2022
Working group does not recommend total ban on Russian real estate ownership
The cross-administrative working group considered a total ban on Russian real estate ownership, but does not see it as an effective or appropriate restrictive measure.
The working group is of the view that in current security situation the current legislation and the new powers of the authorities to supervise real estate transactions, which will enter into force at the beginning of 2023, will ensure that the authorities will have effective means of protecting society’s vital functions from real estate ownership related threats. General restrictions on property acquisitions that go further and affect the citizens and communities of an individual state would not be able to intervene effectively in the use of an intermediary, for example, in real estate ownership and management arrangements. The working group notes that visa restrictions that were introduced on 30 September 2022 have already reduced real estate transactions by Russians.
The working group will continue its work and the next stage of the project will examine, among other things, how the housing shares and rented apartments managed by parties outside the EEA and the EU could be supervised and what it would require. The working group will also study how the legislation could be tightened in other ways or how the current powers could be expanded, for example, to establish the background of existing ownerships.
On 4 November 2022, the Ministry of Defence set up a project to assess additional restrictions on foreign real estate acquisitions. The first phase of the two-part project was completed on 19 December 2022 while the second report on possible other development areas concerning the supervision of real estate transactions will be submitted by Tuesday 28 February 2023 at the latest.
In addition to the Ministry of Defence, the working group has representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of the Environment, Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Finance, National Emergency Supply Agency, National Bureau of Investigation, Metsähallitus, National Land Survey of Finland, Defence Command Finland, Finnish Border Guard, Senate Group, Finnish Security Intelligence Service and Secretariat of the Security Committee.
Working group memorandum https://valtioneuvosto.fi/hanke?tunnus=PLM011:00/2022
Inquiries: Jenni Herrala, Senior Ministerial Adviser, chair of the project group, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 140 601, and Sara Kajander, Head of Unit, vice chair of the project group, tel. +358 295 140 080.