Housing company records: what to keep and how to hand them over

The caretaker remembers a leak in the basement. The former chair knows why the roof was patched five years ago. The property manager has an old condition survey, the accounts contain four invoices for unblocking the same drain line, and a photo of a crack sits in the old board’s email. There is plenty of information, but it is scattered.

The board therefore needs to know what information the housing company must keep by law, what to check when people or providers change, and how to organise information so that the next board can find it.

Legal retention obligations

The law does not require a single “records management system”, but several provisions oblige the company to keep and maintain information. Section references are to the Limited Liability Housing Companies Act (asunto-osakeyhtiölaki, 1599/2009) (opens in a new tab) unless stated otherwise.

General meeting minutes. The minutes record the decisions and the results of votes. Minutes are numbered consecutively and kept reliably. They must be available for shareholders to inspect no later than four weeks after the meeting, and a shareholder is entitled to a copy of the minutes and their appendices (chapter 6, section 23).

Board minutes. These are also numbered consecutively and kept reliably. A shareholder has no general right to see all board minutes, but on request is entitled to written information about a decision concerning a right or obligation based on their shares (chapter 7, section 6).

Notifications of alteration work. The board must keep a register of shareholders’ notifications of maintenance and alteration work and keep the notifications apartment by apartment. The information is submitted to the National Land Survey of Finland’s Residential and Commercial Property Information System, and a shareholder is entitled to a copy of the notifications concerning their apartment (chapter 7, section 28).

Maintenance needs report. The annual general meeting is presented with a written report on significant maintenance needs over the next five years and on substantial maintenance and alteration work carried out (chapter 6, section 3). Without the building’s history, it is hard to prepare one well. Read more: maintenance needs report (kunnossapitotarveselvitys).

A shareholder’s right to documents. Following the amendment that entered into force on 1 October 2026, a shareholder is entitled to receive without delay a copy of any document held by the company concerning their apartment, such as a condition assessment or a moisture measurement report. The company may charge reasonable costs. So the documents need to be quick to find.

Operating and maintenance manual. The Building Act (rakentamislaki, 751/2023) requires a manual for new buildings and for buildings that have undergone repairs requiring a permit, and the owner is responsible for keeping it up to date. In older buildings, the equivalent information is usually gathered in the maintenance log (huoltokirja).

Accounting records. Under the Accounting Act (kirjanpitolaki, 1336/1997) (opens in a new tab), the financial statements, annual report, books of account and chart of accounts must be kept for at least ten years from the end of the financial year. Vouchers and correspondence concerning business transactions must be kept for at least six years from the end of the year in which the financial year ended.

Keeping information, having access to it and disclosing it are different matters. The company holds personal data, matters concerning individual shareholders and contract information, the handling of which is also restricted by data protection legislation.

When the property manager or maintenance company changes

Problems arise if the company’s information effectively lives in a single service provider’s system. Make sure that at least the following are transferred to the company:

• contracts, minutes, financial statements, budgets and loan documents
• condition assessments, condition surveys and renovation project material
• the maintenance log, fault history and the maintenance company’s work orders
• shareholders’ notifications of alteration work
• guarantee documents and drawings
• open damage and complaint cases

The maintenance company’s work orders are more than a basis for invoicing. They show recurring door faults, drain blockages, leaks and ventilation anomalies. It is therefore worth writing into the service contract what information is generated during the service, in what format it is handed over and what happens when the contract ends.

When the board changes, the handover often stops at keys, user accounts and minutes. Also tell the new board about the building’s biggest risks, things being monitored, unfinished surveys, open guarantee matters and the tasks for the coming year. See also when the housing company board changes.

Organising information in practice

The following are practical recommendations, not legal requirements.

By building element, not by file type

Instead of thousands of files, information can be grouped under headings: roof, facade, balconies, windows and doors, domestic water, drains, heating, ventilation, electricity, yard and drainage, and the apartments’ wet rooms. It does not need to be a single piece of software, as long as everyone has agreed on the arrangement.

Keep the reason for a decision

An entry saying “roof replacement postponed to 2029” does not say why. Was the postponement based on an expert’s opinion, on financing or on another renovation? In five years’ time, a new board will need exactly this information.

Keep observations and conclusions separate

“There is moisture damage in the structure” is too strong an entry if nothing has been investigated. A better one would be, for example: “Dark mark about 30 cm wide on the north wall of the basement. Photo attached. Referred for technical assessment.” Record the observation, the expert’s assessment, the decision, the action and the outcome separately.

Make recurrence visible

One drain blockage is one blockage. Seven blockages in the same line in five years point to something else, but only if the data is brought together. More on this in the article housing company fault history.

Weed out what is unnecessary

A good archive is usable, not large. Define what is kept because of the law, what is kept because of the building’s history and what can be deleted.

Signs that information has gone missing

• Nobody knows where the latest condition survey is.
• The former chair is the company’s most important source of information.
• The same problems are investigated again without the old reports.
• The fault history disappeared when the maintenance company changed.
• The decision can be found, but not the reason for it.
• Board documents sit in members’ personal email accounts.
• The final documentation of a renovation project stayed with the contractor.
• A document requested by a shareholder takes weeks to find.

Frequently asked questions

What documents must a housing company keep?

The Limited Liability Housing Companies Act requires the company to keep general meeting and board minutes, as well as shareholders’ notifications of maintenance and alteration work, reliably. The Accounting Act sets the retention periods for accounting records, and the operating and maintenance manual is kept up to date in accordance with the Building Act.

Can a shareholder see the board minutes?

Not all of them. A shareholder is entitled to information about a decision concerning a right or obligation based on their shares, and to a copy of documents held by the company concerning their apartment.

Does everything have to be in the same system?

Not necessarily. The most important thing is that the location, ownership, access rights and upkeep of the information have been agreed.

This article provides general information and does not replace case-specific legal or technical advice.