Community association register – SFR

Extended possibilities for digital company and association meetings

Starting January 1^st, 2024, new law regulations are introduced regarding the possibility for community associations to hold digital association meetings.

It is the Management of communities’ act, Section 47, that is being changed. According to the change digital association meetings can be held under extra ordinary circumstances, regardless of whether it is permitted according to the statutes of the association or not.

Extra ordinary circumstances relate to for example during a pandemic or similar situations that prevents a physical meeting from being held.

Legislative history to the change of the act

“For non-profit associations there is no legal regulation for how an association meeting shall be held. Nor is there for community associations any specific regulations by law for the association meeting (compare proposition 1973:160 s. 382 and 439). At the outset in both cases, it is up to the board to decide how the meeting shall be held and there is no legal hindrance for it to be held digitally. Both non-profit and community associations can also expressly in their statutes decide that the meeting can or shall be held digitally.”

Lantmäteriet, Community association register, has interpreted the above-mentioned legal history to the change of the act in such a manner that it has opened the possibility for community associations to hold digital meetings even under normal circumstances. Either because the statutes of the association permit it or because the board decides so.

More about the change of the act at the web site of the Swedish parliament (in Swedish, new window).

Contents in the register

The Community association register contains among other things:

• Name of the association
• Information about which joint property unit the association manages
• The purpose of the joint property unit
• The make-up of the board
• Signatories
• Statutes
• Postal address
• Registration number

If you still have not formed a community association, you can read more on the page Form a community association.

Value added tax in a community association

The supreme administrative court has concluded that contributions that a community association receives from its members shall not be subject to value added tax. That means that most community associations shall not be registered for value added tax.

Read more on the Swedish tax agency's (Skatteverkets) web site (in Swedish, new window).

Current processing time

The processing time for registration of new community associations is estimated to be 1 working day. For the rest of the cases handled by the Community association register the processing time is estimated to be 18 working days.

We use processing time in the sense that it is the time after we have noted the payment from the association for the types of cases that have a fee. This is provided that the cases do not need to be complemented.

Costs

The registration fees are determined by the government and are stated in Sections 10-14 of the Regulation of fees (1992:191) and Sections 10-11 of the Regulation of carrying a community association register (1993:1270).

• Parliament – Regulation of fees (1992:191) (in Swedish, new window)
• Parliament – Regulation of carrying a community association register (1993:1270) (in Swedish, new window)

Keep in mind that the fee is to be paid to Lantmäteriet when the application is submitted. It is only when we have received the payment that we can begin the processing of the case. The payment can be made either to our bankgiro 805-7028 or by Swish to 123 322 2734.

Write the name of the association and if available the registration number when you make the payment.

Registration of a new association

A community association must be registered in the Community association register (SFR) by Lantmäteriet. At the registration a legality review must be done according to what is regulated in the Act (2018:672) of economic associations Chapter 19 Section 3. The registration is done according to the application from the board of the association or the person presiding over the meeting. Through the registration in SFR the association becomes a legal entity. (Section 27 of SFL)

To register an association, you need to send us the following by post (not e-mail):

• An application form signed by a board member, signatory or the person presiding over the meeting. The application documents need to contain the address of the association, the personal identification numbers, full names and addresses of the board members and deputies. If specific signatories have been assigned such information need to be included. (Section 26 of SFL)
  Application for new registration (in swedish, pdf, new window)
• A certified copy of the protocol from the meeting where the association was formed
• A certified copy of the adopted statutes

If Lantmäteriet has been commissioned to form the association then the application for registration will be a part of that commission. Lantmäteriet then pays the application fee in advance and then invoices the association after the registration is done together with the other costs for the commission.

Receiving a registration number for an association

Please note that if you do not have a joint property unit or a land community or another object that has previously been formed by Lantmäteriet then you must start with that and apply for a cadastral procedure.

To receive a registration number from Lantmäteriet for you community association you must send us an application by post (not e-mail). Submit an application form that has been signed either by a board member or a signatory use the form Ansökan om registrering och organisationsnummer (application for registration and registration number) (in swedish, pdf, new window).

If your association is not registered in the Community association register, then you also need to include the following documents in your application:

• A certified copy of the protocol from the meeting where the association was formed either by Lantmäteriet or by another authorized agency.
• A certified copy of the original statutes
• Proof that the statutes have been assessed by the county administrative board (Länsstyrelsen) if that applies, they were earlier the registration agency
• A certified copy of the statutes if the association has adopted new statutes
• Information about the object the association manages. Such an object has an official designation if it is registered in the Land register (for example Luleå Skatan ga:5) or is identified by the number of the act of the cadastral procedure when the object was formed. If you receive government grants from the Swedish transport administration (Trafikverket) then information about the government grant number can help us certify which road your association manages. With the knowledge about which object your association manages we can sometimes find information about associations even though they are not registered in the register.
• Information about the associations data if you have not already submitted that.

When you have converted an association to a community association

Use our guide as support for conversion (in Swedish, pdf, new window).

There are a few types of associations that can be converted to a community association.

One type is an LGA- association they can acquire rights and assume obligations if priority rights have not been established for them and water or trenching companies established according to the Water act (1918:523) or corresponding older legislation that can acquire rights and assume obligations too.

Further on a village community (bysamfällighet) where a court according to the Act (1921:299) of management of a village community or corresponding jointly owned properties and rights have published a decision about the management of the village community can form a community association to take over the management by themselves. (According to Sections 16-20 of the act [1973:1151] of Introducing the facility act [1973:1149] and Act [1973:1150] of management of community associations also called ASP).

For a conversion you need to send us the following by post (not e-mail):

• An application form signed by an authorized signatory Application for registration and registration number (in swedish, pdf, new window)
• A certified copy of a protocol from the association meeting that states that the association has decided to convert.
• Certified copies of the statutes of the association
• Documents showing that your association is such an association that can be converted to a community association / alternatively that your village community is such a unit that has the right to by itself convert to a community association. This can for example be documents that show that your water company was established according to the Water act of 1918, or that no priority right has been established for your LGA association or that a court has determined the regulations for your joint village unit according to the Act for village communities (1921:299).