Required Disclosures and Appendices in Finland

In the spirit of Nordic trust, the Finnish rental market does not have a massive pile of various hidden disclosure obligations, such as asbestos certificates from every year or mold registries, the absence of which would immediately void the contract. However, certain international and housing company-related documents are mandatory "required disclosures" that every landlord operating with larger volumes must know when listing a property.

1. Energy Performance Certificate (Energiatodistus)

Stemming from the European Union's climate directives, Finnish law sets an absolute requirement for an energy certificate, also for private residential landlords.

• Marketing phase: When starting to rent an apartment or house and publishing a sales/rental ad on Oikotie, Vuokraovi, or elsewhere, the advertisement must mandatorily state the building's energy efficiency class (e.g., A, B, or F).
• Making the lease agreement: No later than when the tenant makes the decision to rent or the lease agreement is signed, the landlord must ensure that the potential resident has been contacted in a way that gives them the opportunity to review the energy certificate. Mostly, this PDF or copy of the energy certificate is added directly as a standard appendix to the lease agreement. Neglect can result in significant administrative penalty fees of several hundreds or thousands of euros per case from the supervising authority (ARA).

2. House Rules and Housing Company Regulations (Järjestyssäännöt)

The most typical form of living in owned rental apartments in Finnish cities is a Limited Liability Housing Company (Asunto-osakeyhtiö, As Oy). The Housing Companies Act strongly influences the use of the apartment, and as a shareholder (landlord), you are obliged to inform the user of the rules:

• Housing Company's House Rules: Strict restrictions on noise and silence demands in apartment building living must be provided to the tenant upon moving in. If the tenant is later punished (eviction) for a disturbing life emanating from the apartment after 22:00, handing over the house rules and informing about them as an appendix serves as a central basis in court that the tenant knew the allowed restrictions.

3. Condition of the Apartment and Original Description (Initial Inspection)

The legal (AHVL) requirement of "good condition of the apartment" means that the apartment must pass standard living criteria. So that the landlord can protect their back regarding possible claims for damages, a separate condition report or Initial Inspection Protocol (Alkutarkastuspöytäkirja) is a necessity (disclosure of condition). It lists in writing (and often with photographs) the current scratches on the floor and holes in the cabinets before the start of the tenancy and is attached alongside the contract with a signature.

4. Smoking Ban (Tupakointikielto)

Recently, housing companies have been given stronger authority to make facades or balconies completely smoke-free with apartment-specific regulations. If smoking on the apartment's balcony is legally prohibited at the general meeting, this condition must unfailingly be brought to the applicant's attention in the lease agreement's appendices (or included in the conditions), so that the housing company's sudden threat of a fine does not fall on the landlord due to lack of information.

Automating Appendices in the Cloud with the Landager Concept

Manual sharing of papers based on memory invariably causes forgetfulness (e.g., the energy certificate is left unattached in a hastily cobbled-together Word contract). Such an error can cost large sums of fines in ARA's raids. Landager's software binds mandatory public energy certificates directly to the property's registry data. When the system forms a lease agreement according to the Finnish standard, it produces digitally bundled documentation. The platform requires ticking "I have received appendix X and Y (House Rules and Energy Certificate)", leaving a legally binding vault confirmed by strong authentication in the landlord's cloud - ensuring carefree rental operations and administrative perfection in the eyes of supervision.

Back to Finland Residential Tenancy Act (Overview)Il-preview mhux disponibbli.