Purchasing a home or property

The flat or the property is transferred to your possession immediately after the sales contract has been concluded. The seller and the buyer agree on the transfer date or the date on which the buyer can move into the flat. They may also make changes to the sales contract. 

The documents of the flat or the property are transferred in connection with the sale. When the buyer pays the purchase price.

You can draw up and sign a deed of sale for the property in the National Land Survey of Finland's property exchange service (in Finnish). If you prepare a written deed of sale for a property, an attesting notary must also be present when the document is signed.

Before you purchase or sell real property you will need at least the following:

• a certificate of title
• a certificate of mortgages and encumbrances.

You may also need:

• an extract from the cadastre
• map extract in the cadastre.

The certificates can be purchased from the National Land Survey Finland e-service (in Finnish).

You can also request these certificates from the seller if you are buying real estate.

Yes. You must pay the asset transfer tax when buying a home. The asset transfer tax is 3% of the sales price of the property or the building or 1,5% of the price of the housing shares. 

Pay and report the asset transfer tax to the Tax Administration on your own initiative. In the future, you will have to pay a real estate tax on your property.

You can file and pay both taxes in MyTaxOpens in a new window..

Apply for a title to the property within six months of the deed of sale being signed.

A title to the property will become pending without an application if you and the seller have prepared a deed in the property exchange service (in Finnish). 

If you wish to use the property you have purchased as collateral for the debt, apply for a mortgage in the National Land Survey of Finland property exchange service (in Finnish).

The seller of the dwelling is liable for any such defects in the dwelling that the buyer has not been aware of or could not have noticed before the sale was concluded. The buyer must inform the seller of a defect in the dwelling within a reasonable time. In the case of a housing share, the buyer must inform the seller of the defects within two years at the latest. In the case of a property, the time limit is five years.

It the seller is a trader, the seller’s liability for defects is more extensive and the time limit for claiming defects is longer.

If the sale of real estate concerns the sale of your dwelling, you do not have to pay any taxes if:

• you have owned the dwelling for at least two years and
• either you, your spouse or your minor child has lived in the dwelling for a continuous period of at least two years.

However, you must ensure that information on the sale is visible in your next tax return.

If these conditions are not met, you must pay tax if you gain a profit from the sale of the property. Sales profit is called capital gain. If, on the other hand, you make a loss in the transaction, you can deduct the loss from your other capital gains or income. 

You can report capital gains or losses and pay any applicable tax in MyTaxOpens in a new window..