Moving into your own home
Once you have found a suitable apartment, you must sign a lease agreement and move your belongings into the new home. Oh, and there are a couple of other practical matters as well.
Lease Agreements
What matters can be agreed in a lease agreement and which rights and obligations does the tenant have?
Guide for becoming independent
A Home Of Your Own – A Young Person’s Guide for Becoming Independent contains lots of housing information in a compact form. Read at your own pace!
Also available in Arabic and Russian.
إلى بيتي
دليل للشباب الذين سوف يستقلون
Ваш собственный дом
Справочник для независимой молодежи
Movers Checklist
Make a change of address notification, notify the building’s maintenance company and get home insurance. What else is there to remember?
- Make a change of address notification. This will officially transfer your contact information to your new address. The notification must be made within a week of your relocation. You can submit the notification to both Posti and the Local Registry Offices online. Be sure to notify your workplace, your place of study and hobby groups as well as the bank and any magazine subscription services about your change of address.
- Notify the building’s maintenance company or the housing manager of your moving. When you do that, you will be added to the register of residents and your name will be added to the name board in the stairwell and your door. The maintenance company will be allowed to let you in if you forget your key. The contact information of the maintenance company can be found on the bulletin board in the stairwell.
- Condition inspection. When you move in, go through any faults or shortcomings in the apartment together with your landlord. This way you cannot be accused later of any damage caused by the previous resident.
- Get home insurance. Home insurance is a small investment: without it, you will have to pay for any material damage to your home out of your own pocket. You can purchase home insurance from an insurance company.
- Sign an electricity agreement. Organise an electricity agreement as soon as you learn the date of your relocation to make sure you will have electricity when you move. The agreement can be signed well in advance, but it will not be valid until the moving day.
- Make sure you have an Internet connection. In newer apartments a broadband connection is included in the lease, but usually you have to acquire it yourself. You can get an Internet connection from the same operators that provide mobile phone connections. Be sure to compare prices.
- Check the smoke alarm. A smoke alarm is a compulsory item in every home. Even if you are careful yourself, there can be an accident next door. Check the batteries on a regular basis.
- Get the water flowing. Usually a water rate is included in the lease or the service charge of an owned apartment, but check your agreement to make sure. The water rate is usually charged separately to every resident.