Most buyers of a used car would take it to an independent or trusted mechanic to get checked or at least buy from a dealership with a six month guarantee.

Many buyers of properties worth 30 times or more than the price of a car neglect to get it checked before purchase. Especially in Czech Republic, this practice of property inspection has really not been common. It was estimated that only 1% of property transactions in 2012 were inspected.

It is even advisable to have new construction inspected as the economic crisis has resulted in building companies using sub-standard materials in order to cut costs.

There is currently no regulation governing building inspections (just like the real estate industry) so a person needs to be careful to get a qualified and experienced inspector. There is now an association of property inspectors (in Czech – Asociace inspektoru nemovitostí or AIN).

Here is a list of property inspection companies in Czech Republic with the first three being the largest:

Bytecheck (www.bytecheck.cz/en/) with offices in Prague, Brno and Ostrava. All inspectors have degrees in construction and use state-of-the-art equipment. They offer inspection reports in English.

A Buyer’s Choice Home Experts (www.home-experts.cz) with inspectors in Prague, Brno, Olomouc, Hodonin, Zbraslav, Kladno and Most. This is a franchise originating from North America and all inspectors are trained internally.

Nemopas DEK (www.nemopas.cz) with offices in Prague, Ceské Budejovice, Ostrava, Olomouc and Svitavy.

Nemovitalita (www.nemovitalita.cz) with multiple offices in Prague.

INDOM (www.inspekcedomu.cz) with offices in Prague and Ceské Budejovice.

Nemoinspekt (www.nemoinspekt.cz) with an office in Prague.

Did I miss an inspection company which you have had a good experience with? Please write me at: nathan@czechpoint101.com

Nathan Brown www.czechpoint101.com