Flat Handover: a Few Recommendations to Keep in Mind

Your stay in the Czech Republic has come to an end, and it’s time to say goodbye to the marvelous apartment which you’ve called home during the last months.

Due to the series of contrastive emotions which this occurrence might entail, there’s a chance you could forget some of the handover clauses included in your lease agreement and agreed with your landlord in advance.

Don’t worry, we thought about this circumstance, and we’re here to help with a few advice to make sure that the process will be as smooth as possible.

Section 5.5 of your lease agreement helps at giving a general overview of your responsibilities. When you hand the apartment over to the lessor double-check that all the furniture, equipment and goods you found when entered the place (pan, pots, microwave, fridge, pillows, blankets, curtains, shelves and so forth) are still in the same conditions as they were before.

The place must be cleaned so that the next tenant may find it as tidy as it was when you entered the venue. In this sense, you can trust our reliable cleaning services which we deliver at affordable prices.

Don’t forget walls and ceiling: all spots, stains, scrubs, and flaked surfaces must be repainted, holes repaired, scratches fixed. Can’t you handle the varnishing by yourself? One of our handyman can come to deal with this type of works and many others, such as: laying and refurbishment of floors and carpets, tiling and small brickwork services, furniture repairs and renovations.

The mirror in the living was broken a few days ago? Don’t forget that you may not be required to provide for the payment of it: your contract might already include a clause regarding household and liability insurance. In that case – and after communicating the issue to the landlord – the damages will be covered.

If the insurance is not included in the contract but you’ve signed an insurance agreement with us, you’re safe and sound! This topic has already been described in one of our former blog articles.

When you leave the locale, the condition of your apartment will be compared to the initial ones recorded in the takeover protocol signed at the beginning of your lease. That’s why you have to note down and take pics of any defect you may find during the initial takeover at the presence of a Foreigners.cz Relocation Consultant to avoid any unpleasant surprise at the end of your stay. This process can be done at a second stage after you’ve settled in. Needless to say: the sooner the better.

Furthermore, remember to hand over all keys received from the lessor and all other keys from any room in the apartment that he had copied or otherwise acquired.

In case one or more of the conditions mentioned above shall not be met, the landlord will have the right to keep the security deposit or part of it according to the lease agreement signed by both sides. Same discourse in case you haven’t notified your departure 3 months in advance.

The owner may hand back part of the deposit if the expenses faced to deal with the damages created don’t exceed the deposit itself. For instance: if the lessor has provided 15.000 CZK for the repairings and has received a 20.000 CZK deposit, he’ll have to return 5.000 CZK.

Remember: the landlord has to be accountable for the refurbishments carried out, and you have the right to ask for the bills related to the works done in order to replace broken goods and fix any sort of damage.

If the handover has gone well, now it’s time to collect your belongings. You might need some help at moving the heaviest of them, especially if they have to be sent abroad. Let us give you some support with our moving service! Check out how moving with Foreigners.cz works.

A further suggestion over this topic: during the handover, you shouldn’t leave any of your belongings within the venue. Landlords generally desire to find their properties as they were originally, without an extra mattress on the floor, your 2nd hand refrigerator in the kitchen, the leopard-skin curtains you hanged in the bedroom.

These goods will probably be thrown away. Avoid this circumstance by contacting us to arrange the sale of your belongings and find a potential buyer. We could also plan an open door event where everyone could come to the place and collect your stuff.

To conclude, don’t forget that renting your flat with us will automatically make of you one of our VIP clients. It means that for 1 year you get all of our services on discount plus consultancy any time you need support or you don’t understand a certain clause in your contract.

We hope we’ve helped at providing the correct information about a process that is often underestimated but should be considered as important as the apartment takeover.