Isännöitsijäntodistus: what the manager's certificate must show

The agent's brochure runs to twelve pages of photographs. The document that decides what the flat will cost you runs to four pages of tables, and it is called the isännöitsijäntodistus.

An isännöitsijäntodistus is the certificate a Finnish housing company's manager must issue about a flat on request, under chapter 7, section 27 of the Housing Companies Act. Government decree 365/2010 fixes its contents line by line: the flat, the buildings and their repair needs, the company's loans and finances, and what the current owner still owes.

Who can order it, and how old may it be?

Chapter 7, section 27 of the Housing Companies Act, Asunto-osakeyhtiölaki (1599/2009), obliges the manager to issue the certificate on request, or to update the flat's data in the national housing information system instead. Where the company has no manager, or the manager is disqualified, the duty falls on the chair of the board. The request can come from the owner of the shares, from someone holding the shares as a pledge, or from an estate agent with a valid sales or letting mandate. A buyer cannot order it directly, which is why the certificate arrives through the seller or the agent.

Isännöintiliitto, the Finnish federation of property managers, states that in a sale the certificate may be at most four months old, that it is ordered from the company's own management firm, that delivery typically takes two to four working days and at most a week, and that the price is agreed between the company's board and the management firm. The brokers' federation, Kiinteistönvälitysalan Keskusliitto (KVKL), applies the same limit to agents through its good practice guide: its update of 15 January 2024 raised the age limit for the certificate and similar documents from three to four months, to match the four month maximum term of a brokerage mandate. Decree 365/2010 adds in section 2 that the certificate must be dated and signed by the manager or the chair of the board, that the data must reflect what the company knows on the date of issue, and that on request it can be issued without the accounts, annual report and budget, in which case it must say so.

What must it say about the flat?

Section 4 of the decree lists the flat's lines. The certificate must state the flat's permitted use under the articles of association and any different use in the building permit, its floor area under the articles and whether that area was measured under the standard method, its room count, and other spaces the shares carry such as storage, a parking place or a garden. It must give the amount of the maintenance charge and the basis on which it is set, other payments due to the company, any redemption clause or other transfer restriction, and any decision by the general meeting to take the flat into the company's possession.

Three lines matter most to a buyer. Point 11 covers the loan shares attached to the flat, itemised by loan where the owner may repay them, together with loans the company has decided on but not yet drawn. Point 12 states the amount of the current owner's overdue, unpaid charges. Point 14 records the maintenance and alteration works carried out in the flat that the company knows of, with the date from which its records run. How the loan share feeds into the price and the transfer tax is set out in our guide to velaton hinta.

What must it say about the buildings and the money?

Section 5 turns to the buildings: their number, year of first use, type, main material, roof, heating, cooling, ventilation and telecoms systems, and lifts. Point 9 requires the board's statement of maintenance needs under chapter 6, section 3 of the Act, the kunnossapitotarveselvitys. Point 10 asks whether the company has an approved maintenance and renewal plan and what it contains, point 11 lists condition assessments and surveys, point 12 the repairs decided or proposed and repair needs that have emerged since the last general meeting, and point 13 the maintenance works completed and when. A coming pipe renovation therefore has to surface somewhere in those five lines, as our putkiremontti guide explains.

Section 6 covers the finances: every loan the company has drawn, by loan and purpose, whether a shareholder may repay their share, and the same for undrawn loans with an estimate of when they will be drawn; the basis for setting charges and who sets them; whether the company is registered for value added tax; and its insurance. The latest adopted financial statements, annual report and budget must be attached, with the auditor's report where the company must have one, and the articles of association on request. Section 7 adds whether an energy certificate exists for the building.

What changes on 1 January 2027?

The decree was amended by decree 567/2026, and the Finlex text marks the new points as taking effect on 1 January 2027. From that date the certificate must also state the basis on which parking places are held, the property's easements and joint arrangements, any charge obligation for renovations under the Act's new provisions including electric vehicle charging points, asbestos and hazardous substance surveys, the company's insurance and securities, any advance funding or prepaid charges attached to the shares, and whether, to the company's knowledge, flats in the building are let on a short term basis.

Read points 11, 12 and 14 of section 4 and points 9 to 13 of section 5 before anything else. AiMYNDi reads the certificate and its attachments and puts the loans, the repair lines and the arrears next to the asking price.