Domovní kniha (House Book)

What the House Book is

The domovní kniha is the register of accommodated foreign nationals that the Foreigners’ Residence Act requires (§ 100(f) and § 101 of Act No. 326/1999 Coll.). Anyone who provides accommodation for payment, or accommodates more than 5 foreigners, must keep it, unless the guests are close persons (§ 99). A “foreigner” here is anyone who is not a Czech citizen, EU citizens included (§ 1(2)). It holds the data from the registration form (§ 97: name, date of birth, citizenship, permanent address abroad, travel document number and visa number if one is shown, start, place, expected length and purpose of stay) plus the start and end of the stay.

The law does not require Czech guests to be entered in the House Book. The register of every paying guest, Czech guests included, is the Registration Book (evidenční kniha) for the tourist fee under § 3g of Act No. 565/1990 Coll., kept where the municipality charges the fee, with its own list of data (including the fee collected or the reason for exemption).

Digital vs. paper

The Foreigners’ Residence Act doesn’t expressly set the House Book’s form, but the Foreign Police state on their website that, for inspections, the accommodation provider keeps and presents the House Book in paper form. If you keep records digitally, be ready to print them. A digital record is still generally easier to keep accurate and complete than a handwritten log, since it doesn’t depend on someone remembering to fill it in. The tourist-fee Registration Book, by contrast, may expressly be kept on paper or electronically (§ 3g(1) of Act No. 565/1990 Coll.).

Retention and inspections

The House Book must be kept for 6 years from the last entry (§ 101(4)). The police inspect it: you present it on request, and when an inspection starts you must present the book with the data of the foreigners staying at that time (§ 100(f)). Keeping or retaining it in breach of § 101 can be fined up to CZK 50,000 (§ 156 and § 157). Keeping records digitally and centrally — rather than split across paper books at each property — makes this much easier to manage at scale.