Reservation agreement (rezervační smlouva)
An agreement by which the seller or developer undertakes not to offer the property to anyone else for an agreed period, usually in return for a reservation fee or deposit from the prospective buyer. Neither the Civil Code nor Act No. 39/2020 Coll., on real estate brokerage, has specific provisions on it; that act regulates the contract with the broker, not the reservation itself. Banks routinely accept it as a basis for mortgage approval.
Example
A buyer reserves a flat for CZK 5,000,000 for 60 days and pays a reservation fee of, for example, CZK 100,000, which is credited towards the purchase price. He needs a CZK 4,000,000 mortgage with a payment of CZK 23,384 over 25 years at 5.00 %. If the agreement contains no clause covering refusal of the loan, he loses the CZK 100,000 if the bank turns him down.
In practice
Before signing, get your mortgage pre-approved and make sure the reservation period leaves time for valuation, approval and signing, which usually take 2–4 weeks from complete documents. Insist on a clause refunding the fee if the mortgage is refused. A short deadline is especially risky because the valuer may then value the property below the purchase price.
How it differs
A future purchase agreement (smlouva o smlouvě budoucí kupní, § 1785 of the Civil Code) obliges both parties to conclude a purchase contract, and its conclusion can be enforced in court. A reservation only blocks the property; on its own it creates neither ownership nor a claim to a transfer.
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