The Residential and Commercial Property Information System is regulated by law, and the National Land Survey of Finland (NLS) is responsible for its implementation and maintenance.
It was first introduced for housing companies. Once all housing companies have transferred their lists of shares to the system, it is time for apartment owners to transfer their share certificates within ten years of their housing company’s transfer.
Housing companies transferred to the Residential and Commercial Property Information System
Housing companies established before 2019 had to transfer their lists of shares to the Residential and Commercial Property Information System by the end of 2023. All housing companies and mutual real estate companies established in 2019 or after are automatically entered in the system. When a housing company is in the system, the NLS is responsible for the maintenance of its list of shares, which can be accessed in the system.
Apartment owners must apply for the registration of ownership
Once a housing company has been transferred to the Residential and Commercial Property Information System, each apartment owner must apply for the registration of ownership.
For example, when an apartment changes hands as a result of a transaction or inheritance, the new owner must apply for the registration of ownership within two months. In other situations, ownership needs to be registered within ten years. The registration period starts from the date on which your housing company was transferred to the Residential and Commercial Property Information System.
When registering ownership, the NLS voids the paper share certificate. With an electronic registration of ownership, information about the ownership of an apartment can be accessed in the Residential and Commercial Property Information System.
Read more about the registration of ownership.
Information for various uses
The information services of the Residential and Commercial Property Information System are provided as printouts: lists of shares and apartment information. The printouts include basic information about ownership.
The list of shares includes basic information about the housing company, its apartments and their owners. The apartment information printout presents information about a single apartment – basic information about the housing company, the apartment and its owners, pledges and restrictions. These printouts are required in housing transactions, for example.
The information services are also available via application programming interfaces (APIs) for professionals who require the information in their work. Printouts containing personal data are also provided if there is a compelling reason to access the information.
Increasing the information content
The NLS provides professionals with APIs to access the Residential and Commercial Property Information System’s information. In addition to the current APIs, the NLS is building APIs to send electronic applications to it.
The information content of the Residential and Commercial Property Information System will also be expanded to housing companies’ administrative information. In future, the system will show the percentage of the housing company loan covered by apartment owners, for example.
