Limitations and prerequisites for DIAS trades
Linear provides full DIAS support, so you can start a DIAS trade in Linear as long as the transaction otherwise meets DIAS prerequisites. DIAS and Linear are continuously being developed, so you can always check the current prerequisites and limitations either in the purchase offer or in the transaction overview, via the info button above the DIAS field.
At the moment, DIAS trades can be carried out in Linear when:
- All sellers use the same bank (does not apply to shareholders of an estate of the deceased or to company authorised signatories).
- All buyers use the same bank (does not apply to company authorised signatories).
- The sellers are legally competent private individuals (i.e. not under guardianship, enforcement, or acting via a proxy/attorney), limited companies (other company forms, associations, or foundations are not supported), or estates of the deceased.
- The buyers are legally competent private individuals (i.e. not under guardianship, enforcement, or acting via a proxy/attorney) or limited companies (other company forms, associations, or foundations are not supported).
- All signatories have personal online banking credentials. Signatories must be legally competent private individuals.
- The same person or company is not both a seller and a buyer in the transaction.
- The transaction is handled with a single deed of sale.
- The transaction has one payment instalment to which the transfer of ownership is tied (any deposit/hand money mentioned in the deed of sale is sufficient).
- The property is not a new development.
NOTE: The parties to the transaction may use different banks. In other words, a DIAS trade is possible if, for example, the buyers use Nordea and the sellers use Aktia.
NOTE: Due to restrictions by the National Land Survey of Finland, it is currently not possible to submit an application to register ownership for a fractional share of a housing company share. For this reason, as of 16 Jan 2025 it is not possible to send to DIAS a trade of a dematerialising share certificate involving a fractional share (the sold share is less than 1/1) when all parties are personal banking customers. The bank will submit a change request if a DIAS trade has been initiated where the sold asset is not the full share, i.e. 1/1.
You can also find more detailed information about the prerequisites in the DIAS support portal.
Good to know: In Linear, you can handle DIAS trades for multiple share series or share group identifiers (e.g. an apartment and a parking space) using a single deed of sale. This requires, among other things, that all parties to the transaction are the same (ownership shares do not have to be the same) and that the share series belong to the same housing company.
Before starting a DIAS trade
A DIAS trade requires completing the Transaction overview, and selecting DIAS trade as the transaction method in the transaction overview, so that the deed of sale draft includes the clauses required for a DIAS trade.
A DIAS trade does not require retrieving transfer tax payment references from the Tax Administration API. This is handled automatically in the DIAS process. In Linear, you can only start filling in the transfer tax return after the deed of sale has been signed in the DIAS process.
Before you start filling in the DIAS form:
- Make sure that the housing company name entered in the property description appendix matches the name shown in the Trade Register (PRH) exactly (see ytj.fi). It must be letter-for-letter correct in the deed of sale and on the DIAS form.
- Create a commission invoice so that the commission amount and reference number are populated on the DIAS form.
- If the transaction requires a spouse’s consent, obtain the consent as a separate document. The spouse’s consent must be in writing. The written consent must be valid and properly drafted. The consent is sent to DIAS as an attachment when initiating the trade.
Filling in the DIAS form
You can enter a new DIAS trade by selecting Start DIAS trade on the listing card’s Transaction tab.
1. The listing details are automatically pulled into the form from the property description appendix. If needed, correct and update the information in the property description appendix, and then return to the form if you notice an error.
NOTE: Check the housing company name in YTJ, as it may be misspelled in the property manager’s certificate. The housing company name must match the name in the Trade Register (PRH) letter for letter. Otherwise, the bank may reject the DIAS trade. If necessary, the housing company name must be corrected in the property description appendix and in the deed of sale.
2. Type of shares is pulled from the property description appendix to the form, but you can change it on the form if needed.
NOTE: Within a single DIAS trade, the type of all shares being sold (paper or electronic) must be the same.
3. Select the Seller's bank and Buyer's bank from the drop-down list. You can search for a bank in the list by name.
4. The seller parties are automatically populated from the transaction overview. However, double-check that all sellers are listed.
NOTE: The field will also list all signatories acting on behalf of a company or an estate of the deceased. However, later (step 6) you can specify that they are signatories only.
5. If the customer has multiple first and/or last names, make sure the name is entered on the form exactly the same way as it is written in the deed of sale.
6. You can mark whether the person acts only as an authorised signatory (for example, as a shareholder of an estate of the deceased or as a company representative). If the person acts both as a seller and, for example, as a shareholder of an estate of the deceased, leave the selection as No.
NOTE: See also how to proceed if the DIAS transaction involves a court-appointed estate administrator.
7. Select whether the seller pays the commission invoice (e.g. brokerage fee) and define the seller’s share of the total amount either as a percentage or in euros. If the property has multiple sellers, you can specify who pays the brokerage fee and divide the fee between the payers according to the client’s wishes.
NOTE: The amount automatically populated in the Total amount of the commission invoice field includes all invoices assigned to the sellers that are in Approved status under the listing (incl. brokerage fee and other charges). Please ensure that all charges are itemized on the invoice, that no invoices have been paid in advance, and that the shares are divided correctly. If there are no approved invoices for the listing, the Total amount of the commission invoice field will display the brokerage fee (incl. VAT) from the deal settlement.
NOTE: The invoice reference number is also automatically transferred to the DIAS form from the approved invoice. Alternatively, you may select Message as the reference type, in which case the system lists all invoice numbers of the approved invoices in the Commission invoice message field.
NOTE: The commission invoice does not need to be attached to the DIAS form, but you may send it beforehand to the seller(s) and inform them that the bank will process the payment on their behalf during the DIAS process.
8. Buyers are automatically imported from the deal settlement. However, please double-check that all buyers are listed.
NOTE: All authorised signatories for a company or an estate of a deceased person will also be listed. You can later (in step 9) define that they act only as authorised signatories.
9. You can indicate whether a person acts solely as an authorised signatory (for example, as a shareholder of an estate or a representative of a company). If a person acts both as a seller and, for example, as a company representative, leave the selection as No.
10. The system automatically calculates the transfer tax based on the information entered on the deal settlement (buyer’s ownership share x purchase price). The transfer tax invoice is not attached to the DIAS form, but it is advisable to inform the person(s) to be invoiced in advance.
NOTE: Please double-check the amount of transfer tax if several share series are being sold under one DIAS transaction.
11. Share numbers are automatically imported from the description appendix (property details). If multiple share series have been recorded in the description appendix separated by commas, each series will appear here in its own share number field. If necessary, you can add additional share series to the DIAS form, for example if a parking space is sold together with the apartment under the same DIAS.
NOTE: The share numbers must match those stated in the deed of sale.
NOTE: If multiple share series (e.g. apartment and parking space) are sold under one DIAS transaction, the sellers and buyers must be parties to all share series. For example, if a couple jointly owns the apartment but only one of them owns the parking space, a separate DIAS transaction must be created for the parking space.
12. The share group identifier is also automatically populated from the description appendix, but you can add it here manually if needed.
NOTE: The share group identifier is mandatory on the DIAS form and the deed of sale for housing companies that are registered in the Housing Information System (HTJ).
13. The location of the physical share certificate is important:
- If the physical share certificate is freely held by the seller or stored in the bank’s safe deposit box, the seller must deliver the certificate to their bank and provide a copy to the agent, who uploads it as a PDF to the DIAS form.
- If the physical share certificate is still at the bank awaiting pickup after loan repayment, the description appendix must indicate that the certificate is pledged as loan collateral.
NOTE: The seller does not endorse the physical share certificate; the bank will endorse it on the seller’s behalf and send the endorsed certificate to the National Land Survey of Finland for ownership registration.
NOTE: If multiple asset types are sold under one DIAS transaction (e.g. apartment and parking space) and one of the physical share certificates is held by the seller, the seller must provide a copy/scan of the certificate to the agent and confirm with their bank how the original certificate should be delivered to the bank (without endorsements). The agent must then combine the share certificates into a single file to be uploaded to DIAS.
14. The purchase agreement is always a mandatory attachment for a DIAS trade, and it must be in PDF format before it can be added. The purchase agreement can be created in Linear or based on your own template, but it must match exactly the details entered on the DIAS form—otherwise the bank may reject the DIAS process.
NOTE: If a single DIAS trade covers multiple asset types (e.g., an apartment and a parking space), the transaction is done with one purchase agreement.
15. When the housing company shares being sold in the transaction are electronic, you must add a share apartment printout as an attachment. In an electronic housing share transaction, the share group ID is added to the transaction details, and a separate share apartment printout is attached for each share group ID (item 12). The share apartment printout must be dated for the same day the transaction is sent to the banks for preparation. If an electronic housing share transaction is suspended and later restarted, we recommend following the Guidelines for Good Real Estate Brokerage Practice and using a share apartment printout dated on the restart date.
16. In a DIAS trade between private individuals, there are no mandatory attachments to the purchase agreement. However, you can add attachments at your discretion. If needed, also check your own brokerage chain’s guidelines for DIAS trade attachments.
NOTE: All purchase agreement attachments are visible to both sellers and buyers during the signing stage. Exceptions to this rule are estate attachments (the estate inventory deed, attachments to the estate inventory deed, and the estate shareholder list confirmed by the Digital and Population Data Services Agency) and company attachments (Trade Register extract, minutes of a meeting). These are visible only to the banks.
NOTE: When the seller is an estate, an estate inventory deed and any attachments to it are required as transaction attachments. You can read more about the required attachments for estate sales here.
NOTE: If a company is the seller or the buyer, the agent must add a Trade Register extract to the transaction. The Trade Register extract may be no more than 3 months old. The minutes are an optional attachment that the agent adds if needed. You can also read more about a company as a party to the transaction here.
17. The brokerage’s bank details are automatically populated from the company settings. Here you can, if necessary, review and edit the details that will be passed to the banks for brokerage fee payments.
18. The agent’s details are automatically populated from the listing, and they will also be shown to the parties and the banks during the DIAS process in case they need to contact the agent.
At the bottom of the page, you can also define which agent(s) will receive email notifications about the progress of the DIAS process. The listing’s agent and the person who filled in the DIAS form will always receive emails, but additional recipients can be added if needed.
Progress of the DIAS process
Once the DIAS form has been completed and Start DIAS trade has been clicked, the interbank work begins according to a specific workflow. The agent can follow the progress of the DIAS trade in Linear in real time.
Banks aim to complete the DIAS process within five banking days, as long as there are no issues along the way (purchase agreement prepared correctly, loan agreements in place, etc.).
You can find more information about the stages of the transaction and processing times in the DIAS support portal here.
NOTE: If needed, you can suspend the DIAS trade by clicking the “Cancel” button if you later notice an error in the transaction details. However, the agent can no longer suspend/cancel the transaction from Linear after the signing stage has been started.
At key points where the agent’s action is required, the agent will receive an email—for example when:
- The signing stage can be started (the agent must click the action button that appears on the screen, which sends the signing messages to the parties). The signatures must be completed within 24 hours, so please contact the parties in advance if needed.
- The buyer’s bank has paid the transfer tax. At this point, the agent can start filling in the transfer tax return in Linear.
Once the DIAS process has been completed, the transaction documents can be downloaded from the system. They are also automatically saved to the listing’s archive.
Webinar recordings
Together with DIAS, we have held webinars on DIAS trades. You can watch the recording of the DIAS training via the link(s) below:
Getting to know DIAS trades (housing company shares):