Late Fees and Default Interest in Finland
How is unpaid residential rent legally collected in Finland? Penalty interest under the Interest Act and reminder fees for debt collection.
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Rent backlogs dominate the worst nightmares of a real estate investor, but fortunately, the Debt Collection Act in Finland sets a fairly fast-paced and efficient set of rules for bringing in debts. In Finland, a landlord can never wildly "invent" late penalties into their own contract or smack arbitrary percentages, but everything is directed by the ceilings of the debt collection and interest acts when collecting from residential consumers.
1. Default Interest (Interest Act)
When the rent's due date (which by default is often the 2nd or 5th day of the month, weekends moving the payment to the next banking day) has expired and the payment is not seen in the account, the official and statutory default interest (viivästyskorko) starts rolling. In residential consumer lease relationships, no harsher penalty interest can be agreed upon than the confirmed reference rate defined by the Bank of Finland.
- Formula: The reference rate confirmed semi-annually by the Bank of Finland plus an additional rate of seven percent (7%). (The justified default interest typically settles in the current economy between 7 - 11% across the entire annual timeline for the sum of money divided according to the days of delay).
This default interest starts spinning absolutely from the day following the day the invoice was due (even if a payment reminder had not yet been sent in the mail at all).
2. Reminder Fees (Debt Collection Act)
In addition to the actual backlog, operational effort is compensated through official reimbursable "collection costs". The Finnish Debt Collection Act protects the resident (consumer) from excessively large collection robberies by dictating strict maximum times and ceiling sums:
- Time limit for reminder (14-day rule): The landlord may invoice a maximum of 5 euros for the costs of an official first Payment Reminder sent to the tenant. According to the law, however, this 5 € cost can only be collected if the due date has already wholly passed by at least 14 days when the reminder is sent. (If, as a hasty property manager, you happen to mail it on the fifth (5) day of delay, you may not deduct a cent of costs from the resident - the consumer market is protected from hasty harassment).
- The next new payment reminder with a new maximum bill of 5 euros (or a larger bill of a third stage professional agency) can only be collected after a new 14-day protection period has rested since the first one was sent.
More information about the preparation and submission of the eviction process and notices of cancellation can be found in the Eviction section. These require their own warning forms and proofs of delivery.
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