Cities are plagued by illegal rentals, often they are powerless against them

Prague - A number of larger cities in the Czech Republic are struggling with the problem of illegal tenants. For example, the Prague city hall evicted them from 254 apartments last year. However, the problem of "black" tenants is not just faced by the capital; other regions are also aware of the black market for apartments. Monitoring the use of apartments is quite challenging, and many town halls admit that they are often powerless against illegal rentals.
    Dozens of cases of abuse of municipal apartments are uncovered annually by cities in the Moravian-Silesian Region. Most often, the tenant rents the apartment to another person without the knowledge and consent of the city. Town halls check apartments randomly and based on reports from citizens. The uncovered wrongdoer often faces a lawsuit and eviction from the apartment, as found out in a survey by ČTK.
    "We uncover illegal subleases in the order of dozens annually," admitted spokesperson of the Karviná city hall, Šárka Swiderová. According to her, the city has been signing contracts with all tenants for one year when allocating municipal apartments, and these are also verified every year. They also randomly check previous contracts made for an indefinite period. As a result, the number of illegal subtenants in Karviná is decreasing.
    Most town halls agree, however, that uncovering illegal rentals is not easy. "It's quite difficult to prove that it's an illegal sublease when the tenant claims it's just a friendly visit," said the representative of the mayor of Prague 13 to ČTK. This was confirmed by the spokesperson of the hundred-thousand-strong Hradec Králové, Václav Svoboda. "It can be very difficult to prove illegal rentals to the tenant because neighbors refuse to testify. Many cases thus fall victim to lack of evidence," he stated.
    For example, in Jihlava, the misuse of apartments is monitored by a former employee of the city housing department, who supplements their pension this way. According to city spokesperson Radek Tulis, this is a beneficial cooperation for the city. "He returns hundreds of thousands in value, costs are minimal in comparison," he told ČTK.
    In the last four years, 1,600 checks regarding the use of municipal apartments have been conducted in Jihlava, during which about 500 violations of rental agreements were found. Sometimes these were very minor offenses, but 35 apartments had to be vacated by tenants.
    While many town halls consider their control mechanisms sufficient, some plan to intensify checks on the use of municipal apartments this year. In addition to illegal rentals, they are also troubled by fictitious exchanges and non-payment of rent. Smaller towns and municipalities rarely encounter fraudulent tenants.