Selling real estate almost always looks to the client like a moment where the cost of a mistake is too high. People usually do not think in terms like “bad communication” or “the process dragged on for two weeks”, but in terms of the worst-case scenario: the money is gone, ownership has not transferred, the keys have not been handed over, the mortgage is already accruing, and the rent still has to be paid. And that is a normal reaction, because any real estate transaction in the Czech Republic is tied at once to contracts, deadlines, the state real estate cadastre, escrow, and the actions of several parties.
How do we at Get Home look at this issue? Calmly and without pretty promises. No realtor can guarantee that no difficulties will arise in a transaction at all. But a good realtor is obliged to do two things: first, reduce the risk of problems before they appear, and second, not hide from responsibility if a mistake really happened through their fault.
And here is an important point for the Czech market. The work of a realtor in the Czech Republic is regulated by law: an intermediary must have mandatory professional liability insurance, and the client can check in advance whether a specific realtor has a valid policy and what their coverage limit is.
When a realtor in the Czech Republic is actually liable for damages
Simply put, a realtor is not liable for every unsuccessful outcome, but for damage that arose because of mistakes within the scope of their professional activity.
In the Czech Republic, this is directly provided for by market rules: a business providing real estate services is required to have liability insurance in case it causes damage to a client. The minimum limit of such insurance is CZK 1,750,000 for a single insured event and CZK 3,500,000 for several insured events in one year.
What the law requires in practice
For the client, this does not mean that “any problem will automatically be paid for”, but that they have a legal mechanism for seeking compensation if the damage was caused specifically by the intermediary’s mistake.
For example, if the realtor incorrectly organised the process, missed a critical document, incorrectly passed on important information, or made a miscalculation that led to real financial losses, the issue of compensation no longer depends only on the company’s goodwill. That is exactly why mandatory insurance exists.
The minimum limit established by law does not mean that all companies limit themselves only to it. The Get Home website states that our professional liability is covered by insurance up to CZK 10 million. For the client, this is not a formality, but a perfectly reasonable criterion for selecting a realtor even before signing a contract.
How to check the insurance in advance
The Czech Ministry of Regional Development directly states that a client may ask the realtor to show a current insurance policy and, if desired, additionally verify the existence of insurance through the MMR by name and company ID number. The realtor is also required to submit the insurance contract there within 10 working days after it is concluded. In other words, the question “do you even have liability insurance?” is completely normal and professional in the Czech Republic.
From our point of view, it is worth asking not only whether the policy exists, but also about the coverage limit. Because formally everyone has the mandatory minimum, but whether that is sufficient for your specific situation depends on the structure of the transaction, the price of the property, and the level of related risks.
Will insurance cover everything if a real estate purchase transaction falls through
This is exactly where the main disappointment of clients arises. Many imagine a realtor’s insurance as a universal shield: if something breaks, the insurance company will simply return all the money. In practice, that is not how it works.
Professional liability insurance does not cover “the whole nightmare of the transaction”, but the damage that is connected specifically with a professional mistake by the intermediary and falls under the terms of the policy.
If, for example, the seller changes their mind, the bank delays issuing the loan, the buyer fails to meet their obligations, or the money gets stuck because of the actions of a third party, this does not always automatically become an insured event for the realtor.
Yes, in a specific situation it is possible to analyse whether there was negligence by the intermediary, whether a claim can be made, and whether there are grounds for обращаться to the insurer. But there is no guarantee of full payment, and the coverage limit still remains the upper limit.
So the honest answer to the question in the heading sounds like this: yes, the realtor must be liable for damages if they themselves made a mistake within the scope of their professional role, but that does not mean automatic compensation for any losses in any amount.
At Get Home, we consider this a normal and responsible position. If the mistake occurred on our side, it is wrong to hide behind the phrase “well, the transaction just did not work out”.
And one more important principle. In market practice, there are contracts under which the agency’s right to a commission arises already upon signing the purchase agreement, and sometimes even at an earlier stage, when the agency has only ensured the possibility of concluding such a transaction.
As a result, if the transaction does not take place for reasons lying with one of the parties, the agency may seek payment of the commission or compensation for lost profit.
We take a different approach: we consider the commission justified only when the transaction is actually successfully completed.
The client’s worst-case scenario: being left without money and without an apartment
It is exactly this fear that most often lies behind the question “so why do I need a realtor at all if at the critical moment they still will not compensate anything?”. The fear is understandable.
In the Czech Republic, there have been high-profile cases where problems arose not at the level of marketing or negotiations, but already at the level of holding the money.
The best-known example of recent years is the case of attorney Hana Suková: according to the media and the investigation, it involved tens and then hundreds of millions of crowns that people transferred into attorney escrow accounts in real estate transactions.
One Seznam Zprávy publication mentions CZK 153 million that were misappropriated from attorney escrow accounts in real estate transactions, while later materials about the court proceedings mention an amount of around CZK 161 million.
The most unpleasant thing about stories like these is that the client really does picture the worst option: there is no apartment, the money did not arrive, and the matter has to be untangled through a criminal case and someone else’s violations.
This is exactly the point where it is important not to build false expectations for the client. A realtor’s insurance is not the same as insurance against all other people’s crimes in the transaction chain. If the money was stolen by the escrow holder, the issue usually shifts toward that person’s liability, the terms of the specific escrow, the possibilities of recovery, guarantee mechanisms, and judicial protection.
Trying to seek compensation from the intermediary’s insurer is only possible when there is a connection between the damage and the intermediary’s own professional mistake. Without such a connection, there will be no automatic compensation.
Notarial, attorney, and bank deposit: what really reduces the risk
When a client talks about selling real estate through a notary, in the Czech Republic this usually does not mean that the notary is searching for a buyer, but that the transaction money is being held by a third party until the agreed conditions are met.
In practice, for the client, notarial and attorney deposit work according to the same logic: the money is held in a special account and transferred to the recipient only after the conditions that the parties specified in advance in the agreement have occurred.
At the same time, the notarial option usually costs more, because the notary’s fee is tied to the notarial tariff, whereas the attorney’s fee for the deposit is determined by agreement with the client.
In recent years, attorney deposit has gained an important additional protection mechanism: when money moves through the account, the bank sends information to the contact details specified for the deposit participants.
This gives the client the possibility to receive notifications directly from the bank and independently monitor all operations on the account. At the same time, other mandatory security measures also apply to attorney deposit: the money is held only in a special attorney deposit account, a separate account is used for each deposit, and cash deposits and withdrawals on such accounts are not allowed.
If the buyer did not choose the money holder themselves, and the attorney was proposed, for example, by the seller’s real estate company, it is especially important to check the wording of the agreement.
We consider it fundamentally important that it explicitly states: the buyer’s payment obligation is deemed fulfilled at the moment the money is credited to the deposit account. When assisting buyers, we monitor this clause separately because it protects the client in a situation where the money has already been paid in, but the further stages of the transaction have not yet been completed.
From our point of view, the safest option for holding transaction money is a bank deposit without the involvement of individuals. In such a structure, the money remains inside the bank’s settlement mechanism, rather than with a notary or attorney as a separate account holder. But in practice, this option is not always available: not all banks provide such a service and often only under certain conditions.
What we advise checking before transferring the money
- who exactly is taking the money into custody and on what basis;
- whether the bank will send you notifications about every movement of funds on the deposit account;
- whether the agreement states that the buyer’s payment obligation is deemed fulfilled at the moment the money is credited to the deposit account;
- under what conditions the money will be transferred to the seller and who controls the fulfilment of those conditions.
If you want, I can immediately rewrite the neighbouring block of the article in the same way, so that everything sounds consistent in style and terminology.
The Czech Office for Surveying, Mapping and Land Registry and the real estate cadastre state that after notifying the parties, a 20-day period applies, and only then, if all conditions are met, may the registration be approved.
Why selling real estate through an agency still makes sense
Because the value of an intermediary is most often not in heroically “compensating for the catastrophe” afterwards, but in not bringing the client to catastrophe in the first place.
The most expensive mistakes in transactions often do not look dramatic in the moment. The wrong starting price in a sale may cost the seller a significant amount.
Mistakes in organising deadlines can derail financing. And vaguely written conditions for handing over keys and paying out the money sometimes lead to a situation where the client has to pay for an extra month of mortgage, rent, and utility expenses.
On the Get Home website, we directly describe the part of the work that many people underestimate:
- negotiating the price and transaction terms,
- reviewing and refining contracts,
- coordinating the terms of the loan and the purchase,
- monitoring the progress of registration in the real estate cadastre and organising the handover of the property.
It is exactly at these points that the client’s real money is usually saved, although advertisements almost never write about them.
This is especially noticeable when there is a sale of residential real estate and a sale of non-residential real estate with non-standard conditions, a sale of a share in real estate, a sale of country real estate, or a sale of luxury real estate, where the cost of mistakes in documentation and deadlines is higher than usual.
Even more sensitive to the quality of support is the sale of commercial real estate in the Czech Republic, including the sale of commercial real estate in Prague, as well as the sale of retail real estate and the sale of industrial real estate, where tenants, operational issues, the profitability of the property, and stricter expectations of the parties regarding deadlines are added to the basic logic of the transfer of ownership.
In other words, selling real estate through an agency makes sense not because the agent “insures the whole world”, but because a strong intermediary helps you not undersell, not miss deadlines, and not overpay where this could have been anticipated in advance.
In a good transaction, the client often does not even notice half the risks simply because they were removed before they had time to turn into a problem.
Our approach at Get Home
We do not consider it normal to have a model in which the agent gets paid for the mere fact that the process is moving, while all the main risks remain with the client. For us, a real estate service is valuable only when it leads to a clear and safe result.
Therefore, for us, the commission is not payment for the number of calls, viewings, and messages. It is justified only by the real outcome of the transaction.
To put it directly, our position is this: if a realtor made a mistake in the paperwork or organisation of the transaction and that is what caused the client damage, the damage must be compensated. Not with promises, not with general words about a “difficult market”, but in substance.
At the very least within the value of our own service, and where there are grounds, using the mechanisms of professional liability and insurance coverage.
That is exactly why we pay close attention to clients’ questions about:
- insurance,
- the amount of coverage,
- the procedure for holding transaction money,
- the deadlines for submitting documents to the real estate cadastre,
- the settlement procedure.
Such questions are completely understandable: this is exactly what a calm, transparent, and properly organised transaction is built on.
Our goal is not a one-time commission, but long-term trust. We want clients themselves to come back to us, and then bring their friends, relatives, and colleagues.
In practice, this only works when a company does not hide behind formalities and does not disappear at the moment when difficult questions begin to arise in the transaction.