A surprise utility bill from your landlord
Your landlord must send a yearly settlement of your service advances within 4 months after each billing year ends, and owes CZK 50 for every day it is late. A bill at move-out covering years of missing settlements is exactly what the law is meant to prevent.
Source: Act 67/2013 and the Ministry for Regional Development's tenant page.
The deadlines, in order
- The billing year ends. It can be at most 12 months long.
- Within 4 months, the landlord delivers the settlement (§7(1)). Example: the 2025 bill is due by the end of April 2026.
- Within 30 days of receiving it, you may ask in writing to see the invoices and meter readings (§8(1)), and raise objections in writing (§8(2)). If you don’t object, you are treated as agreeing.
- Within 30 days of your request, the landlord must show the documents, let you copy them, and deal with your objections.
- Within 4 months of delivery at the latest, you pay any shortfall, or the landlord refunds any overpayment (§7(3)). Errors in the bill never delay a refund.
Each missed landlord deadline costs CZK 50 per started day (§13). You owe the same if you don’t report a change in how many people live in the flat.
What a proper settlement shows
- The actual cost of each service separately: heating, hot water, water, waste, lift, cleaning and so on
- The total advances you paid
- How costs were split between flats
The landlord can’t charge you for preparing the bill (§7(4)). For leases over 24 months, heating, hot water and water must always be settled, never charged as a flat fee (§9(4)).
Checking a surprise bill
- Is it split by service and by year, with your advances subtracted?
- Did you receive each year’s settlement on time? If not, write down the dates: the landlord owes CZK 50 a day for each late one.
- Ask for the documents in writing within 30 days. You can use the letter below.
- Object in writing within 30 days to anything you dispute.
- For bills older than 3 years, ask a tenants’ association about the limitation period (Civil Code §629).
Letter: asking for the documents and objecting
Send it by email and keep a copy, or by registered post if things are tense. Send the Czech version; the English is for you.
Vážený pane / Vážená paní [jméno pronajímatele],
dne [datum] jsem obdržel(a) vyúčtování služeb spojených s nájmem bytu [adresa] za období [období].
V souladu s § 8 odst. 1 zákona č. 67/2013 Sb. Vás žádám o doložení nákladů na jednotlivé služby, způsobu jejich rozúčtování a stanovení záloh a o umožnění pořídit si kopie podkladů. Prosím o jejich zaslání na [e-mail] do 30 dnů od doručení této žádosti.
Zároveň podle § 8 odst. 2 téhož zákona podávám námitky proti vyúčtování: [stručně, např. „vyúčtování nerozlišuje jednotlivé roky a služby“].
S pozdravem
[jméno], [datum]In English: On [date] I received the service charge settlement for [address] for [period]. Under §8(1) of Act 67/2013, please provide the costs of each service, how they were split and how advances were set, and let me copy the documents, within 30 days. Under §8(2) I also object to the settlement: [reason].
Electricity and gas
These aren’t covered by the services law. The ministry recommends transferring electricity and gas into your own name when you move in, which takes about 2 weeks with the same supplier (source). That way the bills come to you directly, not through your landlord.