Matrikkel

The matrikkel is Norway's official property register. It holds information about property boundaries, buildings, dwellings, bruksenheter (units of use), addresses and area for all properties in the country. Each property is identified by a unique matrikkelnummer, made up of the municipality number, gårdsnummer (gnr.), bruksnummer (bnr.), and where relevant festenummer (fnr.) and/or seksjonsnummer (snr.). The matrikkelnummer 0301-209/369 means, for example, Oslo kommune, gnr. 209, bnr. 369. Each bruksenhet (flat, office section) also gets a dwelling number in the form H0101, H0202 and so on, where the letter indicates the floor level (H = main floor, U = lower floor, K = basement, L = attic).

In the Norwegian property system, the matrikkel is the register of objects, while the Grunnboken is the register of rights. The matrikkel tells you what a property is. The Grunnboken tells you who holds rights in it. The two are always used together in property analysis, and both are operated by Kartverket.

The register has its legal basis in matrikkelloven (the Cadastre Act) and is run centrally by Kartverket as the cadastral authority, while the kommuner are responsible for keeping boundaries, buildings and addresses up to date in their own area. Today's matrikkel came into use in 2010 and replaced the older GAB register (grunneiendom, adresse, bygning). The tradition goes back to the first jordmatrikkel in 1665 and the modern 1838 matrikkel, which was the basis for taxing agriculture. The matrikkel is also the official address register in Norway, and it is distributed as open data through Geonorge and the Norge digitalt partnership, so that public agencies and private actors can connect to the same foundation.

Matrikkelloven distinguishes between five matrikkelenhet types:

• Grunneiendom, the classic property bounded by an outer boundary.
• Anleggseiendom, a three-dimensional property that lies above or below another one (typically car park basements, bridges, tunnels).
• Eierseksjon, a legal division of a building into jointly owned parts.
• Jordsameie, where several grunneiendommer own a shared property together.
• Festegrunn, where the land is leased on a long-term contract under a festeavtale (ground lease agreement).

Changes to the matrikkel happen through cadastral procedures: oppmålingsforretning (boundary survey) in connection with fradeling (subdivision), arealoverføring (transfer of area) or merging, where the surveyor in the kommune marks boundaries on the ground and records the result in the matrikkel. After the procedure, a matrikkelbrev is issued, the official extract of a property's matrikkel information, used among other things for tinglysing (registration) of new properties. Older properties may have a målebrev from before the matrikkel era; it is valid documentation, but is replaced by a matrikkelbrev when new procedures take place.

Ownership is not held in the matrikkel. It is held in the Grunnboken. The matrikkel shows the hjemmelshaver (registered owner) only as derived information from the Grunnboken; the rights picture itself, pant (mortgages), servitutter (easements), festeavtaler and forkjøpsretter (pre-emption rights), is retrieved from there. In practice, the matrikkel is used for tinglysing, eiendomsskatt (property tax), building applications, population registration, map production, reguleringsplaner (zoning plans) and property analysis, among other things.

The matrikkel is public. Anyone can look up property information at seeiendom.kartverket.no, while professional users often subscribe to the matrikkel API services through Kartverket or through integrated platforms.

In Placepoint, matrikkel information is retrieved in real time and shown in the property panel when you click a property on the map. Buildings open in the building panel, and you can choose whether boundaries and addresses are shown as map layers on the map. The map layers built on the matrikkel follow their own rhythms: the property map is updated in near real time (about half an hour), while the building layers are updated daily, and from the point an entry is registered in the matrikkel until it is visible in these map layers normally takes one to two days.

How the dataset appears on the map

The dataset is part of the map layer Property as Cadastre – Property Map:

From Placepoint's dictionary: Matrikkel

More information: Kartverket: Matrikkelen, Lovdata: Matrikkellova, seeiendom.kartverket.no, Geonorge: Matrikkelen, Store norske leksikon: Matrikkelen

English: The Norwegian Cadastre (national property register).

Frequently asked questions

What is the Matrikkelen?

The matrikkel is Norway's official register of all fixed properties. It holds information about property boundaries, buildings, dwellings, addresses and area, and is the basis for all property administration in the country.

What is the difference between the Matrikkelen and the Grunnboken?

The matrikkel is a register of physical and geographical information about properties. The Grunnboken is a legal register of registered rights and heftelser (encumbrances). Both are used side by side in property analysis.

Who manages the Matrikkelen?

The matrikkel is managed by Kartverket, but the kommuner are responsible for keeping matrikkel information up to date within their own kommune.

What is a matrikkelnummer?

The matrikkelnummer consists of the municipality number, gårdsnummer (gnr.), bruksnummer (bnr.) and, where relevant, festenummer (fnr.) and/or seksjonsnummer (snr.). It identifies a property uniquely across the whole country.

How do I get access to matrikkel information?

The matrikkel is available through seeiendom.no and kartverket.no. Placepoint retrieves matrikkel information directly in the map view, so that you get area, building information and address for a selected property.