History Hans Högman
Copyright © Hans Högman 2021-07-24

Property Designations in Sweden

History

Specific designations of properties began with the land reform known as Storskiftet. The land reform had two main objectives: to consolidate the fields and meadows into fewer units and to divide the common land between the users in order to improve its use. This reform was confirmed in 1757. The surveys took a long time and required many surveyors. Thousands of surveys were carried out around the country until 1803. Now an ordinance was issued on a new land reform called Enskifte: one plot of land per owner on which the farm houses would be placed. Due to the varying nature of the land throughout the country, this reform was only implemented in Skåne province in southern Sweden. In 1827, a new land reform was introduced, the Laga skifte: each landowner could have up to three different parcels of land, each with a slightly different character, divided into fields, meadows, and outland. This reform was implemented until 1928. The Swedish land reforms didn’t aim to transfer land ownership away from owners, but merely redistribute the farmers’ various strips of agricultural land in a village into larger undivided parcels per farmer. Under the law of 1734, a new division or redistribution of the farmland could not take place unless all the landowners in the village agreed to it. The district economic maps (Swe: häradsekonomiska kartorna) often reflect the situation after the completion of the land reforms. The image shows an example of a land reform map where each parcel has an assigned number. Image: Lantmäteriet. More about the Swedish land reforms

Definition of the Term Property (Swe: Fastighet)

When the word "property" comes to mind, most people probably think of a house, but in this context the word means a defined area of land, i.e. real property. It could be a plot of land, a field or part of a lake, etc. Property in these contexts thus means a plot, a piece of land, which is immovable and on which buildings or other facilities may stand, but do not necessarily have to do so. In Sweden, all real properties generally have a specific designation, a property designation, which is a unique designation a property has been given. The property designation shows who owns the specific piece of land, as well as the ownership history, i.e. who previously owned the land. In Sweden, real property legislation is based on the Land Code (Swe: jordabalken), which defines the concept of real property. So, the legal definition of real estate or real property is land and the buildings on it. Real estate law governs who may own and use the land.

Property Divisions due to Inheritance (Swe: Hemmansklyvning)

When an owner of a property died and succession was made, the land was divided between the sons. This is called hemmanklyvning” in Swedish which means “property division due to inheritance”. The division of the homestead was a natural consequence of the death of the father and the sons' sharing the inheritance. A homestead division was a transformation of an agricultural property into one or more parts. Each part became an independent entity. However, property divisions due to inheritance were banned in 1686. However, it was temporarily allowed during different periods. The ban was lifted during the period 1747-1852. The division of property was allowed after the authorities had assessed the tax capacity of the land, later the limit was the ability to support five people. Full freedom of property divisions due to inheritance was introduced on 12 June 1895 on agricultural properties of more than 5 hectares of taxable land. Property division is applied when the main purpose is to break joint ownership.

Parceling out Property (Swe: Avstyckning)

The division of a property can also be done by subdivision, i.e. parceling out. A new property is created by division. Parceling out land is to divide the land into separate, smaller parts especially, in order to sell it. In real estate, a parcel of land is a lot or plot of land owned by some owner(s). The property from which the subdivision is made is referred to as the parent property (Swe: stamfastighet). The newly created property is called a subdivision lot (Swe: styckningslott). A subdivision may also be carried out in order for the subdivision lot to be immediately merged with another property. In Sweden, you can follow the ownership of real properties in the “Lagfartsboken” (Land Register/registry of deeds) and Fastighetsboken”, from the 1870s and throughout most of the 20th century.

Property Designations in Sweden (Swe: Fastighetsbeteckningar)

All land in Sweden is divided into real properties. A property designation (Swe: fastighetsbeteckning) is a unique designation assigned to each property by Lantmäteriet (The National Land Survey of Sweden). Property designations exist to keep track of all real properties in the country. This then designates the land on which the property stands. The property designation consists of four parts: municipality or town name, district name, block, and unit number. The boundaries of a property can only be changed at the National Land Survey. Here is an example of a fictitious property designation: KALMAR BJÖRRED 1:13 1. Kalmar = name of the municipality 2. Björred = name of the local area - district 3. Number 1 = block number 4. Number 13 = unit number If the property is subdivided, the newly created property is assigned the first available unit number. The above example would be KALMAR BJÖRRED 1:14. In other words, properties with high unit numbers have often been subdivided from the original property. Initially, the property designations were written in the form Åby 1 1 , i.e. 1 raised to 1 for the parent property Åby 1. Over time, probably in the 1960s in connection with the digitization of the real property register, the form on which the property designation was written changed to Åby 1:1, i.e. 1 1 changed to 1:1. The image below shows the four parts of the property designation. This example is from Gävle. Image: Lantmäteriet.

Property Designations - Sweden

The system of property designations introduced in 1908 remains the same today. However, a particular property may have had a new property designation assigned to it over the years, i.e. the property's designation has been changed to another for various reasons. Thus, a property with a particular property designation in the 1930s may not have exactly the same property designation today.

The National Real Property Register (Swe: Fastighetsregistret)

Fastighetsregistret: The National Real Property Register (formerly known as “stadsregistret” [City Real Property Register] and jordregistret” [Rural Land Register] is the Swedish government's register of real properties with information on title deeds and other real estate information based on constitutional provisions. The regulations specify, among other things, how the land register is to be kept, for what purposes personal data may be used, and what information the register must contain. A title deed (Swe: lagfart) is an official registration of a new legal owner after the acquisition of real estate. The register is managed and developed by the National Land Survey (Swe: Lantmäteriet), while the information in the register is updated by the land registry authorities, the registration authority, the Tax Agency, and municipalities. In 1908 it was decided to create a new land register called “jordregistret” and Sweden then got the property designations that are still used today, for example, "Gårdeby 2:1". The “jordregister” was a list of real property in Sweden. It was established by a Royal Decree of 13 June 1908 to replace the older land register, known as “jordeboken”, for real property in rural areas, while towns and town-like communities were included in the town register known as the “Stadsregistret”. The Jordeboken was an older list of land holdings in Sweden that was used as a basis for taxation and it contained information about the location, size, yield, name of the owner, etc. of the farm. Properties in towns were not normally recorded in land registers (jordregister) but town registers (stadsregister). In contrast, properties in municipal communities and purchases were often included in the land register. The introduction of the land register (jordregister) was completed in 1931, and the Land Registry Board (Swe: Lantmäteristyrelsen) was appointed as the supervisory authority for the land register. The register was kept at the county survey offices. The land register's property books (Swe: fastighetsböcker) were arranged by the parish and based on the division of the land into its constituent parts. Initially, the property designations were written in the form Åby 1 1 , i.e. 1 raised to 1 for the parent property Åby 1. So, the homestead Åby 1 got for example the designation Åby 1 1 . If this property was subsequently parceled out, these were entered in the Real Property Register under the property designations Åby 1 2 and Åby 1 3 . As new subdivisions of the property were carried out, new property designations were added; Åby 1 4 , Åby 1 5 , etc. The sequence tells in which order the subdivision was made, but not from which of the previous lots the subdivision was made. Today the property designation is written in the form Åby 1:1. The Urban Property Register (Swe: Stadsregistret) was established after the Act on Urban Land Registration of 12 May 1917. Beginning in 1968, the rural land register (Swe: Jordregistret) and the urban property register were transferred to a common IT-based real property register, which was completed in 1995. All real property today is registered in the National Real Property Register. The Real Property Register (Swe: Fastighetsregistret) is Sweden's official registry of how the land in our country is divided and who owns what. The Real Property Register is public and consists of: the General Part, the Registration Part, the Address Part, the Building Part, and the Property Tax Assessment Part.

Search for a Property Designation via Online Maps

On both Eniro.se and Hitta.se you can search for a property's property designation by entering an address or zooming in on an area and selecting ”Tomtgränser” respectively “Tomter”. Searching for property designation at Lantmäteriet (Land Survey) 1. Go to ”My Map” on Lantmäteriet’s website or use this link: https://minkarta.lantmateriet.se/ 2. Choose English as the language 3. Enter the address of the current property or navigate to it by zooming in on the map 4. Change map layer to Property Map Click on the Change map layer button at the top right and select Property map. Now you can see the property boundaries and property designations on the map. See the image to the right. 5. Select the property you are interested in and click on it to see the property designation Under Change map layer you can also switch to Aerial photo with boundaries with the property boundaries marked.
Above, an example of how the property designations are displayed on "My Map" at Lantmäteriet. The map shows, for example, Näs 3:6 and Näs 1:6 respectively in Ytterlännäs, Kramfors municipality (Swe: kommun).
On the map, click on the desired property to get the property designation. Property designation: Kramfors Ytterlännäs-Näs 3:6.

Sale of Real Property in the Past

From 1734 onwards, there were provisions that the purchase of a real property had to be advertised three consecutive times. This was known as a "uppbud" (invitation to purchase) and was intended to enable relatives who had the right of first refusal to take notice and possibly object to the purchase.
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History Hans Högman
Copyright © Hans Högman 2021-07-24

Property Designations in Sweden

History

Specific designations of properties began with the land reform known as Storskiftet. The land reform had two main objectives: to consolidate the fields and meadows into fewer units and to divide the common land between the users in order to improve its use. This reform was confirmed in 1757. The surveys took a long time and required many surveyors. Thousands of surveys were carried out around the country until 1803. Now an ordinance was issued on a new land reform called Enskifte: one plot of land per owner on which the farm houses would be placed. Due to the varying nature of the land throughout the country, this reform was only implemented in Skåne province in southern Sweden. In 1827, a new land reform was introduced, the Laga skifte: each landowner could have up to three different parcels of land, each with a slightly different character, divided into fields, meadows, and outland. This reform was implemented until 1928. The Swedish land reforms didn’t aim to transfer land ownership away from owners, but merely redistribute the farmers’ various strips of agricultural land in a village into larger undivided parcels per farmer. Under the law of 1734, a new division or redistribution of the farmland could not take place unless all the landowners in the village agreed to it. The district economic maps (Swe: häradsekonomiska kartorna) often reflect the situation after the completion of the land reforms. The image shows an example of a land reform map where each parcel has an assigned number. Image: Lantmäteriet. More about the Swedish land reforms

Definition of the Term Property (Swe:

Fastighet)

When the word "property" comes to mind, most people probably think of a house, but in this context the word means a defined area of land, i.e. real property. It could be a plot of land, a field or part of a lake, etc. Property in these contexts thus means a plot, a piece of land, which is immovable and on which buildings or other facilities may stand, but do not necessarily have to do so. In Sweden, all real properties generally have a specific designation, a property designation, which is a unique designation a property has been given. The property designation shows who owns the specific piece of land, as well as the ownership history, i.e. who previously owned the land. In Sweden, real property legislation is based on the Land Code (Swe: jordabalken), which defines the concept of real property. So, the legal definition of real estate or real property is land and the buildings on it. Real estate law governs who may own and use the land.

Property Divisions due to Inheritance (Swe:

Hemmansklyvning)

When an owner of a property died and succession was made, the land was divided between the sons. This is called “hemmanklyvning” in Swedish which means “property division due to inheritance”. The division of the homestead was a natural consequence of the death of the father and the sons' sharing the inheritance. A homestead division was a transformation of an agricultural property into one or more parts. Each part became an independent entity. However, property divisions due to inheritance were banned in 1686. However, it was temporarily allowed during different periods. The ban was lifted during the period 1747-1852. The division of property was allowed after the authorities had assessed the tax capacity of the land, later the limit was the ability to support five people. Full freedom of property divisions due to inheritance was introduced on 12 June 1895 on agricultural properties of more than 5 hectares of taxable land. Property division is applied when the main purpose is to break joint ownership.

Parceling out Property (Swe: Avstyckning)

The division of a property can also be done by subdivision, i.e. parceling out. A new property is created by division. Parceling out land is to divide the land into separate, smaller parts especially, in order to sell it. In real estate, a parcel of land is a lot or plot of land owned by some owner(s). The property from which the subdivision is made is referred to as the parent property (Swe: stamfastighet). The newly created property is called a subdivision lot (Swe: styckningslott). A subdivision may also be carried out in order for the subdivision lot to be immediately merged with another property. In Sweden, you can follow the ownership of real properties in the “Lagfartsboken” (Land Register/registry of deeds) and “Fastighetsboken”, from the 1870s and throughout most of the 20th century.

Property Designations in Sweden (Swe:

Fastighetsbeteckningar)

All land in Sweden is divided into real properties. A property designation (Swe: fastighetsbeteckning) is a unique designation assigned to each property by Lantmäteriet (The National Land Survey of Sweden). Property designations exist to keep track of all real properties in the country. This then designates the land on which the property stands. The property designation consists of four parts: municipality or town name, district name, block, and unit number. The boundaries of a property can only be changed at the National Land Survey. Here is an example of a fictitious property designation: KALMAR BJÖRRED 1:13 1. Kalmar = name of the municipality 2. Björred = name of the local area - district 3. Number 1 = block number 4. Number 13 = unit number If the property is subdivided, the newly created property is assigned the first available unit number. The above example would be KALMAR BJÖRRED 1:14. In other words, properties with high unit numbers have often been subdivided from the original property. Initially, the property designations were written in the form Åby 1 1 , i.e. 1 raised to 1 for the parent property Åby 1. Over time, probably in the 1960s in connection with the digitization of the real property register, the form on which the property designation was written changed to Åby 1:1, i.e. 1 1 changed to 1:1. The image below shows the four parts of the property designation. This example is from Gävle. Image: Lantmäteriet.

Property Designations

The system of property designations introduced in 1908 remains the same today. However, a particular property may have had a new property designation assigned to it over the years, i.e. the property's designation has been changed to another for various reasons. Thus, a property with a particular property designation in the 1930s may not have exactly the same property designation today.

The National Real Property Register (Swe:

Fastighetsregistret)

Fastighetsregistret: The National Real Property Register (formerly known as “stadsregistret” [City Real Property Register] and “jordregistret” [Rural Land Register] is the Swedish government's register of real properties with information on title deeds and other real estate information based on constitutional provisions. The regulations specify, among other things, how the land register is to be kept, for what purposes personal data may be used, and what information the register must contain. A title deed (Swe: lagfart) is an official registration of a new legal owner after the acquisition of real estate. The register is managed and developed by the National Land Survey (Swe: Lantmäteriet), while the information in the register is updated by the land registry authorities, the registration authority, the Tax Agency, and municipalities. In 1908 it was decided to create a new land register called “jordregistret” and Sweden then got the property designations that are still used today, for example, "Gårdeby 2:1". The “jordregister” was a list of real property in Sweden. It was established by a Royal Decree of 13 June 1908 to replace the older land register, known as “jordeboken”, for real property in rural areas, while towns and town-like communities were included in the town register known as the Stadsregistret”. The Jordeboken was an older list of land holdings in Sweden that was used as a basis for taxation and it contained information about the location, size, yield, name of the owner, etc. of the farm. Properties in towns were not normally recorded in land registers (jordregister) but town registers (stadsregister). In contrast, properties in municipal communities and purchases were often included in the land register. The introduction of the land register (jordregister) was completed in 1931, and the Land Registry Board (Swe: Lantmäteristyrelsen) was appointed as the supervisory authority for the land register. The register was kept at the county survey offices. The land register's property books (Swe: fastighetsböcker) were arranged by the parish and based on the division of the land into its constituent parts. Initially, the property designations were written in the form Åby 1 1 , i.e. 1 raised to 1 for the parent property Åby 1. So, the homestead Åby 1 got for example the designation Åby 1 1 . If this property was subsequently parceled out, these were entered in the Real Property Register under the property designations Åby 1 2 and Åby 1 3 . As new subdivisions of the property were carried out, new property designations were added; Åby 1 4 , Åby 1 5 , etc. The sequence tells in which order the subdivision was made, but not from which of the previous lots the subdivision was made. Today the property designation is written in the form Åby 1:1. The Urban Property Register (Swe: Stadsregistret) was established after the Act on Urban Land Registration of 12 May 1917. Beginning in 1968, the rural land register (Swe: Jordregistret) and the urban property register were transferred to a common IT-based real property register, which was completed in 1995. All real property today is registered in the National Real Property Register. The Real Property Register (Swe: Fastighetsregistret) is Sweden's official registry of how the land in our country is divided and who owns what. The Real Property Register is public and consists of: the General Part, the Registration Part, the Address Part, the Building Part, and the Property Tax Assessment Part.

Search for a Property Designation via Online

Maps

On both Eniro.se and Hitta.se you can search for a property's property designation by entering an address or zooming in on an area and selecting Tomtgränser” respectively “Tomter”. Searching for property designation at Lantmäteriet (Land Survey) 1. Go to ”My Map” on Lantmäteriet’s website or use this link: https://minkarta.lantmateriet.se/ 2. Choose English as the language 3. Enter the address of the current property or navigate to it by zooming in on the map 4. Change map layer to Property Map Click on the Change map layer button at the top right and select Property map. Now you can see the property boundaries and property designations on the map. See the image to the right. 5. Select the property you are interested in and click on it to see the property designation Under Change map layer you can also switch to Aerial photo with boundaries with the property boundaries marked.
Above, an example of how the property designations are displayed on "My Map" at Lantmäteriet. The map shows, for example, Näs 3:6 and Näs 1:6 respectively in Ytterlännäs, Kramfors municipality (Swe: kommun).
On the map, click on the desired property to get the property designation. Property designation: Kramfors Ytterlännäs-Näs 3:6.

Sale of Real Property in the Past

From 1734 onwards, there were provisions that the purchase of a real property had to be advertised three consecutive times. This was known as a "uppbud" (invitation to purchase) and was intended to enable relatives who had the right of first refusal to take notice and possibly object to the purchase.