Finland: rental market overview
The rental market
Finland: legal framework
- Rental market
- 31.9% of the population rents, of which 20.1% at market rates.
- Legal framework
- Governed by the Act on Residential Leases (481/1995). Most of it is default law the parties can vary, but the protective provisions are mandatory.
- Deposit
- The deposit (vakuus) may be at most three months' rent; a term for a larger deposit is void, and no dedicated blocked account is required.
- Notice & termination
- On an open-ended lease the tenant's notice is always one month; the landlord's is six months once the tenancy has lasted a year, otherwise three.
- Rent increases
- Rent is freely agreed, but a mid-term change needs an agreed basis such as an index clause, notified in writing before it takes effect.
- Worth knowing
- A confirmed reform takes effect on 1 October 2026: landlord notice becomes three or four months, a 14-day deposit-return duty is added, rent-increase notice must give at least a month with no back-dating, and smoking is banned by default.
- Landlord risk
- The regime is mostly dispositive today, but the October 2026 reform changes the notice, deposit and rent-notice rules a landlord relies on.
The rental agreement
Finnish residential leases are governed by the Act on Residential Leases (laki asuinhuoneiston vuokrauksesta 481/1995, AHVL). Most of it is dispositive law — the parties can agree otherwise unless the Act itself says no — but a handful of tenant-protective provisions are one-sidedly mandatory and can't be validly waived to the tenant's disadvantage.
A lease is either fixed-term or indefinite (§ 4). A fixed-term lease simply ends at expiry, with no notice needed — but there's a built-in anti-circumvention rule: if the same landlord and tenant agree more than twice in a row on a fixed term of three months or less, the lease is deemed indefinite regardless of what the paperwork says.
- A tenant may sublet or otherwise pass on residential use of up to half the flat to another person without asking the landlord — going beyond half needs consent, and breaching that is a ground for termination (§§ 17, 61).
- Finland runs no rent control and no points-based system: rent is freely agreed under § 27, unusual among the markets with stricter tenant-protection regimes.
A confirmed reform (HE/GP 33/2026), signed into law by the President on 16 June 2026, takes effect on 1 October 2026. Until then the current rules below apply in full; from that date, the landlord's notice periods, the deposit-return timeline, rent-increase notice and the default smoking rule all change — flagged throughout this guide.
Deposit
The deposit (vakuus) is capped at three months' rent for the tenant's own undertaking (§ 8) — a term for anything larger is void outright. Unlike Switzerland, Finnish law doesn't require a dedicated blocked account: cash, a bank guarantee, or another agreed form all work.
- Today, settlement and release of the deposit happens within a reasonable time after the lease ends, the flat is returned and the handover report is signed, minus the landlord's legitimate counterclaims.
- From 1 October 2026, the reform adds a hard deadline: the landlord must return the deposit, or give written notice of what's being withheld and why, within 14 days of the lease ending and the flat being handed back.
No interest is paid on the deposit unless the parties agree otherwise.
Termination & rent increases
On an indefinite lease, the tenant's notice is always one month — that never changes, reform or no reform. Today, the landlord's notice period is six months once the tenancy has run continuously for at least a year at the point notice is given, otherwise three months; a clause that shortens the landlord's period or lengthens the tenant's is void (§ 52).
From 1 October 2026, the reform replaces those figures: the landlord's notice becomes three months for a tenancy of up to two years, and four months for anything longer.
- A landlord's termination can be struck down as ineffective if it concerns an unreasonable rent adjustment, or is otherwise unreasonable given the tenant's circumstances and lacks a justified cause (§ 56) — an open standard, not Austria's closed catalogue of grounds.
- If a termination goes against good rental-relationship practice, the tenant can claim moving costs, the cost of finding a new home, and up to three months' rent in compensation for the disruption (§ 57).
- Material, non-minor rent arrears let the landlord rescind (purkaa) the lease with immediate effect and no notice period at all — no prior written warning is needed for non-payment specifically, though the rescission notice itself must be delivered in writing and provably (§§ 61-62).
Handover protocol
The AHVL imposes no statutory duty to produce a written handover report, but it's standard Finnish market practice — and the parties' main piece of evidence when it comes to condition. The luovutuspöytäkirja records the meter readings, the flat's condition and its fittings, signed in two identical copies at the point the keys change hands.
It matters most when the vakuus is settled: without it, a landlord has little beyond their own word to justify withholding part of the deposit for damage found on move-out.
Neither version is filed anywhere official, but a signed copy on both sides removes the single biggest source of moving-out disputes: disagreement about what was already broken or worn before the tenant ever got the keys.
Obligations & utilities
The flat must stay in a condition the tenant can reasonably expect given its age and the local housing stock, unless agreed otherwise (§ 20). The tenant needs the landlord's consent for repair or alteration work — except to fix a § 20 defect — but can always act to prevent or limit imminent damage without asking first.
- The tenant handles the small cleaning and touch-ups that ordinary care would keep the flat in shape, and must promptly report anything beyond that.
- The landlord can carry out unavoidable work immediately, and other non-disruptive work with 14 days' notice (§ 21).
- Today, smoking bans are a matter of contract — this agreement includes one by default. From 1 October 2026, the reform flips the default at law: smoking is prohibited unless the landlord expressly consents, and this extends to leases already running.
- Pets need the landlord's prior consent.
Interesting facts
Frequently asked questions
Four things: the landlord's notice period shortens to three or four months (from six or three), the landlord gets a hard 14-day deadline to return or explain withholding the deposit, rent-increase notice needs at least a month with no back-dated collection, and smoking becomes banned by default unless you consent otherwise.
No — agree on more than two consecutive fixed terms of three months or less with the same tenant, and the law deems the lease indefinite regardless of what the contract says. The rule only bites on repeat short terms with the same pair of parties; a single short fixed term, or terms with different tenants, aren't affected.
No — Finland has no rent control or points system, unlike Poland or Germany. Rent is freely agreed at the outset; a mid-term change just needs an agreed basis, like an index clause written into the lease, notified to the tenant in writing before it takes effect. Without that basis, you simply can't raise it mid-term.
Three months' rent, and no more — a term for a larger deposit is simply void, not just reducible. It can be cash, a bank guarantee, or another agreed form; no dedicated blocked account is required, unlike neighbouring Switzerland. No interest is owed on it either, unless you and the tenant agree otherwise.
If the arrears are material and not minor, you can rescind the lease with immediate effect — no notice period, and no prior written warning is required specifically for non-payment. The rescission notice itself, though, must be in writing and provably delivered. Draft the rescission notice carefully — if a court later finds the arrears weren't material enough, an improperly rescinded lease can expose you to a damages claim from the tenant.
Yes, before the lease is signed — with lighter-form exceptions for lettings of a year or less, between close relatives, or at a low rent. The certificate stays with the property, not the tenancy, so once you have one for the flat you don't need to redo it for every new tenant within its validity period.
Yes, on an open reasonableness standard — if it concerns an unfair rent adjustment or is otherwise unreasonable given their circumstances without justified cause, it can be struck down, and a termination against good practice can trigger compensation up to three months' rent. In practice, most disputes never reach that standard — it exists mainly to catch terminations clearly aimed at forcing a tenant out for reasons the law doesn't otherwise recognise.