Finding the right home
Finding the right home may seem challenging at first, because there are so many options. Real estate portals provide various services for homebuyers. A portal will scan the market and notify you about homes that meet your criteria as soon as they appear on the market. Why not search for your first home on OP Koti (in Finnish)?
Find out about the home and housing company
When you have found a suitable home, be thorough: find out about the home and housing company. Remember that you’ll be buying shares. You’re not actually buying a home – walls, a floor and a roof – but shares in a housing company. For this reason, it’s worth taking time to study extremely important documents: the property manager’s certificate, the energy certificate, the housing company’s Articles of Association, financial statements, the report by the Board of Directors (annual report), and the repair plan.
Ask the estate agent, seller or property manager about at least the following before you make an offer:
- Is there a redemption clause in the Articles of Association? In other words, do the shareholders or housing company have right of first refusal on the home put up for sale?
- What repairs and renovations has the housing company done?
- What repairs are planned? Have they been decided on and what will be your household’s share of the costs?
- How healthy are the housing company’s finances? How large are its outstanding loans?
- If you need a parking space, are any available?
Tips on making an offer
After making a thorough background check, you can make an offer for the home. Offers should be made in writing, with clear information on the property being sold, the price, and the seller and buyer.
They should also specify when you will gain the right to occupy the property, and agree on a down payment or fixed compensation as security for the offer. This means that, after agreeing to the offer, neither the buyer nor the seller can withdraw without losing some money. If your bank has given you only a preliminary loan offer, you should make only a conditional offer for the home. This means that your offer to buy will only be valid if the loan is actually granted.
If an estate agent is handling the sale, you can draw up an offer with the agent during the property viewing or later. Most estate agents have pre-prepared offer templates, based on which they can draw up your offer and deliver it to the seller.
You are then committed to the offer you made until the seller responds. The seller will either reject the offer, accept it, or make a counteroffer.
- If the seller accepts your offer, the purchase will proceed on the terms you offered. If the seller makes a counteroffer, your original offer is no longer binding on you. For example, in their counteroffer, the seller may alter the handover date, or even the price.
- If you accept the counteroffer, the purchase will proceed accordingly.
You should also remember that the seller is not obliged to accept any offers, even if the offered price is the one they asked for.
Transfer tax
Most buyers must pay transfer tax when buying property or shares in a housing company. This would normally be 1.5 per cent of the debt-free price of housing company shares and 3 per cent of other property prices (from January 2024).
If you have paid transfer tax at the old percentage rate after 12 October 2023 (housing company shares 2% and property 4%), the Tax Administration will refund the overpaid amount with interest.
When buying your first home, check with the Tax Administration for details on transfer tax.
Read more about transfer tax on the Tax Administration’s website
The home purchase
When the offer terms and price are agreed and you and the seller have both signed them, it’s time to make the actual home purchase. This is usually done digitally or at an agreed time at the seller’s bank.
Digital purchase
A home purchase can be made digitally nowadays; it is no longer necessary to visit a bank branch. In such a case, the estate agent will prepare the sales document in a digital system. Online banking user IDs are used to access and sign the documents.
In the case of a digital purchase, the seller and buyer can sign the deed of sale on a flexible basis, when convenient for them. After the signature, the bank will transfer the purchase amount to the seller’s account and the seller will deliver the share certificate to you.
Read more on the Digitaalinen Asuntokauppa (DIAS) website (in Finnish)
Purchase performed in the buyer’s bank
The buyer, seller, estate agent and a bank representative will be present at the conclusion of the purchase, where the deed of sale will be signed (both you and the seller will have had time to read the deed of sale in advance). After the signature, the bank will transfer the purchase amount to the seller’s account and the seller will deliver the share certificate to you.
Digitalisation of share certificate when buying a home
If you are buying an apartment, semi-detached house, separate house or terraced house and the share certificate is still on paper only, the certificate must be digitalised (transferred to the National Land Survey of Finland’s digital system). This applies to housing companies established before 2019. The share certificates of companies founded after then are already in digital format.
If the apartment’s deed of sale has not been digitalised by the time the home changes owners, its new owner must apply for registration of ownership within two months from the transfer of title (ownership). If the owner does not digitalise the share certificate within the time limit, they will lose the right to participate in shareholders’ meetings.
In most cases, any digitalisation costs are included in the house purchase price. A fee based on the bank’s list of charges and fees may be charged for digitalisation of a housing company share certificate. The fee can be paid with an OP cooperative bank owner-customer’s OP bonuses. Fees set by the National Land Survey of Finland may also have to be paid.
See the bank’s list of charges and fees
Read more on the Residential and Commercial Property Information System’s website
Notifying the Tax Administration about the home purchase
You must notify the Tax Administration about the purchase. If the purchase is made through an estate agent, they will make the notification (a transfer tax return) on your behalf. If the purchase does not involve an estate agent, you must make the transfer tax return yourself. You must notify the Tax Administration even if you do not need to pay transfer tax.
Handover of home to new owner
The date on which the seller will hand over the right of occupancy to you (when the home will become free for use by you) is generally agreed in the offer, or at the latest in the share certificate. If nothing is written in the share certificate, right of occupancy will transfer at the same time as ownership. You will receive ownership when the deed of sale is signed or the entire purchase price is paid to the seller.
You can start moving in when the home becomes yours.
