Apartment building
A building for living in which the residential function predominates.

Association of Owners of Units (AOU)
An Association of Owners of Units is a special type of corporate entity. It comes into existence in building where at least three units are owned by three different owners. The legal subjectivity of this entity is limited by law: an Association is capable of exercising rights and making commitments only in all matters connected with the management, operation and maintenance of shared spaces of a building, including activities related to the operation of technical equipment in the building used for other purposes (e.g., boiler rooms, heat exchanger plants, etc. An Association of Owners of Units is typically represented by a board, elected at the Association founding meeting for the first term of office. In addition, the statutes of the Association of Owners of Units and the Building Rules, if any, are also passed at the first meeting.

Balcony
a platform protruding outside the building, accessible from within and defined by a railing.

Barrier-free structures
Structures allowing safe movement to people with reduced mobility and orientation (Decree no. 369/2001 Coll. on general technical requirements ensuring the use of buildings by persons with reduced mobility and orientation).

Booking fee
A component of the purchase price. By paying it, the buyer declares their interest in concluding a Letter of Intent to Purchase and, potentially, a Purchase Agreement.

|Building energy intensity certificate
A document that evaluates a building based on its energy consumption (heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water preparation, electricity consumption by appliances, etc.).

Building manager
A company doing facility management that the AOU chose at its founding meeting.

Building permit
The outcome of an administrative procedure including the authorisation to execute a building (Section 115 of the Building Act).

Building thermal protection
Measures reducing the heat exchange between a building and its surroundings.

Cadastral office
An authority managing the property records.

Cadastre
A body of information about properties in the Czech Republic consisting of their listing and description and geometric and situational definition. It includes a record of proprietary and other material rights and other legitimate rights to the properties.

Carcass
A stage of building construction involving the foundations, walls, ceilings and roof.

Civic amenities
Parts of the public infrastructure, including things such as education facilities, social services, medical services, culture, etc. (Section 2, Para 1, item k) of the Building Act)

Client modification
Defined adjustments to the layouts and surfaces, interior fittings and fixtures that a client arranges with the Client Centre within predefined dates.

Common property of spouses
It is established by entering marriage, and consists of property and obligations of spouses acquired in the course of their marriage.

Decision on building location
An act of public administration that locates a building on a plot and defines its type, purpose and terms and conditions for its placement (Section 79 of the Building Act).

Declaration of the Owner of a Building
A Declaration of the Owner of a Building is a legal document that defines residential and non-residential units within a building, as well as the shared spaces of the building, under terms and conditions set by the Flat Ownership Act. The registration of the Declaration of the Owner in the cadastre gives rise to the units as separately transferrable properties. Upon that, the existing owner of the building becomes the owner of each unit in the building and the owner of the shared spaces within the building. Then, the existing owner of the building transfers the units to the ownership of third parties (buyers) by means of agreements on the transfer of the proprietary title, including any co-ownership shares in the shared spaces in the building and any land plots belonging to the building.

Developer
The entity that starts the construction project with its own activity.

Documentation (project documentation)
A set of documents that are the source and medium of information, describe the complete building design; it is divided into several stages depending on the documentation purpose (zoning decision, building permit, contractor selection, as-built).

Drywall boards
Boards for ceiling and wall cladding made of a gypsum core and carton. They are used for non-load bearing partitions and structures requiring fire resistance. The boards come in thicknesses of 10, 12.5, 15 and 18 mm.

Exterior thermal insulation
Thermal insulation on the outer side of a building. Insulating the entire building on the outside is appropriate due to the thermal and construction technology.

Facade
The visible layer of a building wall.

Final approval
An approving position of an applicable building authority declaring that the completed building does not have any defects pursuant to the Building Act that would preclude its use.

Finishing trades
They include interior or exterior plastering, completion of floors, all installations and interior doors, etc.

Fire-resistant door
A door that resists fire for a prescribed period of time; they are installed at the borders of fire compartments in a building.

Floor tiling/Paving
Surface finish of a floor (ground) using composed parts attached to a sub-base, typically made of ceramics, brick, concrete, etc.

Flooring
The topmost layer of a floor, typically laminated slabs, cork, linoleum, PVC, carpeting, etc.

Heat exchanger
A device in the heating system in which heat is transferred between warmed water from a boiler and cooled water returning from the building heating circuit.

Heater
A device transmitting heat from a source to a room.

Insulating glazing
A window components consisting of panes of glass compliant with requirements on thermal insulation. The space between the panes is typically filled with inert gases, air-tight and water-resistant.

Letter of Intent to Purchase (LIP)
An agreement in which the seller and the buyer commit themselves to when and under what terms and conditions they will make a Purchase Agreement for the properties in question. This agreement is binding and legally enforceable.

Lightweight partition
A non-load bearing structure (removable as a rule) that serves exclusively to divide an area into two parts.

Living area
The floor area of the residential rooms (living room, bedroom, dining room) that conforms to requirements of Decree no. 137/1998 Coll.

Load-bearing walls
Perpendicular structures transmitting the loads in the building onto the foundation bottom (they bear the ceiling, the structures above the ceiling, and the roof) – Perimeter walls are typically used as load-bearing walls.

Loggia
An area acting like a balcony, the difference being that it is embedded inside the building.

Mortgage loan
A mortgage loan is a credit loan secured with a security interest in the property. It is used for purchasing a property for residence, investment or rental. A loan is considered a mortgage loan upon the occurrence of the legal effects of the registration of the security interest. A mortgage loan is typically repaid in the form of monthly instalments.

Ownership certificate
A statement from the cadastre proving the ownership of specified properties. It records any easements, security interests and other limitations for a property if they exist.

Parking bay
An area of precisely prescribed dimensions intended for parking a vehicle. The general technical requirements for construction require a specified number of parking bays for each building as well as single-family house.

Plot
A piece of land having its own plot number in the cadastre – Every plot in a cadastral area is uniquely defined with such a number.

Plot number
A number under which a land plot is registered in the cadastre.

Property tax
A tax that every property owner has to pay on an annual basis. The tax is always paid by the owner who owns the property as of 1 January; the tax declaration form is only submitted in the first year by 31 January. A garage is declared by owner for all, typically the chairperson or another member of the Association of Owners of Units.

Purchase agreement
A document based on which the cadastral office performs registration of the proprietary title to a property. By law, the purchase agreement for a property has to be in writing.

Purchase price
The purchase price of a property refers to the monetary resources paid by the buyer to the seller for transferring the proprietary title (so-called paid transfer).

Site master
A person who executes and coordinates a building project (Section 153 of the Building Act).

Storey, basement level
A basement level has the floor level lower than 0.8 m below the highest point of ground within a band 3 m wide along the building perimeter. A storey is any successive level that is not a basement level.

Terrace
A flat roof with a railing.

Thermostat
Installed in the heating system and controlling the temperature in a building to prevent overheating or underheating of the building.

Triple glazing
The glazing of a window with a thermally insulating function consisting of three panes of glass in a row.

Usable area
The area of rooms without the structures; the floor area.

Utility facilities
A collective reference to water mains, sewerage, gas, power installations, etc.

Utility networks
Technical infrastructure equipment that enables supplies of water, electricity, etc. to buildings.

Zoning decision
The building authority sets the terms and conditions for locating a building in the zoning decision (Section 77 of the Building Act).

Zoning proceeding
A type of administrative proceeding that defines the specific use of a land plot for the proposed purpose (Section 87 of the Building Act).