A property is any subset of legally defined land, including any things attached to it, natural or man-made, such as vegetation, buildings and other construction, as well as any defined rights to it.

A property can refer to any privately owned share in a jointly held property, such as a multi-owner building, if it is described in a legal joint ownership agreement.

Subdivision of land

A subdivision of land is applied for at the appropriate municipality office. The application needs to be accompanied with a lot map, showing surveyed boundary points along with their coordinate values. 

Changes in access addresses must be decided on right away when applying for a subdivision of land (see information below). The number of access addresses needed and their connection to a street should portray the planned land use and construction in that land. First and foremost, the access addresses should portray planned entrances to buildings, as each main entrance will need its own access address.

As of 2013, subdivisions are registered in the Icelandic Cadastral map. Alongside keeping up with new registration, we are in the process of digitizing property boundaries registered prior to 2013. As a result, the Cadastral map is slowly, but surely gaining more coverage each day. 

Registration based on joint ownership agreement

Single units (such as an apartment) in a multi-owned building or land can gain the status of a separate property if described in a legal joint ownership agreement. Registration is applied for at the appropriate municipality office. The agreement itself is legally notarized at the respective district commissioner. 

Application to register properties in a multi-owned building (only in Icelandic)

Fee for subdivision and new registration is determined by the price list of the Housing and Construction Authority effective at the time of application. 

Change/amended registrations

Change in registration is applied for at the respective municipality office. Note that changes in registration do not include registration of new property.

Cadastral Map

The Icelandic Cadastral Map holds information on land parcel boundaries. Note that the cadaster covers only about 50% of registered property yet.

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