If you are a non-EU Danish resident, ready to commit to buying property in Denmark, it’s not quite as simple as getting a mortgage approved from a bank.

In some instances, you need to get permission from the Ministry of Justice on the particular property you want to buy. These are the steps to approval.

• Get a pre-approved mortgage from a bank (kreditgodkendt) and then a mortgage certificate (købsbevis). The amount you can borrow is calculated from the household income, number of dependents you have and a deposit of at least 5 percent.

• Start looking at properties within your budget.

• Once you put in your offer, the estate agent or solicitor will help with the paperwork you need to do. This includes showing that you have lived in Denmark for five years (this doesn’t have to be consecutive years) or proving domicile in Denmark.

• Domicile is an assessment of whether Denmark is your permanent home and the following factors are taken into consideration: How long you’ve lived in Denmark, whether you’re married or cohabiting, whether you have children and if they go to a school or institution in Denmark, if you speak Danish, if you’ve taken any Danish courses, if you’re working or studying in Denmark and any other ties to Denmark.

• If you meet the requirement of domicile or five years in Denmark, you submit a declaration directly to the Court of Land Registration (Tinglysningsretten) when registering your ownership of the property.

• If you can’t meet the criteria of five years in Denmark or domicile, then you need to apply for permission from the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Civil Affairs (Civilstyrelsen) to own the property. 

• The permission from the Ministry of Justice is for the specific property you want to buy, although it can be transferred if it’s within three months of permission being granted.

• On the Ministry of Justice application form, you have to show a valid residence permit, a purchase agreement or particulars of sale (salgsopstilling) and a statement of the expected date of acquisition, information on whether you own any other real property in Denmark, declare that you intend to use the property as your permanent dwelling and answer questions about domicile in Denmark.

• If approved, you can sign the purchase agreement with the seller, which is when the property offer is legally binding.

• Once the property is legally yours, you can’t rent it out or leave it for longer than six months until you’ve lived in Denmark for more than five years. Otherwise you need to sell it.

If you are a national of an EU/EEA country (or Switzerland), there is a simpler process of filing a declaration with the Danish Land Registration Court (Tinglysningsretten) that you meet one of the following conditions:

• You are an employee in Denmark or another EU/EEA country.
• You have sufficient funds to support yourself.
• You have an EU/EEA residence card.
• You plan to be self-employed.
• You plan to open a branch or an agency or provide services in Denmark.
• You must also declare you are a national of an EU/EEA country (or Switzerland), that the property will be used as your permanent dwelling and not a summer house.

The Land Registration Court has the power to decide whether EU/EEA citizens can buy property in Denmark without permission from the Department of Civil Affairs.

EU nationals also can’t rent out their property or leave it for longer than six months until they have lived in Denmark for more than five years.