A new register for housing company information in 2019

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

9.11.2018 12.15

Press release

Next year, an electronic register of housing company shares will be introduced in Finland that in future will contain exhaustive information about the holding and mortgaging of housing company shares.

Lists of shares transferred to the National Land Survey of Finland

The electronic recording of holding and mortgaging entries will start if the new legislation enters into force in the beginning of 2019. After that, all new housing companies will be established digitally and no share certificates will be printed on paper. The shares of new housing companies will be automatically included in the register of housing company shares.

Housing companies established before 2019 may transfer their lists of shares to the electronic register of housing company shares starting on 1 May 2019. After the transfer, housing companies are no longer obliged to maintain a list of shares. The transfer requires that information about each company's representatives is up to date in the Trade Register.

Closer to the time of the transfer, the housing companies and property managers will be informed about how the transfer is to be done. At the same time, the schedules of different operations will be specified.

The electronic register will replace paper

Housing companies and property managers will have direct access to the register of housing company shares for data on the shareholders. Shareholders no longer need to see to the storing of share certificates. Holding and mortgaging entries can be viewed and checked in the register by registering to the service of the National Land Survey of Finland. All this will also facilitate the development of electronic services by real estate companies and financial institutions.

To achieve this, certain measures need to be taken by companies established before 2019, after which the share certificates of individual shareholders can be cancelled.

In the first phase, housing companies need to transfer their lists of shares to the electronic register of housing company shares. After this, the shareholders may apply for the cancellation of their share certificates. An electronic shareholding entry will be made in the register of housing company shares at the same time.

After the transfer the recipient of the shares must apply for an entry as the shareholder every time the share is conveyed to a new holder. If the entry as a shareholder has not been applied for within ten years from the transfer of the list of shares to the National Land Survey of Finland, the shareholder must apply for the entry to be able to attend the shareholders’ meeting.

Inquiries:

https://osakehuoneistorekisteri.fi (in Finnish)

Pentti Lähteenoja, Director-General, ASREK project at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, pentti.lahteenoja(at)mmm.fi

Susanna Paakkola, Senior Ministerial Adviser, legislation, susanna.paakkola@mmm.fi

ASREK