The Land Information System is a nationwide basic register that safeguards land ownership and contains data about every property in Finland, for example
- the property’s features, such as location, boundaries, area, and possible right to use another property’s area
- owners
- possible mortgages used as security for a loan and rights of lease.
A real property unit or property means a certain land or water area, for instance a plot. There can be buildings on a property, but information about buildings is not stored in the Land Information System.
The NLS is responsible for the register together with 67 municipalities. The law also obligates several other authorities to produce information and decisions about the management and use of properties to the register.
What is the Land Information System needed for?
The Land Information System is a societally significant register because it safeguards land ownership and thereby supports social stability. The information about a property remains in the register even if the property changes owner.
With the help of the register, for example, a property buyer can find out exactly what the purchase includes, where the boundary markers are located, and whether the property is subject to any rights or restrictions. These may include, for example, another person’s right to pass through the area, to use a beach located on the property, or a neighbour’s right to build a well on the land.
The Land Information System enables the use of real property as security for loans, supports urban planning, real estate brokerage and taxation, and strengthens national security and legal safeguards. Authorities use the information in the register to develop society and plan measures. The register also benefits the private sector, such as banking and insurance business.
What is the information used for?
The information in the Land Information System is widely used, for example, by authorities, banks, real estate agents, and citizens. Purposes of the information are, for example:
- investigation of ownership (who owns the property)
- investigation of the area of a real property (where the boundaries and rights of the property are situated, that is where, for instance, a right of way or a power line is situated)
- strengthening of overall security (for example, legal obstacles for acquiring property based on a person’s nationality or domicile in certain countries)
- defining the security for a loan in property purchases (is the property used as security for a loan and for which amount, are there mortgages or pledges)
- showing jointly owned forests and other jointly owned areas (the area and shares are shown on the extract from the register)
- hunting and fishing permits (basic information about the management of land and water areas for the parties that are responsible for the permits)
- taxation of real property (basic information about ownership and taxable area to the Finnish Tax Administration)
- construction planning, land use planning, and community planning (information for authorities and municipalities to be used as the basis of planning and to reach landowners)
- safeguarding protected areas (protected areas are shown on the extract from the register)
- administrative division into municipalities (each property can belong to one municipality only, so the property boundaries also define municipal boundaries)
Land Information System in numbers
- information about 2.85 million properties (2025)
- 1.6 million extracts from the cadastre in one year (2024)
- 211 million digital inquiries from the register in one year (2024)
More information
Read more about our services related to property
Read more about municipalities that maintain the cadastral register (in Finnish and Swedish)