Frequently asked questions about applying for a right-of-occupancy home

Right-of-occupancy means that you have the right to live in a specific apartment by paying the right-of-occupancy payment (15% of the original purchase price of the apartment) and after that, a monthly residence charge. You can live in the right-of-occupancy home for as long as you want, but you cannot purchase it for yourself.

Read more about right-of-occupancy housing

To apply for a right-of-occupancy apartment, you need a queue number which you can acquire from The Housing Finance and Development Centre’s (Ara) queue number service. You should apply for the queue number before filling out the housing application. Check the instructions for applying for a right-of-occupancy home. 

If you have a permanent queue number received from your municipality, it must be used no later than 31^st of December 2023. From 1^st of January 2024, you can only apply for a right-of-occupancy home with ARA’s queue number. 

The transfer price is the total amount paid for the right-of-occupancy home, which comprises the original right-of-occupancy payment, adjusted by the building cost index, as well as the value of any alterations made by the previous residents for your right-of-occupancy home. If you acquire a home in a new building, you only pay the right-of-occupancy payment.

The building cost index depicts the relative change in the price trend for professional construction costs. The building cost index changes monthly, in the middle of the month. The change in the index will be taken into account as part of the transfer price of the right-of-occupancy home. You can follow the trend of the index on the Statistics Finland website.

We lowered the security deposit for our right-of-occupancy apartments to 250 euros in right-of-occupancy agreements signed from February 1, 2024, onwards. As a rule, the security deposit for our right-of-occupancy properties is two months’ security. The security deposit must be paid before moving into the apartment. 

With the change, we aim to maintain a good occupancy rate of our apartments due to tightened housing market conditions. Maintaining the occupancy rate high is in the interest of all our residents when the costs of housing remain decent.  

The security deposit is two month’s right-of-occupancy payment in right-of-occupancy agreements signed before February 1, 2024. The change in the security deposit has no effect on previously concluded valid contracts, and previously paid larger security deposits will not be returned to residents in the middle of the contract period. 

The deposit according to the right-of-occupancy agreement will be returned to the resident when moving out, if no expenses must be withheld from the deposit to cover, for example, the final cleaning done by a cleaning company. 

In new builds, the prices are estimated prices until the prices are confirmed after the building is completed. 

You will receive an offer from us, if the right-of-occupancy home you have applied for is or is about to become available. If the number of applicants is very large, we will only offer the apartment to those with the lowest queue numbers.

If you receive an offer from us, accept the offer preliminarily and visit the apartment. If you have the lowest queue number and are interested in the apartment, we will send you a letter of reservation and a statement on assets for you to complete and check the queue number and ensure that you meet the criteria for right of occupancy.

You can edit your previously submitted right-of-occupancy application by adding a queue number and adding or removing apartments. If you want to add new locations to your application, please complete a new separate application. 

Edit you existing application.

This does not apply to new properties, which have a two-week application period. Applications edited after this will not be taken into consideration. If you apply for an apartment in a new property, make sure to include all the necessary information and your queue number in the application before the deadline for applications.

Anyone who has turned 18 and does not own an apartment or have the assets to buy one in the area in which they are looking for an apartment can apply for a right-of-occupancy home. The asset limits do not apply to applicants over 55 years of age. The applicant must have a Finnish personal identity code.

If you are under 55, you cannot own a home in the same area in which you are looking for a right-of-occupancy home.

You can assign your right-of-occupancy home to your spouse or a lineal descendant or ascendant if you have lived in your apartment for a minimum of two years. The right-of-occupancy can also be transferred to a family member permanently living in the home at the time of assignment.

Yes, Kela grants housing allowance for right-of-occupancy homes. Starting from January 1, 2025, mortgage interest will no longer be accepted as housing costs for right-of-occupancy apartments.

Further information about housing allowance is available on the Kela website.

Yes, you must provide your Finnish social security number for the right-of-occupancy application.

It is difficult to estimate the queuing time for a right-of-occupancy home, since it depends on the number of applicants and their queue numbers. It is also difficult to estimate the number of apartments becoming available. To improve your chances of getting an apartment, you can include more than one apartment in your application.

You can modify your right-of-occupancy home to your liking by making alterations to it in accordance with our alteration work instructions. You can be refunded for the alterations if you decide to give up your right of occupancy. You must always request advance permission for the alterations.

Residents of right-of-occupancy homes can exchange apartments with one another. As a right-of-occupancy resident, if you want to move from your current right-of-occupancy home to another right-of-occupancy location, you must apply for a queue number from The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (Ara). The queue number is not necessary if you find another apartment exchanger with whom you want to exchange apartments.

To exchange right-of-occupancy apartments, you can explore our apartment exchange service to find a suitable exchange partner. It is also possible to exchange right-of-occupancy homes between different right-of-occupancy companies and from one municipality to another. Please notice that the service is in Finnish.

Read more about exchanging right-of-occupancy homes.

Due to reform of The Right-of-Occupancy Housing Act, the selection of right-of-occupancy residents has been transferred to two-year fixed queue numbers and Ara’s national waiting list system from 1^st of September 2023. Read further about the reform of The Right-of-Occupancy Housing Act. 

If you have a permanent queue number received from your municipality, it must be used no later than 31^st of December 2023. 

Smoking is not allowed in the apartments nor on the balconies and terraces under contracts signed on or after 1 January 2021. In addition, our newest right-of-occupancy and rental buildings are completely smoke-free. In smoke-free buildings, smoking is only allowed in designated smoking areas.