Housing

Steps

1. Search on listing sites (keyword vuokra-asunto, home to rent) or with the public landlords of your municipality. Going through an agency is not compulsory; if you do, its commission must be agreed in writing in advance (InfoFinland).
2. Prepare your file: identity document, often your henkilötunnus (personal identity code, see FI-NIF-TOUS-001) or your registered right of residence, latest payslip or tax decision. The landlord often checks your credit history.
3. Sign a written lease. Without a written lease, the lease is deemed to be of indefinite duration. The rules on residential leases are in law 481/1995.
4. Pay the deposit. The keys are generally handed over after payment. Do a condition report with photos on move-in.
5. Take out home insurance (kotivakuutus) before moving in: most landlords require it; keep it throughout the tenancy.
6. Do your settling-in paperwork: declaration of address to the DVV (see FI-SEJOUR-TOUS-001), electricity contract in your name (generally at your expense).
7. To leave, give your notice in writing, in a way you can prove. The deposit must be returned to you, or its retention justified in writing, at the latest 14 days after the end of the lease (rule in force since 01/10/2026).

Documents

• Passport or identity card; henkilötunnus if you already have it.
• Proof of income (payslip, employment contract, tax decision) or proof of resources.
• For subsidised housing: the application is most often made online with strong identification (bank codes or mobile certificate, see FI-ADMINISTRATIONS-TOUS-002).
• For Kela's housing allowance: signed lease (unless your landlord sends it directly to Kela), form AT 1e if you do not use OmaKela.

Costs and timelines

• Deposit: three months' rent at most; any clause asking for more is void (law 481/1995, art. 8). InfoFinland indicates that the practice is two months. According to InfoFinland, it cannot be used to pay the last rents.
• Tenant's notice (indefinite-term lease): one month. It runs from the end of the month in which you give notice: to leave on 30 November, give notice at the latest on 31 October.
• Landlord's notice: since law 531/2026 (in force on 01/10/2026), three months, or four months if the tenancy has lasted at least two years. For a lease signed before 01/10/2026, the old rule continues to apply unless otherwise agreed: three months, or six months after one year of tenancy. The landlord must give notice in writing and state the reason.
• Fixed-term lease: it ends by itself on the agreed date, and in principle neither you nor the landlord can end it before then (except in cases provided for by law). More than two successive leases of three months or less with the same tenant amount to an indefinite-term lease (law 481/1995, art. 4). For leases signed since 01/10/2026, a lease agreed first for a fixed term and then for an indefinite term can be terminated only at the end of the fixed period at the earliest (art. 4, law 531/2026).
• Charges: water often billed per person or by meter; electricity in your name; heating generally included with communal heating; sauna, laundry room and parking paid separately to the housing company (InfoFinland).
• Kela's housing allowance (yleinen asumistuki): up to 70% of eligible housing costs, within ceilings set by municipality, depending on the income and assets of the whole household; not paid below €15 per month; claims can be backdated by one month at most (Kela, 2026).
• State-subsidised rental housing (formerly ARA, now Varke): regulated rents, allocation according to housing need, household income and assets; you apply to the owner (municipality or non-profit organisation), not to Varke. Gross monthly household income ceilings since 01/01/2025, set by government decree and therefore the same throughout the country, for ordinary housing (not housing reserved for specific groups: older people, people with disabilities, students and young people) (Varke): €3,540 for a single person, €6,020 for two adults, €4,190 for one adult and one child, €6,670 for two adults and one child, €7,270 with two children, €7,870 with three (+€2,480 per additional adult, +€650 for the first child, +€600 for each following child). For assets, Varke recommends that municipalities set a ceiling each year: ask yours.

Common pitfalls

• Signing a fixed-term lease without realising. You will not be able to leave before the agreed date, even with a new job elsewhere: re-read the duration before signing.
• Paying a deposit of more than three months' rent. It is forbidden; do not pay a deposit before you have seen the home and signed the lease.
• Forgetting home insurance. Many landlords make it compulsory in the lease, and without it you pay for damage yourself (water damage at the neighbour's, for example).
• Giving notice on the 1st of the month. Notice only runs from the end of the month: notice given on 1 November only takes effect at the end of December.
• Counting on Kela's help from arrival. Kela pays housing allowance to people who live permanently in Finland: generally, you are considered to do so after one year of residence. Exception: if you came to work in Finland and you are a citizen of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, you may be entitled earlier (Kela, 12/10/2026). As a general rule, students are not entitled to it: they come under the housing supplement for students, with exceptions (for example if you live with your child).
• Not declaring the other occupants. Since 01/10/2026, if you live with other people, you must inform the landlord in writing of the number of occupants and the basis of their right to live there; for each adult, you also give their name, date of birth and contact details. If you did not do so when signing the lease, do it without delay after taking possession of the home, then each time a new occupant arrives; a departure must also be reported without delay, in writing (law 481/1995, art. 17 a, amended by law 531/2026).

What changes by country of origin

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: same rental rules as Finns; for subsidised housing, InfoFinland cites a registered right of residence among the accepted cases.
• Varke indicates that only Finnish citizens "or equivalent" can apply for subsidised rental housing: according to Varke's guide, those treated as equivalent are citizens of the EU, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and the Nordic countries whose residence is registered (or who have a residence card), other foreigners holding a residence permit of at least one year, and students holding a residence permit for studies. No henkilötunnus needed; attach a copy of your registration certificate or your residence permit.
• British citizens (Scots included): since Brexit, you need a residence permit; for subsidised housing, InfoFinland cites a residence card or permit valid for at least 12 months.
• Åland Islands: the archipelago has its own tenancy law (hyreslag) since 01/07/1999, and the Åland government offers a model lease (hyresavtal). The Finnish law 481/1995 and its reform of 01/10/2026 do not apply there. The Åland law (hyreslag 1999:19) provides: deposit of three months' rent at most (art. 9); for an indefinite-term lease, notice of one month for the tenant (extendable by contract up to three months at most) and of three months for the landlord, six months if the tenancy has lasted at least two years, counted from the end of the month of notice (art. 46 and 51).