Other registers and searches
Are there any other registers or sources of information that it is usual to search when buying a property or lending money on mortgage?
In Sweden land registration and cadastre has been done in different kinds of books since the eighteenth century. The reform of computerising the Land Register was implemented in the 1970’s and completed in 1995. Today all registration takes place in the same register. The main purpose of the Land Register is to give publicity and legal protection for purchases, mortgages and other legal actions and to establish certainty of ownership and rights to land. In Sweden the contents of the Land Register is guaranteed by the state.
The general part of the Land Register corresponds well to the international meaning of the term cadastre. It is the official register of the country’s division into property units, containing information about all properties’ designation, acreage, location by coordinates representing the centre of each parcel, accomplished property formations and definitions by reference to file numbers. Local plans and other regulations for land use are also referred to. This part of the Land Register holds information of both existing and former units. The cadastral map is an index map of all current properties, showing their unique designations and approximate boundaries.
The land registration part of the Land Register is mainly focusing on real property ownership and other kinds of rights created outside cadastral matters, and includes of the legal records of title, site leasehold grant, site leasehold right, encumbrances such as mortgages and rights of use, official notifications and history. This part of the Land Register forms the legal evidence of ownership and other rights. The titles are thus registered and thereby secured against the third party and thereby plays an important role in subsequent land transactions and mortgaging matters.
There are two others registers that it is advisable to have a look at. First, it is the marital register. In some cases an owner need consent with a spouse to transfer or mortgage a property that is a home or common property. A contract is not valid if this consent is missing. Second, when one contracting parties is a legal person it may be important to consult the trade registers (different types of companies and other legal persons has formally their own register) at Bolagsverket, the Swedish agency for register of business. The registers contain, among others things, information of directors and other representatives, and of their power to legally bind a company.
