gårdsnummer

Gårdsnummer, often abbreviated gnr, is a cadastral unit used in Norway and Sweden to identify farms and other rural properties within a municipality. It serves as the primary legal identifier for a farm in land registries and is used in official documents, property transactions and taxation. Each gård is assigned a unique number, and the farm may be subdivided into parts that identify individual parcels or buildings within the farm.

Within a gårdsnummer, one or more bruksnummer (bnr) identify separate units or properties on the farm; in some cases a further subdivision, snr, is used. The full legal designation is typically written as gnr.bnr or gnr.bnr.snr and appears in land registers such as the Norwegian Matrikkelen and the Swedish fastighetsbeteckning. The system thus provides a stable reference for ownership, boundaries and transfers even as property lines change over time.

Historically, gårdsnummer evolved from agrarian landholding patterns and tax assessments and were standardized during cadastral reforms in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, the identifiers are widely used in administration, real estate transactions and genealogical research to trace farm lineage and land history.

Notes: Terminology and structure can vary by country. In Norway, gnr is the primary unit and is often paired with bnr and snr; in Sweden a comparable system is used under the term gårdsnummer within the broader fastighetsbeteckning.