Three MPs—Ingrid Liland, Marius Langballe Dalin, and Oda Indgaard—have tabled ten proposals to increase the use of existing buildings for housing. Members from the Labour Party, Progress Party, Conservative Party, and Centre Party are wary of new taxes and state control, while MPs from the Socialist Left Party, Red Party, and Green Party back the proposals as part of an active housing policy to tackle housing shortages and climate challenges.
AI-generated summary · Model: Claude Haiku 4.5 · Generated: 14 May 2026
These are the proposals in the document, not decisions. See the votes for the outcome.
The Storting calls on the government to quantify national targets for converting existing buildings to housing use and propose measures that enable municipalities to track and meet these targets. The measures should also allow vacant buildings to be used for purposes other than private housing where appropriate.
The Storting calls on the government to examine and propose a tax or fee that municipalities may choose to impose on buildings left vacant for extended periods, modeled on France's Taxe sur les logements vacants, with scope for escalating rates on residential or commercial properties vacant for longer timeframes.
The Storting calls on the government to propose changes to legislation and regulations that allow minor housing renovations to be classified as investments, enabling municipalities to finance these through borrowing.
The Storting calls on the government to strengthen the Housing Bank's advisory role and data foundation, and ensure the Housing Bank conducts regular national surveys of the actual housing reserve and provides municipalities with better tools for systematic oversight of vacant housing locally.
The Storting calls on the government to propose measures that give municipalities the power to introduce stricter regulation of short-term rentals, including a reporting requirement for rental platforms.
The Storting calls on the government to examine changes to the property transfer tax with a view to actively encouraging conversion, reuse, and transformation.
The Storting calls on the government to develop a guide for applying the exemption under the Planning and Building Act § 31-4, addressing fee practices, and simplify the process for change of use by establishing an expedited track for conversion projects so these are processed primarily as building cases rather than planning cases.
The Storting calls on the government to examine the scope for and environmental impact of adjusting exemptions from permit requirements for temporary measures on existing buildings (Planning and Building Act §§ 20-4 and 20-5) during conversion and transformation, with particular emphasis on extending permit exemptions from up to 2 months to up to 1 year and extending exemptions from responsible contractor requirements (temporary measures) from up to 2 years to up to 5 years, with potential conditions attached, to reduce bureaucratic burden, increase predictability for operators, and maintain necessary safety and environmental standards.
The Storting calls on the government, in dialogue with FutureBuilt's state and municipal partners, to propose expanding the FutureBuilt programme's mandate by establishing a national expert group within the programme to: (a) develop professional guidelines and advice for municipalities, developers, and case officers on conversion projects, and (b) prepare proposals for long-term and structural measures to promote reuse, conversion, and climate-friendly urban development nationally.
The Storting calls on the government to propose measures that strengthen renovation, reuse, and conversion of existing buildings through public-private partnerships.