Investigate the ownership – deed meeting

When is a deed meeting held?

A deed meeting is held when someone claims to have acquired a property but there are no documents that could be the basis for the deed. It is when the person:

• cannot present their original deed of acquisition or present a deed of acquisition at all as it has been lost/destroyed
• has a deed of acquisition that is deficient in some respect which hinders legal process
• does not know if a deed of acquisition has been written at all.

Examples of deed of acquisition are purchase contract, deed of sale, deed of gift, will or deed of division of property.

You need to send documents

When applying for deed, the applicant must, among other things, send the acquisition document in original. If purchase documents have been lost or destroyed before you applied for deed, a deed meeting can be conducted to investigate whether you are the rightful owner. After that, the Property Registry will take a decision on whether or not legal title can be granted.

The provisions on legal title meeting also apply to those who claim to have acquired a land right but who cannot apply for registration of the land right in the usual way. A legal deed meeting can then be held to investigate the land ownership. In the following, only deed is mentioned.

Who should apply?

It is the person who claims to have acquired a property with ownership rights that can apply for a deed meeting. The meeting may also be postponed at the request of the person who may seek title to the previous owner's acquisition, when his acquisition document cannot be presented or is deficient.

Example of deficiencies that can be resolved

An example of a deficiency that can be resolved through a deed meeting is if the seller's signature on an older acquisition deed is not witnessed (according to previously applicable rules).

Another example is if a witness according to law is missing on a property division or inheritance deed dated before 1 January 1988.

This also includes situations where, when transferring several properties, the parties have mistakenly omitted one of the properties in the deed.

There are deficiencies that cannot be resolved

Deficiencies that cannot be resolved through legal proceedings are, for example, if permission from an authority was required for the validity of the acquisition, and such was not sought or granted, which led to the acquisition becoming invalid.

Application

You can use the form to apply.

The application must state:

• the applicant's (and possibly representative's) name and contact details.
• the property designation.
• statement of alleged acquisition/ownership.
• the reasons why the acquisition deed cannot be presented in original or is incomplete.
• other statement of what the applicant knows about the acquisition.

The application must be accompanied by:

• available written material/investigation, e.g. copy of acquisition deed, estate register, will, etcetera.
• information from the Tax Agency showing who has been the assessed owner of the property during the ten years immediately preceding the year the application is made. State to the Swedish Tax Agency that the information is to be used for a legal title meeting. It can be ordered via fastighetstaxering@skatteverket.se.

Important to consider

Information about the assessed owner's name and address (assessment decision or certificate) is, according to the Swedish Tax Agency, confidential and is not disclosed to anyone other than the assessed owner.

An applicant who is not an assessed owner, or does not have has been for all ten years, may instead request that the Property Registration Office request the information, which is then sent directly to the Property Registration Office. Then write this in the application.

Feel free to attach a list to your application with the names and contact details of people who may have information regarding the acquisition of the property and describe how they can have information. For example, who was involved in the purchase and more.