The Homeowners’ Association (Huseiernes Landsforbund)

The Homeowners’ Association furthers the local and national interests of sole or part owners of houses and business properties across the country. It does this through providing legal, technical and financial advice to its members as well as by politically lobbying for their interests at the local and national levels. It publishes a bimonthly membership magazine, Hus & Bolig (“House & Home”), which regularly spotlights dishonesty in the building trades as well as injustices imposed by rules and regulations, in addition to its regular articles on refurbishing, rebuilding and building and property transactions. It arranges member discounts on goods and services including building materials, electricity, heating oil, insurance, loans, petrol, security services and telecommunications. Its head office is in Oslo, and it has 21 district organisations (disktriktsorganisasjoner) throughout the country, with a contact person in each county (fylkeskontakt). It is a member of the International Union of Property Owners (UIPI) and consequently is updated on international trends in property ownership. Its membership fees are reasonable and for many members less than savings realised through its discount arrangements. For further details, contact the head office, Fred Olsensgate 5, 0152 Oslo, Tel: 22477500, Fax: 22411990, www.huseierne.no, post@huseierne.no.

Housing advertisements (Boligannonser)

Housing of all sorts is available, and there are listings in the classified advertising pages of newspapers of dwellings for sale (eiendomer or eiendoms-markedet) or rent (boligmarked, bolig tilbys, or boliger til leie). Property transactions (eiendomsoverdragelser) of houses bought and sold usually are listed in a separate column. Most dwellings are described in terms of their total area in square metres (kvadrattmeter), number of floors (etasjer), number and type of rooms (rom) and area of plot. The numbering of floors of a multi-storey building begins with one at ground level. The area of the plot on which a house stands usually is in mål, now the everyday term for the decare (1,000 square metres). However, an older mål, equal to 984.34 square metres, is still in use. So in advertisements or leaflets issued by estate agents, a to må tomt (“two-mål plot”) can mean 1,968.7 or 2,000 square metres. Consequently, when negotiating a purchase, always ask for specification in square metres. The number of rooms stated in advertisements is exclusive of ancillary rooms. For instance, an advertised “2-room apartment” (2 roms leilighet) will have two rooms plus a kitchen, a bath and maybe a hall.

The types of dwelling and the principal terms used in describing them in newspaper advertisements are below, in alphabetical order in Norwegian (common abbreviations in parentheses):

andel share, usually of ownership or expenses
andelsleilighet cooperative flat
areal area (usually in square metres)
beliggenhet location
blokk block
bolig dwelling
boligareal (BOA) living area
boligtomt plot, usually approved for building a house
borettslag housing cooperative
bruttoareal (BTA) gross area
bygslet leasehold
eiendom property
eierleilighet freehold flat
enebolig one-family house
eneboliger i kjede connected one-family houses
etasje storey
felles gjeld (f.gj.) share of building mortgage, usually for a flat
felles utgifter (f.utg.) share of building running expenses, usually for a flat
feriehus holiday house
festetomt leasehold plot
finanseringsbistand financing available
fritidsbolig holiday home
frittliggende enebolig detached house
generasjonsbolig multi-generation dwelling
horisontaldelt tomannsbolig house with two dwelling units on separate floors
hybel room, bedsit
hybelleilighet bedsit, one-room flat, pied-à-terre
hytte cottage, cabin
leiegård block of flats
leilighet flat, apartment
lånetakst (LT) loan value
modernisert modernised
obligasjonsleilighet contract leasehold flat
offentlig gebyr (off.geb.) public fees
oppført built
prisantydning (prisant.) estimated price
rekkehus terraced house, undetached house, town house
rom room
selveier freehold
strandlinje private beach
tomannsbolig duplex house
tomannsbolig, halvpart maisonette
tomt lot, plot
utsikt view
verditakst (VT) valuation price
vertikaltdeltbolig semi-detached house
visning showing

Housing cooperatives (Boligbyggelag)

There are some 100 housing cooperatives that together have some 600,000 members, provide more than 230,000 dwellings and each year account for some 21,000 sales of new and older dwellings, about a fourth of the property transactions in the country. The largest housing cooperatives are in Oslo: OBOS with 140,000 members and USBL for young people, with 20,000 members.

The basic principle of the housing cooperatives is similar to that of cooperative shops: members holding shares (andeler) are entitled to buy flats or houses built or managed by the cooperative. As a shareholder, you are liable for part of the cooperative’s joint mortgage (fellesgjeld). Consequently, the base price of a cooperative flat or house is the sum of the shares you hold and your part of the joint mortgage. Part of the rent you pay goes to cover interest and repayment of the joint mortgage and the rest covers maintenance, insurance and other common expenses. If you wish, you may sell your share and move out. Many cooperatives have rules that grant members priority in buying (forkjøpsrett), but sales are on the open market. Depending on the rules of the individual cooperative, you may sublet (framleie) your flat or house or one or more rooms in it.

You can find housing cooperatives listed under boligbyggelag in the Yellow Pages. For further information on housing cooperatives countrywide, contact the Norwegian Federation of Cooperative Housing Associations (Norske Boligbyggelags Landsforbund), Øvre Vollgate 1, PO Box 452 Sentrum, 0158 Oslo, Tel: 22403850, Fax: 22403920, www.boligsamvirket.no.

Housing, owning or renting (Bolig, eie eller leie)

You can find housing for sale and for rental by contacting estate agents or by reading housing advertisements. Most rental dwellings (utleieboliger) are flats, usually in blocks but sometimes in private houses. They may be furnished (møblert) or unfurnished (ubmøblert). Some municipalities have rentals (boliger for utleie), usually for shorter periods of time or for young people, as under the Ungbo, youth housing, programme. The most common rental accommodation is a bedsit or single room (hybel), usually with access to a kitchen and bath in a private home, or in a communal living (kollektiv) flat. A slightly larger version, a one-room flat with its own kitchen and bath (hybelleilighet) will be located in a block of similar flats, as in a student residence complex (studentboliger). Hotels and boarding houses (pensjonat, hospits) have rooms for rent, usually on a nightly or weekly basis.

There are four major types of privately-owned dwellings:

• Flats or houses in housing cooperatives, in which residents own shares.
• Shareholding flats (aksjeleligheter), in which owner-tenants hold shares in a block and are jointly responsible for its mortgage. In practice, shareholding flats are very much like those in housing cooperatives. They are most common in older buildings, and may be sold freely on the open market.
• Bonded flats (obligasjonsleiligheter), in which tenants hold bonds issued by the owner of a block of flats. The contracts involved vary and are complex, so you should consult a lawyer or free legal aid (Chapter 29) before signing a contract.
• Privately-owned dwellings (selveierboliger) are owned by their occupants. Most one-family houses (enebolig) are owned outright, whilst most flats (leilighet), terraced houses (rekkehus) and the like will also involve an ownership association (sameie) and incur joint expenses (fellesutgifter), such as for building cleaning and maintenance of a block of flats.

When you consider buying a property, you should note its cadastral reference numbers and verify them in the property register (grunnboka) kept by the city recorder or district recorder (Chapter 38) to see if there is a mortgage on it. In evaluating its overall price, allow an additional 2.5% to cover the document duty (Chapter 43). Almost all houses and flats are sold by competitive bidding among buyers. Even if a new house or flat is advertised at a fixed price, you may enter a bid for it. Usually a deadline date is set for bids. The seller may assess a bid not only by its total amount, but also on the strength of its proposal for financing purchase and on other factors. For instance, an elderly couple who built and lived in a house for many years may prefer a buyer to their liking. If the seller is not satisfied with any of the bids received, there may be another round of bidding, in which those who have submitted bids will be invited to submit anew. Dine Penger (Chapter 31) summarises its advice for bidding in 10 rules:

• 1Find the price range. The asking price is seldom the same as the final selling price, so you should know how much it is worth before you bid.
• 2Bid on one only. Refrain from simultaneous bidding on two or more houses or flats, as bids are binding. If more than one of your bids is accepted, you may be in financial trouble.
• 3Assess the seller. The reasons for selling may be as vital as your reasons for buying.
• 4Don’t believe all statements by estate agents. Remember, the estate agent is employed by the seller and is interested in finishing a sale so as to get on to the next.
• 5Set your own limit. Resist the temptation to go over your self-set limit, even by “just a little”. Those whom you bid against may also go up “just a little”, which may make it a lot.
• 6There’s always another dream house or flat. You may live in a place for 40 years, so you need not be hasty: if you lose out in a bid round, there always will be another chance.
• 7State technical conditions only. Arrange financing before you bid, but state your technical conditions, such as requiring that a house put up for sale “as is” (som besiktiget) conforms to the building codes, as required by Avhendingsloven.
• 8Start low. Once you have bid, you have shown interest, and will be invited to bid again if the price goes up.
• 9Have a margin. Never bid at your limit, as almost all sales involve more than one round of bidding. You should be able to afford to go up slightly for the second round.
• 10State a deadline. Adjust the deadline to the seller (see rule 3), but make it short enough to convince the seller that you are serious.

The law on transfers of properties (Avhendingsloven) sets forth specific requirements for property transactions, principally that:

• sales agreements should be in writing
• a sales agreement should describe the property and its transfer
• the property should meet building codes and other requirements, unless otherwise agreed
• the seller is obliged to disclose all vital facts concerning the property (opplysningsplikt)
• the lack of disclosure of vital facts is regarded as a defect (mangel)
• the buyer should always examine the property before signing an agreement
• the buyer may enter claims against delays and defects (forsinkelser og mangler) up to five years after purchase
• both the buyer and the seller may hold back payment, cancel contract or demand compensation (erstatning) if the other party breaks the contract (avtalebrudd).

Honest sellers will fulfil their obligations, in part by engaging assessors to compile a property condition report (tilstandsrapport) and by buying property transfer insurance (eierskifteforsikring) to cover any claims that may arise under the five-year rule.

In considering a new or recently-built house or flat, ask to see its certificate of completion (ferdigattest) issued by the municipal building control (bygninsetaten) to ensure that no legally required works are outstanding. However, in considering an older dwelling, read any certificate put forth, as it applies at the date of completion, not thereafter. Even a recently dated certificate of completion is no guarantee of current worth. It may refer only to improvements required of an owner who neglected to obtain a certificate of completion when a house was built, but years later made the improvements and requested the certificate in order to sell the house.

For complete information on the various aspects of housing, see the specialised publications and view the websites of the following organisations:

• The Homeowners’ Association is concerned with all aspects of owning housing and consequently both publishes and advises on housing matters; www.huseierne.no.
• The Directorate of Immigration (Chapter 20) regularly publishes a free printed and online brochure on housing, in several languages, to help new residents; www.udi.no.
• Dine Penger (Chapter 31) often publishes articles on housing and has theme sectors on its website for housing (bolig), insurance (forsikring) and borrowing (Iån); www.dinepenger.no.
• The Consumer Council (Chapter 26) has a magazine, Forbruker-rapporten, with frequent articles on housing, as well as the Fakta-blad series of fact sheets, many of which pertain to housing and are available printed or online; www.forbrukerportalen.no.

Leasehold (Tomtefest)

Leasehold applies almost exclusively to plots of land on which homes or holiday cottages or cabins are built. A leasehold agreement (festeavtale) almost always requires the lessee (fester) to pay an annual fee (festeavgift), which may be increased (regulert) in step with the cost-of-living index (konsumprisindeks) or another published index. If you contemplate buying a house or holiday property on a leasehold plot, carefully assess the leasehold agreement to learn your financial and other obligations as well as to determine how the contract may affect future value of the residence built on the plot. In 2004, a new law regulating leasehold land went into effect. It grants lessees the right of conversion (innløsningsrett) to freehold after a lease has been held 30 years, at a price equivalent to 30 times the annual fee or 40% of the market value of the property, exclusive of investments made by the lessee during the contract period. The leasehold law is complex, as are leasehold contracts, so it’s wise to hire a lawyer to interpret a proffered contract and negotiate its terms.

Lifts (Heis)

Of the 27,000 blocks of apartments in the country, some 20,000 have no lifts, principally because they were built before lifts became commonplace in residential buildings. As elsewhere in Europe, the population is ageing, so lifts are increasingly in demand in apartment blocks of more than two stories. Accordingly, municipal and State funding is available to install lifts in co-ownership (sameie) and housing cooperative blocks.

Youth housing (Ungbo)

Ungbo is a service that offers affordable housing to young people in cities in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. It is supported by municipalities, often jointly with housing cooperatives, and differs from other housing services in two ways. First, there are age limits, so only people in their late teens to mid-twenties may live in Ungbo flats. Second, Ungbo flats are for rental or short-term cooperative ownership only. In Norway, Ungbo housing is available in municipalities across the country; contact the local municipality’s information service (informasjonstjeneste) for details.