Our “Terms and Conditions” (available upon request) summarise the costs of Astute finance’s comprehensive service, which includes coordinating with the client, the lawyer, the banks and letting agents (if applicable).

There are additional costs that are likely to be incurred, though the good news is that these, like the fees for our service, only apply upon the approval of an offer from a bank.

Banks usually charge an arrangement fee of about 0.8% of the loan up to a maximum of 25,000- 30,000 Czech Crowns. This is only payable once a client signs an offer from the bank. However, we often obtain special terms from banks here and the arrangement fee may be lower and, for special cases, we may be able to negotiate preferable terms on behalf of the client.

Some banks will provide a free valuation on the property you are buying but it is our experience that these can fall short of the actual purchase price. An alternative option is to have an “independent valuation” carried out by a valuer who does not work for, but is approved by the bank. This carries a fee of about Kc 6,000.

A foreign person, not resident in the Czech Republic, may also need to pay for a notary at the time of signing the acceptance of an offer. This is likely to be in the region of about 12,000 to 15,000 Crowns for the average mortgage. The Czech legal system is slow and so the banks normally require a separate, and notarised, document to be signed to accompany the mortgage. This document gives the banks the right to take over the ownership of the property in the unlikely event that the client defaults on mortgage payments.

This document therefore gives the banks the security that they need in order to lend to a foreign individual and so this in turn makes the process of obtaining a mortgage easier for the foreign person. This will, in fact, also limit any mortgage liability to the property, as it is unlikely that any additional security will be required.

Please note, again, that these are only payable if the applicant successfully applies for a mortgage. The only other cost will be the property valuation and, for some of the larger property developments, we have been able to arrange for these to be done at no cost to the clients.