Lagfart and pantbrev: what do they cost?

You have signed the purchase contract and are already planning the furniture. But before the keys are yours, a couple of legal steps remain. And they cost money, money many first-time buyers have not counted on.

The two items are called lagfart (title registration) and pantbrev (mortgage deeds). Both apply only to real property, meaning houses and plots. Buying a tenant-owner apartment (bostadsrätt), you skip them entirely, because there you own a share in an association and not the property itself. Here is how they work.

What is lagfart?

Lagfart is the proof that you own the property. When you buy a house or a plot, you apply for lagfart at Lantmäteriet (the Swedish mapping and land registration authority), which records you as the new owner in the property register. Without lagfart you are not legally the owner. So it is not something you can opt out of.

Apply within three months of moving day. Miss that and you can be charged a late fee. In practice the bank or the agent often files the application for you, but the responsibility is yours.

What does lagfart cost? Stamp duty

The lagfart fee is called stamp duty (stämpelskatt). It is calculated on the purchase price, or on the assessed value if that is higher. For private individuals the duty is 1.5 percent of the purchase price, plus a filing fee of 825 kronor.

An example: buying a house for 3 million kronor, stamp duty is 45,000 kronor. Add the filing fee and the lagfart cost lands on 45,825 kronor. You pay that in cash, on top of the purchase price. So count it in when you work out what you can actually afford. Only after what lagfart costs, we answer quickly on a page of its own.

What is a pantbrev?

A pantbrev is the bank’s security for your mortgage. When the bank lends money with the house as collateral, it wants something to hold onto if the loan is not repaid. That is what the pantbrev is. It is registered against the property at Lantmäteriet.

Are there already pantbrev in the property from the previous owner? Then you and your bank can take them over at no extra cost. You only pay for new pantbrev, for example if you borrow more than the old ones cover.

What do new pantbrev cost?

A new pantbrev costs 2 percent of the deed amount in stamp duty, plus a filing fee of 375 kronor per deed. Needing a new pantbrev for 1 million kronor means 20,000 kronor in stamp duty plus 375 kronor, so 20,375 kronor.

Many keep the cost down by taking over the existing pantbrev and only issuing new ones for the missing amount. Your bank works out which pantbrev you need and what it costs.

Timeline after the contract

Here are the steps after the purchase contract is signed. Moving day is usually 4 to 8 weeks after the contract. Shortly after moving day you apply for lagfart at Lantmäteriet. The bank normally handles the pantbrev application when the mortgage is paid out.

A rule of thumb: stamp duty and pantbrev costs together can land on 2 to 4 percent of the purchase price, on top of the down payment. Build that into your calculation from the start.

Found the home through a property watch on SökHem? Then you have an edge here: you roughly know the price range of the matches before you have found the right place, so you can talk to the bank about lagfart, pantbrev and stamp duty in good time instead of calculating it the week before moving day.