Digitalisation of lists of shares – Everything housing companies need to know

The conversion of apartment share certificates into electronic ones began in 2019. This means that paper share certificates will become history once the holdings are gradually transferred to an electronic register, the Residential and Commercial Property Information System of the National Land Survey of Finland. Find out what you should know about the digitalisation of share certificates. Learn what the digitalisation of housing companies’ lists of shares means.

If you are a home owner you need not hurry to digitalise the share certificate of your apartment. During the first phase, the digitalisation of housing companies’ lists of shares will be the responsibility of these housing companies only.

Read the instructions for home owners regarding the digitalisation of housing company share certificates

The digitalisation of share certificates makes property trade and lending smoother

Moving to a digital system and abandoning the use of paper certificates makes the lives of many operators easier. Apartment owners no longer have to think about where they can store their share certificates safely. 

An electronic ownership note in the Residential and Commercial Property Information System increases the reliability of apartment information and ownership notes in addition to making them more available. The electronic ownership note replaces the use of a paper share certificate in connection to property trade and as collateral for a loan. 

The digitalisation of share certificates in practice

The certificate of shares in a housing company will be converted into an electronic format in two stages. In the first stage, the housing companies must digitalise their share register by the end of 2023. The housing company’s board of directors must decide on transferring the share register to an electronic system, and they must notify the shareholders. The property manager, the chair of the housing company’s board of directors or a person authorised by the board’s meeting can transfer the share register.

NOTE! The housing company is responsible for the information transferred to the Residential and Commercial Property Information System of the National Land Survey of Finland. 

Read more about transferring the share register

Digitalisation of the share certificate of a housing company shareholder

After the transfer of the list of shares, the owners of housing company shares then have ten years to digitalise the share certificate for their home. There is no hurry to do so, in other words.

Read the instructions for home owners regarding the digitalisation of housing company share certificates
If the owner of the home changes and the share certificate has not yet been digitalised the new owner will have two months to digitalise the certificate.

Read more about digitalising the share certificate when buying a home