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PROPERTY LAW
Types of ownership
Freehold
Ownership
• Norwegian law traditionally defines ownership as the all-
including factual and legal right to dispose over an asset,
e.g. a real property.
• Any title, transfer or charge of a right to a real property must
be registered in the Norwegian Land Register (grunnboken)
in order to obtain legal protection against bona fide third
party interests. The Land Register is a nationwide register
administered by the Norwegian Mapping Authority.
Co-ownership
• Defined by law.
• Ownership where two or more persons jointly own something
together, e.g. a real property, in such a way that their rights
are divided proportionally or by fractions.
Commonhold units
• Defined by law.
• Ownership by one or more persons to a co-ownership share
in a in developed property with an associated sole right to
the use of one of several dwellings or commercial units in the
property (eierseksjonssameie)
• Consists of:
–– privately owned areas (eierseksjoner);
–– common area (fellesareal).
• Established through a municipal sectioning decision after a
prior application, which shall include (i) a definition of the
property units, (ii) the purpose of each property unit (i.e.
residential or commercial), and (iii) the section number and
ownership proportion of each property unit.
• All co-ownerships must have bylaws.
• Each co-owner has a right to use the common areas and
shares the related service charges in accordance with the
ownership proportion of each property unit.
Leasehold
Lease of real property (tomteleie)
• Lease of land without an intention to build anything on the
leased land is not statutory regulated in Norway.
Long-term ground lease (feste)
• Governed by the Norwegian Land Lease Act of 1996, which
sets out background law that will complement any matters
not regulated by a leasehold agreement.
• It regards lease of land to a lessee that already has or will
construct buildings on the leased land. As a main rule, the
lessee has the same right as the lessor to dispose over
the leased land, unless otherwise agreed in the leasehold
agreement.
• The leasehold agreement must be in writing. A leasehold
agreement regarding real property which is for commercial
purposes will last for 80 years, unless otherwise stated in the
leasehold agreement.
• Each party may, every 10 years, require the leasehold
consideration to be adjusted in accordance with the Norwegian
Consumer Price Index, unless otherwise agreed in the
leasehold agreement. There is a general ban on unreasonably
high leasehold rent, although in commercial leases the level of
what would be considered unreasonably is high.
• The right to lease may be mortgaged and transferred unless
otherwise agreed in the leasehold agreement.
• To ensure that it is enforceable against third parties, the lease
must obtain legal protection by registration in the Norwegian
Land Registry.
Rights affecting ownership
Public approval (konsesjon)
• According to the Norwegian Concession Act of 2003,
any purchase of real estate in Norway is subject to public
approval.
• An important exception, however, is that developed properties
under 100,000 sq.m. of which any agricultural land area
does not exceed 20,000 sq.m., are not subject to concession,
provided that the transaction does not require an alteration of
the area’s zoning status. For undeveloped properties there is
no such threshold.
• The Concession Act of 2003 is drawn up, construed and
applied in accordance with the EEA-agreement article 40.
Thus, the authorities are not entitled to treat companies
resident in other EU Member States less favourably than
Norwegian entities.
• The main objective of the Act is to protect agricultural areas
and interests, and normally approval is granted to a purchaser
of commercial real estate.
• Concession also applies to lease agreements and leaseholds
of more than 10 years. The size exemptions outlined above
also applies to lease agreements.
Easement (servitutt)
• Is a burden imposed upon a real property, for the use and
utility of another real property belonging to another owner,
without the beneficiary holder of the easement having the
possession of the encumbered real property.
• Are divided into the right to use or otherwise dispose over
(positive easements) and the obligation to refrain from use
of or otherwise dispose over (negative easements) a real
property.
• An easement may be due to the holder at any time (real
easements) and thus may only be transferred together with
the encumbered real property. Other easements (personal
easements) may, as a main rule, be freely transferred,
however the property owner has a pre-emptive right unless
the easement is transferred to an individual closely related to
the holder.
• The owner and holder may not exercise their respective
rights in a manner that is to the unreasonable or unnecessary
disadvantage to the other.
Mortgage (pant)
• Is a security encumbering the asset, which entitles the
beneficiary to a preferential right over other creditors in the
event of a forced sale of the relevant asset.
• Any security interest over real property must be in accordance
with the provisions of the Norwegian Mortgage Act of 1980
in order to obtain legal protection and to be enforceable. This
requires i.a. a written mortgage agreement identifying the
amount to be secured.
• Most rights to a real property in Norway may be mortgaged
and there is no limit on the number of mortgages that may
be created over the same right to a property (e.g. ownership,
lease, land lease etc.).
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Investors Guide to Europe 2015