Right of pre-emption (předkupní právo)

What it means

A right of pre-emption (předkupní právo) means that an owner who wants to sell a thing must first offer it to the person holding the right. That person can buy it on the same terms an outside buyer has offered. Only if they do not accept may the owner sell to someone else.

The right can arise directly from the law or be agreed in a contract. A contractual one can also be agreed as a right in rem and entered in the land register (katastr nemovitostí); it then binds later owners as well.

How it works in the Czech Republic

The statutory pre-emption right of co-owners applies in only one situation: where the co-ownership arose from a disposition upon death, such as a will. The other co-owners then have a pre-emption right to the share for six months from the day the co-ownership arose. It does not apply to a transfer to another co-owner, or to a relative in the direct line, a sibling or a spouse (Section 1124 of the Civil Code).

The second important case concerns older buildings that, under the transitional provisions of the Civil Code, are not part of the land. The owner of the land has a pre-emption right to the building and the owner of the building to the land (Section 3056). Both rules reflect the wording of the law in force as of October 2026.

A registered pre-emption right shows in part C of the title deed (list vlastnictví). A statutory one need not be recorded there, so also look at how the co-ownership arose and whether the building and land have different owners.