The Czech Supreme Court recently considered the often-discussed issue of the “physical” division of a building into residential units after a period of common ownership. Under the court’s decision (file no. 22 Cdo 879/2019), which was handed down on 17 April 2019, before residential units are created from a single building, the court must ascertain whether the existing co-owners (or at least some of them) are willing to pay related costs. If none of the co-owners is willing to finance the required structural modifications of the building, then it must be deemed indivisible. The legal relations among co-owners may, thus, pose an obstacle when dividing a building into residential units.
