The government in Helsinki has proposed a bill to restrict real estate transactions for foreigners that could threaten ‘national security’. The proposed text aims to strengthen a 2020 law that requires approval by the Defence Department of transactions by individuals or companies that are registered outside the European Union: European citizens are currently exempt from the restrictions. The new rules give the Ministry of Defence the power to block transactions even if security is not immediately compromised: the new law can target an individual who tries to buy property in the immediate vicinity of ministries or barracks, as happened in recent weeks with a Russian citizen‘s attempt to buy an old retirement home with about a hundred rooms near the Niinisalo barracks in the south-west of the country. The transaction was blocked by the intervention of the authorities.
