Prospekt

A prospekt, formally called a salgsoppgave (the statutory sales document), is the document that presents a property for sale. It contains photographs, a description, floor area, price and all the material information a buyer needs in order to assess the property. The prospekt is not just marketing: it is a legal document in which the information is binding, and errors or omissions in it can give the buyer a claim against the seller or the estate agent.

When a property is sold through an agent, the agent has a duty to prepare a salgsoppgave with a statutory minimum content. Eiendomsmeglingsloven § 6-7 (the Estate Agency Act) lists what has to be included: among other things ownership and encumbrances from Grunnboken, matrikkel information, floor area, year of construction, tax assessment value, municipal charges, zoning status and information about any owner section or housing co-operative. For residential property, a condition report and a valuation report or valuation will normally be attached as well. The agent has an independent duty to investigate and to disclose, and cannot simply pass on what the seller states without checking it.

The distinction between correct and incorrect information matters in practice. Under avhendingslova § 3-8 (the Sale of Property Act), there is a defect if the property does not match the information given in the salgsoppgave, the advertisement or at the viewing, and that information influenced the agreement. In the same way, withheld information about matters the seller knew about can constitute a defect. A prospekt that overstates the standard, states the wrong floor area or leaves out known problems therefore shifts risk onto the seller and the agent. That is why professional prospekt documents are careful with their wording and support the information with sources.

For commercial property, the prospekt is often more extensive and is usually called a salgsmemorandum or IM (information memorandum). It contains a tenant schedule, rental income, lease terms, technical reports and financial key figures, and is normally shared only with qualified parties after a confidentiality agreement. How much is shared is often staged: a short marketing document first, and the full material only once a party has been qualified. Here the prospekt is the starting point for the buyer's due diligence, not a replacement for it.

For the buyer, it is worth remembering that a prospekt is the seller's and the agent's presentation of the property, not a neutral assessment. It is correct as far as the information goes, but the buyer has an independent responsibility to investigate the property, in particular matters that the prospekt qualifies or does not mention. A thorough review of Grunnboken, the zoning status and the technical condition report often reveals details that a prospekt mentions only briefly or leaves out.

In Placepoint you can retrieve much of the same underlying material that goes into a prospekt: matrikkel information, ownership history and encumbrances from Grunnboken, and zoning status. That is useful both when you are preparing a sale and when you want to check the information in a prospekt before the bidding round.

From Placepoint's glossary: Prospekt

More information: Eiendomsmeglingsloven § 6-7, Avhendingslova § 3-8

English: Sales prospectus / property particulars (prospekt or salgsoppgave; the binding sales document for a property).