Applicable Law
1. Is condominium possible? Describe condominium in your system (EU Adapt project)
2. In your national system, do you have an arrangement which broadly follows that description? If so, what is it called in your language(s)? Please describe it in this factsheet.
3. If your national system does not have an arrangement like that, or if it does, but also has a different arrangement which is commonly used to govern the ownership of apartments, please also describe, in this fact sheet, the arrangements commonly used.
4. In your national system, which laws or regulations rule the arrangements you describe (or are relevant for them)?
Condiminium is possible in Finland. A condominium is a building structure divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned.
The Finnish legal system recognizes two different institutions which broadly follow the description of condominium as specified above.
Firstly, a real estate can be jointly owned Finnish: yhteisomistus / Swedish: samägande by two or more persons and said persons may enter into an agreement on the possession of the real estate Finnish: hallinnanjakosopimus / Swedish: avtal om delning av fastighetens besittning.
By such an agreement a real estate may be divided into areas which are exclusively possessed by the joint owners and areas which are possessed jointly by the joint owners. Registration of such agreements is regulated by the Finnish Code of Real Estate 540/1995 especially chapter 14 section 3 of said code. However, there is no law governing the material issues with regard to said agreements.
Secondly, the Finnish Limited Liability Housing Companies Act 1599/2009 provides an arrangement by which a limited liability company owns and possesses at least one building or part thereof in which at least half of the combined floor area of the apartment or apartments is reserved in the Articles of Association for use as residential apartments possessed by the shareholders.
Usually the limited liability housing company (Finnish: asunto-osakeyhtiö / Swedish: bostadsaktiebolag) also owns and possesses the real estate on which the building or buildings are located. On its own or combined with other shares, each share of the limited liability housing company provides the right of possession to the apartment or other part of the building or real estate as provided in the Articles of Association.
In case less than half of the combined floor area or none of the area of the apartment or apartments described above is reserved for use as residential apartments (e.g. business use), the Limited Liability Housing Companies Act or certain specified sections thereof shall be applied only if this is mentioned explicitly in the Articles of Association.
Otherwise the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act 624/2006 shall be applied with regard to said limited liability joint-stock property companies (Finnish: keskinäinen kiinteistöosakeyhtiö / Swedish: ömsesidigt fastighetsaktiebolag).
Hereafter the answers to this fact sheet are based on the presumption that the condominium in question is regulated by the Finnish Limited Liability Housing Companies Act, since a vast majority of the condominiums in Finland are regulated by said act.
