Completion, deed and land registration: how a Danish home purchase is finalised

This work is called completion (berigtigelse).

This is where the deed (skøde) is drawn up and registered, the purchase price is secured, the seller's old loans are cancelled and the costs of the purchase are divided between the parties. Several processes run in parallel and come together around the handover day (overtagelsesdag).

In brief

• Completion means carrying out the purchase on the terms of the purchase agreement (købsaftale).
• The purchase agreement is the parties' contract. The deed records the basic details of the change of ownership.
• Land registration (tinglysning) protects the buyer's right against conflicting rights and agreements.^[1]
• The bank guarantee secures the seller's claim to the remaining purchase price until it is paid into escrow.
• A deed can at first be registered with legal remarks about the seller's existing loans. This is a normal part of the process.
• The purchase price is normally released only when the conditions of the purchase agreement are met, the handover day has passed and the relevant remarks can be deleted.
• In 2026 the land registration fee (tinglysningsafgift) on an ordinary deed is 1.850 kr. plus 0,6 per cent of the transfer amount.^[2]

What is completion?

Completing a home purchase means putting the agreement into effect.

Boligejer.dk describes completion as the process in which the seller must receive their money and the buyer must have their right over the property secured.^[3]

The work can include, among other things:

• Clearing the adviser condition (rådgiverforbehold) and bank condition (bankforbehold)
• Paying the cash down payment (udbetaling) into escrow
• A bank guarantee for the rest of the purchase price
• Drawing up the deed and signing it digitally
• Registering the deed
• Registering the buyer's new loans
• Cancelling the seller's existing registered charges
• Paying the remaining purchase price into escrow
• Releasing the money to the seller
• Settlement statement (refusionsopgørelse) and any adjustments

Who carries out each task is normally stated in the purchase agreement. It can be a lawyer, estate agent, bank or another party handling completion.

The purchase agreement and the deed are not the same

The purchase agreement is the detailed contract between buyer and seller.

It can describe, among other things:

• Purchase price
• Handover day
• Date of the right of disposal
• Fixtures and fittings
• Conditions
• Guarantees
• Deadlines
• Individual terms

The deed is a shorter document with the basic details that must be recorded in the land register (Tingbogen). It typically contains the buyer, seller, property, purchase price and handover day.

A registered deed is therefore not a check that every term in the purchase agreement is reasonable or has been met. Boligejer.dk stresses that land registration does not check all the terms the buyer has accepted.^[4]

The purchase agreement tells you what the parties have agreed. The deed records the change of ownership.

What does land registration do?

Land registration is the public registration of rights over real property.

These can be, for example:

• Ownership through a deed
• A charge (pant) through a mortgage deed (pantebrev)
• Easements (servitutter)
• Rights of use
• Rights of pre-emption

As a general rule, a right must be registered to be protected against other rights or agreements that conflict with it.^[1]

The land register therefore shows, among other things:

• Who is the registered owner
• Which loans and charges are registered
• Which easements are registered

This does not mean the land register tells you everything about the property. The Building and Housing Register (BBR), local plans, building case files, owners' association (ejerforening) documents and the purchase agreement are held elsewhere.

When do you become the owner of the home?

There is no single answer, because several dates interact.

The agreement between buyer and seller

The parties' rights follow, among other things, the purchase agreement and its conditions. Once the agreement is final, the buyer and seller have committed themselves to each other.

The handover day

On the handover day, the agreed financial and practical takeover takes place. Risk, costs and access follow the agreement.

Land registration

Once the deed is registered, the buyer is recorded as the owner and their right is protected against conflicting rights.

It is therefore too categorical to say that the buyer does not own the home at all before land registration. Land registration is decisive for the registration and for protection against third parties, while the relationship between buyer and seller also follows the agreement they have entered into.

Completion step by step

The exact order depends on the purchase agreement, but an ordinary purchase can look like this:

1. The buyer and seller sign the purchase agreement.
2. The adviser condition and bank condition are cleared.
3. The buyer pays the agreed cash down payment into escrow.
4. The buyer's bank provides a guarantee for the rest of the purchase price.
5. The party handling completion draws up the deed.
6. The buyer and seller sign the deed digitally.
7. The deed is submitted for land registration.
8. The deed may come back with remarks about the seller's loans.
9. The buyer's new loans are registered, and the seller's loans are redeemed and cancelled.
10. The bank guarantee is replaced by a cash deposit in escrow around the handover day.
11. The purchase price is released when the conditions are met.
12. The settlement statement divides the relevant costs between buyer and seller.

Several of the steps can overlap. It is not always a linear process in which one step must be fully completed before the next begins.

What is a bank guarantee?

The bank guarantee is the bank's assurance to the seller that the remaining purchase price will be paid in line with the purchase agreement.

The buyer typically pays a first deposit into escrow with the estate agent (ejendomsmægler). The rest of the purchase price is covered by a guarantee from the buyer's bank.

Around the handover day, the guarantee is normally replaced by a cash deposit in escrow.^[3]

The guarantee does not mean the seller gets the money straight away. It ensures that payment can go through once the conditions of the purchase are met.

The deadline and amount are set out in the purchase agreement.

What does escrow mean?

Escrow (deponering) means the money is paid into an account but not yet released to the seller.

The money can be used, among other things, to:

• Redeem the seller's loans
• Pay arrears or other amounts that need to be dealt with
• Protect the buyer against the purchase price being released too early
• Complete the financial side of the purchase

Money held in escrow is therefore not the same as money the seller can freely use.

The deed is drawn up and signed digitally

Deeds are digital and are handled on Tinglysning.dk.

The deed is typically:

1. Drawn up by the party responsible for completion.
2. Sent for review or approval to the other party's adviser.
3. Made available for digital signing.
4. Signed with MitID by the buyer and seller, or by a person holding power of attorney.
5. Submitted to the Land Registration Court (Tinglysningsretten).

The electronic check can approve the submission immediately or send it for manual processing.^[1]

Manual processing is not necessarily a sign of a problem. It means the submission needs a human assessment.

What is a legal remark?

When the deed is registered for the first time, it may receive remarks about rights that do not match the new deed.

These can be, for example, the seller's existing registered charges.

This is common, because the seller's loans have not yet been cancelled at that point. The party handling completion and the seller's bank then work on redeeming and cancelling the loans the buyer is not taking over.^[5]

A remark is therefore not automatically a fault in the purchase.

What matters is:

• What the remark concerns
• Whether it was expected
• How it will be deleted
• Whether it affects the release of the purchase price

Once the relevant remarks have been removed, the deed is often described as finally registered, or registered without prejudicial legal remarks.

What happens to the seller's loans?

The seller's existing mortgage loans (realkreditlån) and bank loans are often registered against the property.

If the buyer is not taking them over, they must be redeemed and cancelled.

The process can look like this:

1. Part of the purchase price held in escrow is used to redeem them.
2. The seller's bank arranges payment to the lenders.
3. The registered charges are cancelled or dealt with according to the financing plan.
4. The party handling completion checks that the relevant remarks can be deleted.

The buyer therefore does not automatically take over the seller's personal loans just because they appear in the land register while the purchase is being completed.

When is the purchase price released?

The purchase price is normally released only when the conditions of the purchase agreement are met.

This may require, among other things, that:

• The handover day has passed
• The deed is registered
• The seller's loans can be cancelled
• Relevant legal remarks have been deleted or their deletion is secured
• Other agreed conditions are met

Boligejer.dk explains that the purchase price is normally released when the deed is finally registered without legal remarks and the handover day has passed.^[5]

The specific purchase agreement may contain further conditions.

So the status of the deed alone does not decide the release. The agreement and the whole completion process must be seen together.

Land registration fee on the deed in 2026

On an ordinary change of ownership of real property, the land registration fee consists of:

• A fixed fee of 1.850 kr.
• A variable fee of 0,6 per cent of the transfer amount

For a home costing 3.000.000 kr., the calculation is:

The rates are set out in the Danish Tax Agency's (Skattestyrelsen) legal guide on registering a change of ownership.^[2]

Special types of purchase may follow other rules. The specific fee calculation must therefore fit the type of purchase.

Registering the buyer's loans

The buyer's new loans secured on the property must also be registered.

From 1 January 2026, the fee for registering a charge on real property generally consists of:

• A fixed fee of 1.825 kr.
• A variable fee of 1,25 per cent of the secured amount

The variable rate was cut from 1,45 per cent to 1,25 per cent in 2026.^[6]

Fee already paid on a charge on the home can often be reused. If there is a previously registered charge, for example the seller's loan or a fee-carrying mortgage deed (afgiftspantebrev), you only pay the percentage fee on the part of your new loan that is larger than the previous charge. This requires your new charge to be submitted before the previous charge is deleted.^[7]

The fee on the deed and the mortgage registration fee (pantafgift) are two separate costs.

The land registration fee in typical situations

The mortgage loan and land registration

It is misleading to say that the mortgage loan can always be paid out only once the deed is finally registered without remarks.

In practice, the bank, the mortgage credit institution (realkreditinstitut) and the party handling completion coordinate:

• Loan offer
• Registration of the mortgage deed
• Bank guarantee
• Escrow
• Redemption of the seller's loans
• Security for the new loans

The payout can take place as part of a secured process around the handover day, even if the deed temporarily carries expected remarks about the seller's loans.

The specific payout conditions are set out in the loan offer and in the bank's processing of the case.

The settlement statement is also part of finalising the purchase

The settlement statement divides costs relating to periods on both sides of the handover day.

These can include, among other things:

• Property taxes
• Homeowners' association (grundejerforening)
• Owners' association
• Prepaid costs
• Heating oil in the tank
• Other items under the purchase agreement

The settlement statement does not normally change the purchase price. It balances amounts between buyer and seller.

Read the next guide on handover and the settlement statement.

Access date and handover day

Some buyers get the keys before the official handover day.

This is called the right of disposal (dispositionsret).

The access date can shift:

• Access to the home
• Utility consumption
• Maintenance obligation
• Insurance needs
• Responsibility under the agreement

It does not automatically change the dates for the deed, escrow and settlement statement.

Read more about the right of disposal and getting the keys before handover.

Example of a timeline

A purchase agreement has a handover day of 1 October.

The timeline is an example. The deadlines in the purchase agreement and how the case is processed can lead to a different order.

Common misunderstandings

The deed is the purchase agreement itself

No. The purchase agreement contains the details of the purchase. The deed records the change of ownership.

I only own the home once the deed is registered

That is too simplified. The agreement governs the relationship between buyer and seller. Land registration records and protects the buyer's right against third parties.

The deed must be completely free of remarks the first time

No. Remarks about the seller's existing loans are common and are dealt with during completion.

Land registration automatically deletes the seller's loans

No. The loans must be redeemed and cancelled through the coordinated process.

The mortgage loan can only be paid out after a deed free of remarks

Not necessarily. The bank and the mortgage credit institution can use guarantees, escrow and other security in the process.

I have to wait to move in until the deed is registered

Moving in follows the agreed access date or handover day. It does not depend solely on the date the deed is registered.

Only one land registration fee is paid

No. There can be both a fee on the deed and a fee on new mortgage deeds.

In short

Completion ties together the legal, financial and practical parts of the home purchase.

The purchase agreement tells you what the buyer and seller have agreed. The deed records the change of ownership. Land registration protects the rights. The bank guarantee and escrow secure the payment, while the seller's loans are redeemed and cancelled.

The most important thing is to keep five things apart:

1. The purchase agreement
2. The deed
3. Land registration
4. The payment
5. The handover

They are connected, but they do not necessarily happen on the same day.

Continue with the guide on handover and the settlement statement.

BoligKlar gives you a second pair of eyes and an overview. The actual completion is carried out under the purchase agreement by the banks and professionals involved.

Frequently asked questions