As the purchaser only legally becomes the owner when they are registered as such in the Land Registry, there is a period between signing the purchase contracts and them actually becoming owner by registration.

Protect your money during the purchase process.

It is always recommended to have the purchase price in an escrow account through this time period. Otherwise, you could have the situation where there is a problem registering you as owner at the Land Registry (it can be even small details like a misspelling of your name or residence address which would halt the process) but in the meantime, the buyer has the full purchase price. Not a great situation.

Notary offices in the Czech Republic function as a neutral third party and are safer to deal with than committing the purchase price to the real estate agency itself. Here is a list of notary offices in Czech Republic.

Even though agents may insist that it is ‘company policy’ for them to handle the full purchase price we have found they will agree to commit everything to a notary when you convince them that you are serious and coming forward with cash.

It is also possible to use a bank or an attorney in this same function.

If your real estate agent continues to insist that they will only accept the purchase price going directly to them, move on to another agency or drop the property altogether as something strange is going on.

Nathan Brown www.czechpoint101.com

to ask Nathan a question on Czech Property click here