrow is not in itself loan drawdown: the bank draws the loan into escrow, and the seller is paid only after registration in the land registry. An estate agency's reservation fee usually sits outside escrow.
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