Land register information in Switzerland is managed at the level of the different federal states (cantons). Each canton or, depending on its size, subsection of a canton has its own land registry office.
In Switzerland, land register information is available online, at least to a certain extent. Most cantons limit the access to certain information. The availability of online access, user accounts, and search options can vary from canton to canton. To determine the canton, the address can be entered into the map of the federal office of topography (Maps of Switzerland - Swiss Confederation - map.geo.admin.ch) or Google Maps. When typing the address (street, number, city) into the search bar, the corresponding canton automatically appears after the address.
In order to identify the cantonal website with online access to the public parts of the land register, one may visit the following website and click on the respective canton: Kantonale Geoportale :: KGK-CGC (website only available in German, French or Italian). Online access might be limited to specific types of information, and full details are usually not available to the public. In most cantons, professional users, such as notaries, some lawyers, or surveyors, have access to more detailed information through professional user accounts. These accounts require special permissions or credentials.
The search options of the cantonal websites depend on the capabilities of the specific cantonal land registry system. Common search options include searching by property address or parcel number. Searches of the owner’s name are usually only possible for professional users. Here are some cantonal websites with information which is available without a user account:
- Basel-City: MapBS
- Berne: Geoportal Kanton Bern Basiskarte
- Geneva: Extrait de la mensuration officielle et du registre foncier (ge.ch)
- Lucerne: Eigentümerabfrage - Kanton Luzern
- Zurich: GIS-Browser (zh.ch)
The contact details of the land registry offices in Switzerland can be found in the Annex to this document.