Aid for the consumers and natural persons who are not consumers

Czech government has introduced a bill which aims to help the natural persons who are unable to pay the rent and services payments for the premises used for the satisfaction of housing needs due to the pandemic of COVID-19, moreover, the government has proposed a bill, which is supposed to limit total amount of sanctions in case of being in default with paying the interest.

Limitation of the penalties in case of default

Pursuant to the proposed governmental amendment to the Act No. 257/2016 Coll., on consumer loan, as amended, the amount of the penalties in case of the default with repaying the loan longer than 90 days is mitigated. In such a case the creditor has the right only for the statutory interest. If the debtor is natural person, but not a consumer, the amount of all the contractual penalties shall not exceed product of 0.5 and total amount of the loan. This provisions do not apply to legal entities. The proposed amendment find here.

Lease of the premises used for the satisfaction of the housing needs

Pursuant to the governmental proposal, the lessor cannot unilaterally terminate the lease agreement on premises used for the satisfaction of housing needs in the period between effectiveness of the proposed Act until 31 May 2021 only for the reason that the lessee in in default with payment of the rent and service payment and this default occurred in the period between 12 March 2020 and the day after the last day of the emergency measures, however no later than 30 September 2020. The requirement is that the lessee´s default occurred due to the emergency measures which needs to be proven to the lessor without undue delay. The proposed act find here.

Abovementioned governmental proposals have not been submitted to the Chamber of Deputies yet and the final wording may still be changed.

We will inform you on any updates.