Title registration and stamp duty

What lagfart is

Whoever has acquired real property must apply for registration of the acquisition – lagfart (Land Code, chapter 20, section 1). Lantmäteriet, the land registration authority, enters the owner in the land register. It makes the ownership public, protects the buyer, and the bank needs it to take mortgage deeds as security.

Lagfart must be applied for within three months of the purchase deed being signed (chapter 20, section 2). If not, Lantmäteriet may impose a fine (section 3).

The stamp duty

On a purchase a private person pays 1.5 per cent in stamp duty – the law puts it as fifteen kronor for every full thousand kronor (Stamp Duty Act, section 8). A legal person pays 4.25 per cent, with some exceptions, among them tenant-owner associations.

The duty is calculated on the higher of the price and the assessed value for the year before the year the registration is granted (section 9), rounded down to whole thousands. Lantmäteriet adds a handling fee. According to Lantmäteriet, the seller and the buyer are jointly liable for the duty.

On inheritance and division of property between spouses no stamp duty is paid, only the fee. On a gift, duty may be due if the recipient pays something or takes over loans – according to Lantmäteriet as on a purchase when the payment is 85 per cent of the assessed value or more.

From the law

«Lagfart ska sökas inom tre månader efter det att den handling som förvärvet grundas på (fångeshandlingen) upprättades.»

Tenant-owned flats: no lagfart

A bostadsrätt is a share in an association, not a property. So no lagfart is applied for and no stamp duty is paid when buying one; the association enters the new holder in its register of flats. A national tenant-owner register has been enacted (Act 2026:484) – the government decides when it starts.