From paper share certificates to the Residential and Commercial Property Information System

In 2019, Finland deployed the digital Residential and Commercial Property Information System. Comprehensive information on ownership, pledges and restrictions of housing company shares, such as shares of apartments and parking spaces, will be gradually saved in the system. Once a share certificate has been transferred into the system, the electronic registration will replace the paper certificate in transferring ownership of apartments and using them as collateral for loans.

The information on this site is updated continuously in Finnish and Swedish. More information in English can be found on the National Land Survey of Finland’s (NLS) website.

The system improves the availability and reliability of ownership information of apartments, as information on the characteristics, ownership and rights of possession of apartments is in an electronic format.

The Residential and Commercial Property Information System is administered by the National Land Survey of Finland. The Finnish Patent and Registration Office, the Finnish Tax Administration and the Digital and Population Data Services Agency participate in developing the system.

Shareholders act after the housing company

Housing companies established after 1 January 2019 will automatically be entered in the Residential and Commercial Property Information System.

Transferring information on housing companies established before 1 January 2019 requires action from the housing company and its shareholders. Housing companies must first enter the information on their company and the apartments belonging to it into the system by transferring their list of shares. 

After this, shareholders can apply for registration of their ownership in the system from the NLS. The paper share certificate is voided as part of the process. After the ownership is registered in the system, ownership is based on the electronic registration. Registration of ownership for an apartment is mandatory, when an apartment’s owner changes for the first time after the apartment’s housing company’s list of shares has been transferred in the system.

For more information, please visit NLS’s website.

More information on buying and owning apartments in Finland

Information for apartment owners
Register the ownership of an apartment

To-do list for apartment buyers
To-do list for apartment sellers

More information on the Act on the Residential and Commercial Property Information System