When you move out of a rental, the question is whether the deposit comes back in full. How much of it you actually get back is often decided in the half hour you walk through the emptied flat with the landlord. The paper that comes out of that walk-through is often later the only record of the condition in which you handed the flat over.
Why the protocol matters more than your memory
A handover protocol for a flat is not required by law. The tenancy ends even without one. The Civil Code does say in what condition the tenant must return the flat.
The whole later dispute then turns on how the flat looked at the start. The most reliable answer to that is the protocol from when you moved in. Without it, it is one word against another. Proving that the scratch on the door was already there when you arrived then becomes difficult.
Handing over the keys alone does not settle that question. Under Section 2292 of the Civil Code, the flat is handed over at the moment the landlord receives the keys and nothing prevents access to the flat or its use. That ends the tenancy. It says nothing about the condition of the flat.
What to put in the protocol
The protocol is worth drawing up in writing and in two copies, so each side takes away a signed one. It should include:
- date of handover, identification of the flat and details of both parties,
- readings of all meters including their serial numbers, that is electricity, gas and water (without the serial number the reading cannot be matched to the supplier’s bill),
- number of keys, chips and remotes handed over,
- description of the condition of each room and of the fittings, including defects that were already in the flat,
- photographs as an attachment, ideally dated,
- signatures of both parties.
The protocol is most valuable when you can put it next to the original one from when you moved in. If you do not have that one today, it is worth asking for it before you start packing.
Ordinary wear and tear, or damage
The Civil Code does not define the term "ordinary wear and tear". In practice it means the traces that ordinary living leaves in a flat, such as a worn carpet or faded paint. A cracked sink or damaged door is something else, and the landlord may claim compensation.
What often feeds into the deposit settlement is also who was supposed to pay for minor repairs during the tenancy. Those are defined by Government Regulation No. 308/2015 Coll., and from 1 January 2026 new limits apply to them, because the original amounts were based on 2015 prices. The amendment was published in the Collection of Laws under number 493/2025 Coll. and changes three things:
- for repairs that the regulation does not list, a repair counts as minor if its cost does not exceed 1 500 Kč; previously that was 1 000 Kč,
- the annual cap on the cost of minor repairs is 150 Kč per square metre of the flat’s floor area; previously 100 Kč,
- transport costs are not counted toward these limits and are paid by the tenant.
The regulation lists some repairs directly, such as repairs of fittings and handles or replacements of switches and sockets, and those count as minor regardless of price. If the sum of costs of minor repairs in a calendar year exceeds the annual cap, further repairs in that year are no longer treated as minor. For a flat of sixty square metres, that threshold is 9 000 Kč a year.
When there is no protocol or the landlord refuses to sign
It happens that the landlord brushes the protocol off with a wave of the hand or refuses to sign it. In that situation you can write your own record of the flat’s condition, photograph every room and send the record to the landlord by e-mail right after the handover. It does not have the force of a signed protocol, but it creates a dated record you can later produce. A witness who was present at the handover helps as well.
As for the deposit itself, the Civil Code refers to it as a security. Under Section 2254, the security together with any contractual penalty must not exceed three times the monthly rent. When the tenancy ends, the landlord returns it and sets off what the tenant owes from the tenancy. The tenant also has a right to interest on the security from the moment it was provided, at least at the statutory rate.
The law does not set a specific deadline for returning the deposit. The date agreed in the contract takes precedence. We cover this in more detail in Landlord not returning the deposit? What options you have.
What to do next
A handover protocol is half an hour of work that pays off when the landlord decides to deduct something from the deposit. If the landlord is already holding back part of the money and does not respond to ordinary discussion, the next step is a written demand for return of the deposit, which you send yourself. For more complex tenancy disputes, it is worth going through the matter with a lawyer as well.
Legamik is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. In complex disputes we recommend consulting a lawyer.