Aksjeleilighet
An aksjeleilighet is a home where the ownership right is tied to a share in a boligaksjeselskap (a housing company limited by shares). The property itself is owned by the company, and you as a shareholder have an exclusive right of use to a specific flat in the building by virtue of the share certificate and an associated tenancy agreement with the company. This ownership form was common in Norwegian cities from the interwar years to the 1960s, but was mostly wound down after borettslagsloven av 1960 established a solid legal framework for borettslag (housing co-operatives), and borettslag became the dominant form of collective housing.
Housing companies that were not converted were carried over under special transitional rules in connection with the new burettslagslova and the later act on eierseksjoner (owner sections). The remaining housing companies are therefore regulated in a grey area between aksjeloven (the Norwegian Companies Act) and burettslagslova; key resident rules in burettslagslova apply by analogy through special provisions. Today there are an estimated few thousand aksjeleiligheter in Norway, mainly in older apartment blocks in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim.
The title documents for an aksjeleilighet are the share certificate (or a certified extract from the company's share register) together with the tenancy agreement with the company. Both must be transferred to the buyer for the change of ownership to be complete. The share certificate is not registered in Grunnboken; the building and the plot are registered under the company's legal title, while the transfer of the share takes place in the company's share register. A charge over the aksjeleilighet is taken over the share and the tenancy agreement together (a pledge over movable property), not over real property; the charge is registered in Løsøreregisteret (the register of movable property) at Brønnøysundregistrene.
When you buy an aksjeleilighet, no document duty or registration fee is payable as it would be for a freehold home, because no real property is transferred. That is one of the few financial advantages of the ownership form today. In return, financing is often harder; not all banks offer home loans against a charge over a share, and the interest rate can be somewhat higher than for a comparable borettslag or freehold home. The company may also have joint debt that the shareholder services through shared costs, similar to the arrangement in a borettslag.
The articles of association of the housing company govern internal matters: voting weight at the general meeting, the board's authority, sales rules and rights of pre-emption. A right of pre-emption for the company or for other shareholders is common and must be exercised within a deadline. For letting, the company's consent applies; many housing companies restrict letting more strictly than modern borettslag do. Compared with an eierseksjon (freehold in a multi-dwelling building), an aksjeleilighet gives less owner autonomy and slightly poorer liquidity in the market, but most day-to-day living conditions are the same. The housing company pays corporation tax on any surplus, while borettslag and owner-section joint ownerships are in practice tax exempt as long as they do not run external business activity; the individual resident rarely notices the difference, but it can matter for larger joint decisions.
In Placepoint, an aksjeleilighet is identified through the housing company as the registered owner in Grunnboken; the company is shown in the property panel, while the shareholder and the flat do not appear in the matrikkel, because the share transfer is not recorded there.
How it looks in Placepoint
In Placepoint you find this in Property panel:
From Placepoint's dictionary: Aksjeleilighet
More information: Lovdata: Burettslagslova, Brønnøysundregistrene: Løsøreregisteret, Store norske leksikon: aksjeleilighet
English: Share apartment (legacy Norwegian housing-corporation share, Norwegian-specific).
Frequently asked questions
What is an aksjeleilighet?
An aksjeleilighet is a home where the ownership right is tied to a share in a boligaksjeselskap (a housing company limited by shares). The company owns the property, and the shareholder has an exclusive right of use to a flat through the share certificate and a tenancy agreement.
What is the difference between an aksjeleilighet and a borettslag?
Both are collective ownership forms where the co-operative or the company owns the property. In a borettslag, the member owns a share in a co-operative enterprise and is governed by burettslagslova; in an aksjeleilighet, the shareholder owns a share in a limited company.
Why do aksjeleiligheter still exist?
Most housing companies were converted into borettslag, but some were not. The remaining ones are regulated in a grey area between aksjeloven and burettslagslova, and are found mainly in older apartment blocks.
Do I avoid document duty when I buy an aksjeleilighet?
Yes. No document duty or registration fee is payable on the transfer itself, because the share is not real property. Any charge over the share is registered in Løsøreregisteret.
Can I get a bank loan for an aksjeleilighet?
It is possible, but not all banks offer loans with a charge over a share. The interest rate can be somewhat higher than for a borettslag or a freehold home, and the financing often requires a bank with experience of this ownership form.