Along with its implementing regulations, the new Czech Civil Code (NCC) introduces a series of principles (e.g. principle of accuracy of entries in the Real Estate Register, principle of material publicity, principle of priority) which together create a new concept of the Real Estate Register (known also as Cadastre or land register) as a public register.
According to these principles, if in the Real Estate Register has been recorded a right in rem in favour of a person, it shall be presumed that that right exists in favour of that person, and if a right in rem was deleted from the Real Estate Register, that right shall be presumed not to exist. If a right to real property is recorded in the Real Estate Register, no person may plead that he/she was not aware of the contents of the Real Estate Register since anyone can access and check data in the register (any person, may, consult the public records, deeds or facts or legal situation and obtain extracts or certified copies of them).
The material publicity principle in the NCC aims to protect a buyer (sub-acquirer) who acts in good faith based on the entry in the Real Estate Register, i.e. a person who assumes that the record of legal relations (recorded status) there is accurate and complete. The material publicity principle is the most important legal principle which governs land evidences in Central Europe. This critical principle trumps the rule that no one can transfer rights beyond the rights which they actually own.
If the record (i.e. situation shown in the Real Estate Register) (recorded status) in the Real Estate Register does not reflect the true legal situation (actual legal status), a person (sub-acquirer) who acts in good faith on that record (recorded status) will be protected and may acquire ownership from person listed as an owner of real property even if this person is not the true owner. The situation shown in the Real Estate Register (recorded status), thus, prevails over the reality (true legal situation).
In its most extreme applications, the material publicity principle allows for the acquisition of ownership rights from a person wrongly recorded in the Real Estate Register as the owner of the right, but which in reality is not. In such a case, however, the acquisition of the real property must still happen in good faith, for valuable consideration, from a person listed in the Real Estate Register as the owner and on condition that the true owner does not dispute the entry in the Real Estate Register through formal revocation measures (action in rectification) set out in the NCC. These actions include filing a court action for the revocation and requesting the inclusion of a note of discrepancy or a note of dispute in the Real Estate Register. If the true owner does take any of these revocation steps, the good faith of the subsequent owner is maintained and protected.
The NCC seeks to protect not only good-faith buyers (sub-acquirers), but also true real property owners whose rights are affected by the disparity between the actual legal status (true legal situation) and entry in the Real Estate Register (recorded status). This category of persons includes true owners whose names do not appear in the Real Estate Register. The new law offers the true owners of property the option to defend themselves against any loss or limitation of their rights caused by the application of the material publicity principle. Protection is available especially against the impact of invalid or falsified purchase agreements.