Property definition - An investigation of occurrence and use during the years 1973-2013

Abstract: A clearly defined ownership of real property is of great importance in order to support economic prosperity in society. An incentive grows for property owners to increase the value of their property and allow free transactions through investments. Property owners need to rely on property boundaries and respect their markings for the secur-ity of the property rights system not to be undermined. In Sweden it is therefore prohibited by law to move or destroy boundary markers. To for example find out where an uncertain boundary lies, a property definition can be used. With a decision of property definition the property boundaries become legally binding and registered in the Real Property Register. A property definition measure can also be used for other uncertainties surrounding properties, such as whether an easement exists and the extent to which joint facilities have. The purpose of this thesis is to increase the knowledge of property definitions and how they appear. Questions, such as which type of property definition that are most com-mon, who initiates the proceeding in general, and how often Real Property Formation Act ch. 14 sect. 5 and 6 applies, were examined. Interesting problems and results were also discussed. The results of the survey show that there are both areas that have not changed much at all since the Real Property Formation Act entered into force, and those who have. Results which have not changed were that, boundaries were most common to deter-mine, that property definition usually occur with another measure and that technical adjustments rarely were applied. Areas that however have been changed were that procedure costs agreements have increased and that the number of clearly docu-mented official initiative has decreased.