Finland

Registering Property in

Finland

Listed below is a detailed summary of the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute.

The information appearing on this page was collected as part of the Doing Business project, which measures and compares regulations relevant to the life cycle of a small- to medium-sized domestic business in 183 economies. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in June 2011.

  • Standard Property Transfer

  • Property Value: EUR 1,704,738.92
  • City: Helsinki

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No. Procedure Time to Complete Associated Costs
1 The seller and buyer notarize the deed of sale in the presence of an attesting notary

The agreement can be prepared by the seller or the buyer, no involvement of a lawyer or real estate agent is required. In general the seller shall present an extract from the land register and an abstract of title confirming the title of the property, but this is not formally required. The agreement should be in writing and contain at a minimum the following (according to the Code of Real Estate): name of the seller and buyer, the object of purchase, the purchase price or equivalent compensation and possible subsequent conditions. The sale agreement shall be signed both by the seller and buyer, in the presence of the attesting notary. The attesting notary checks the ID of the seller and buyer and verifies the formal validity of the sales agreement. Failure to follow these requirements will result in the transaction being automatically null and void.
Note that an attesting notary is required only when ownership (full freehold title) of the property is assigned. When the right of tenancy or other right to possess the property is assigned, the presence of the attesting notary is not required.
The attesting notary will inform the land registry of the transaction (and the municipality for properties over 5,000m2).

 1 day EUR 77
2 The buyer pays the transfer tax

The transfer tax can be paid at a local bank, directly at the Tax Authorities or online. The attesting notary gives the buyer instructions on the transfer tax payment. The payment is done using a printed tax form for the Transfer Tax. The receipt of the payment of the taxes must be included in the application for the registration of title to the property (see procedure 3).

Agency: Local Bank, Tax Authority or online 		1 day 4% of the property value
3 The buyer applies for a land title at the District Court

The buyer is under obligation to register the property title at the Land Registry within 6 months from the purchase. The application shall be submitted to the District Survey Office of the region where the property is situated. The Land Register enjoys public credibility and thus the validity of the registration of title and the information of the register can be trusted.
The District Land Survey Office examines the preconditions of title and when those are met, grants the title that is registration of the ownership in the Land Registry (Register of Titles and Mortgages).

The documentation shall include:
Original sales agreement.
The receipt of the paid transfer tax (Paid in Procedure 2).
Extract from the Register of Companies, articles of Association, minutes from the General Meeting of the companies (seller and buyer) where the sale and purchase was resolved (this is verified through company's trade register extract which can be obtained online from the Register of Companies).
Copy of the sales agreement.
Registration fee is paid at bank, local court (registry authority) or online, based on invoice sent by the registration authority after registration.

Registration of ownership and mortgage affairs has been moved from local courts to District offices of the National Land Survey as of January 1st, 2010 based on change of Land Code by law 572/2009 (http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2009/20090572) and Law 584/2009 (implementation of removal of Land registration issues from District courts to National Land Survey).

Only if the area of the sold property is 5000 m2 or more, according to the pre-emption Act, Oct 1, 1977 (amended several times since), the municipality has a right to buy a real estate or an un-separated area or a share thereof that has been sold. In those cases, the Municipality will get the information about real estate conveyances from the attesting notaries. If the municipality decides to use its pre-emption right it has to notify the buyer, seller, and the Land Registry about the decision within three months from the conveyance. The real estate owner could also get an advance notice from the municipality that it will not use its pre-emption right (the fee is less than 100 euros). A title can be granted only after the three-month dead-line if the municipality has not announced it will use the pre-emption right or if the municipality has given the advance notice of not using the right. Cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen have pre-emption in all sales covering more than 3000 m2 accordingly. The attesting notary will notify National Land Survey within two days from the sale.

Agency: District Survey Office of National Land Survey of Finland 		7-20 days EUR 65 (registration fee)
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