We have received inquiries from tenants about whether it is possible to rent your own apartment through accommodation websites e.g. Airbnb. We have also received complaints about short-term visitors, and sometimes the fees asked for our apartments in online platforms seem unreasonable high.
Domus Arctica -säätiö DAS is a non-profit entity that follows the Housing Financing and Development Center’s (ARA) regulations for the selection of tenants and the determination of cost rents and also the Law on Renting a Residential Apartment. For this reason, the tenant must always follow the rules set by DAS, which forbid subleasing an apartment to other than a student with pricing that doesn’t exceed the rent that the tenant pays himself or herself.
Based on these regulations Das informs the following rules to the tenants:
- Organizing any kinds of accommodation services in DAS apartments is forbidden. This is based on the regulations of ARA about tenant selection and amount of rent, which forbids a tenant from pursuing financial benefit by subleasing a student apartment.
- Based on the Finnish Act on Residential Leases (18 §), you are allowed to sublease your apartment completely if the lessor approves the sublease.(There is more information in DAS website). You must inform DAS about the subleasing beforehand.
- Based on the Finnish Act on Residential Leases (80 §), you are allowed to sublease your apartment partially (half of the apartment or less). Notice that you cannot sublease a part of your room in a shared apartment or studio (There is more information in DAS website). You must inform DAS about the subleasing beforehand.
- Subleasing over half of the apartment always requires the lessors permission and subleasing must always be informed to the lessor.
- The Act on Residential Leases, 61§ point 3, states that the lessor has the right to rescind the tenancy agreement if the apartment is used for other purposes or in other ways than has been intended when making the tenancy agreement.
- DAS invites tenants to familiarize themselves with the terms of the Foundations’s Lease Agreement and order regulations
We understand that the urge to organize accommodation in the apartment when the tenant might not need the apartment for himself or herself can be big. However, we would like to stress that the apartment has beenhanded over specifically to you for you to live in and the apartment is not meant to be used for accommodation business. Guests and subtenants are warmly welcomed to Rovaniemi and we hope they will enjoy their stay over at your place, but even they are expected to follow our regulations.
Remember that as the main tenant you are still in charge of fulfilling the responsibilities that consider the tenant (paying the rent) and damages that have been caused by the subtenant and your guests.
Despite the seriousness of this topic, we wish you a refreshing November!
Best regards,
Domus Arctica -säätiö