Expert opinion (znalecký posudek)
A formal opinion by a court expert entered in the Ministry of Justice list under Act No. 254/2019 Coll., on experts, expert offices and expert institutes. The expert is liable for its accuracy and attaches an expert clause. When valuing property, the expert follows Act No. 151/1997 Coll., on the valuation of assets. Such opinions are used before courts and authorities and in property settlements.
Example
A divorcing couple wants one spouse to buy the other out of a flat with CZK 3,543,000 left on the mortgage. For their agreement settling community property (SJM), they commission an expert opinion that puts the usual price of the flat at CZK 6,000,000. The net value is therefore about CZK 2,457,000, and the share to be paid out around CZK 1,228,000. For a new mortgage, though, the bank will order its own valuation anyway.
In practice
For a mortgage the bank rarely wants an expert opinion; a valuation by its contracted valuer for CZK 3,000–6,000 is enough. You need an expert opinion for court, probate, settling co-ownership or contributing property to a company. Paying for one in the hope that the bank will accept it instead of a valuation is usually money wasted, since most banks insist on their own valuer.
How it differs
The property valuation for the bank is prepared by a valuer using the bank's methodology and serves only the bank. An expert opinion, by contrast, is evidence backed by the expert's statutory liability. Collateral value is not a document at all but the bank's internal figure.
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