How to rent an appartment in Finland

Looking for an appartment

If you want to rent an appartment in Finland there are two websites where you should start:

Vuokraovi is a leading marketplace for rental appartments in Finland. The website frame is available in English but most of the announcement texts are in Finnish.
http://www.vuokraovi.com/vuokraovi/main/main.action?locale=en&theme=theme_en&

Oikotie is the marketplace of a local newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. Unfortunately it is available only in Finnish.
http://asunnot.oikotie.fi/vuokrapalvelu

These two places are good starting points to learn more about the market. If you want to contact real estate brokers here are few companies to start with:

Celine is a company which is focused on rental appartments for foreigners. If you are coming to work in Finland and looking for furnished appartment with excellet location this is the company to contact.
http://www.celine.fi/

SKV and Huoneistokeskus are biggest real estate brokers in Finland.
http://www.skv.fi/aspx/Site/CMS.aspx?path=/Yleiset/LangEN
http://www.huoneistokeskus.fi/aspx/Site/CMS.aspx?lang=EN¨

Short term (weeks) appartments in capital area:
http://www.forenom.fi/

When you have found an appartment
Here are some basic facts about rental agreements in Finland.

Term of agreement can be either fixed (eg. 1.1.20XX-31.10.20XX) or then it is just valid as long as either party terminates agreement. In these cases termination period is usually agreed to be according to the legislation. Termination period can never be shorter than one month.

Deposit. Market standard for deposit is two months rent. Best way to arrange deposit is open a separate account for deposit in local bank. It is a standard service they offer. All you need is the written agreement agreement, ID card and funds for the deposit. Once you have them bank can open the account. This separate account is safer than paying it directly tot the appartment owner and most of the leasors also prefer this arrangement.

Prepayments. Prepayments are not a normal practice so if you are asked one you can usually say that you don't accept it. Only sometimes in cases where deposits are not made are prepayments sometimes used.


Moving in - what should I remember?
Most important thing you should do is to make an agreement about the electricity. If you are moving to an appartment heating is normally included and for water you sometimes pay some extra but it is agreed in the rental agreement and usually you pay it together with rent. However electricity has to be agreed separately. In Helsinki capital area we suggest that you contact Helsingin Energia.
http://www.helen.fi/index_eng.html

Comments

  1. jonny11 June 2018 at 04:33

    Hi, do you know if its possible to apply for an apartment at Vuokraovi without a Finnish ID since I'm a foreigner? Thanks

    ReplyDelete

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