Do you want to apply for an apartment?

At earliest you may apply for housing after you have been formally accepted and you have received a confirmation from your school in Kuopio. You can apply for housing six months before the need of an apartment. For exchange students it is recommended to also read this guide: Guide for Exchange & Master’s degree students

Students under the age of 18 are required to have their parents’ consent for liability on the tenancy agreement.

Kuopas’ apartments are meant for all degree, doctoral and exchange students studying in the following institutions in the city of Kuopio and its surroundings:

• University of Eastern Finland
• University of Applied Sciences
• High school
• Vocational institute or equivalent

Selection and priority are based on the following, according to Varke’s (Centre for State-subsidised Housing Construction) rules:

• The urgency of your need for an apartment
• The amount of your monthly steady income during your studies

The right of occupancy will be considered depending on the housing situation for those studying in adult high school, on an apprenticeship contract, at an open university or university of applied sciences.

If you are a student coming to Finland from outside the EU, we recommend that you apply for accommodation only after you have received your residence permit. Unfortunately, we cannot cancel your tenancy agreement if you are unable to arrive to Finland.

You cannot accept an apartment as an absent student. You must be registered as being present to your educational institution in order to accept a Kuopas apartment.

► There is no waiting list system at Kuopas.

► Pets are welcome in studios and family apartments (i.e. two- and three-room apartments), except in some apartments in Torikatu and in Satamakatu F-building. In shared apartments, pets are allowed only if all tenants in the apartment agree. If a new tenant moves in and does not accept the pet, a new home must be found for the pet.

► In family apartments, at least one of the couple must be a student.

► Studios under 28 m² are meant for one person only. Studios from 28 m² and larger can be rented to couples also. Apartments sized below 40m² can’t be used as family apartments with children.

► One month is the minimum time period for a rental agreement.

Even if you are moving from another Kuopas’ apartment, you need to give us your notice of termination concerning your previous tenancy agreement. The notice of termination time is needed also if your building is demolished or sold by Kuopion Opiskelija-asunnot Oy. The term of notice is at minimum one full calendar month.

Please make sure, that before you accept an offer from Kuopas, you have terminated the contract of the old apartment and that you don’t have to pay the rent for two apartments at the same time, if you don’t plan to do so.

Example: If you terminate your current contract during January, you still have to pay the rent of February.

More information about terminating a contract can be found here: Termination of contract and graduation

Apartment search

Apartment search is part of the application. It shows all locations that have apartments matching your search criteria. You can also find building information pages in the apartment search.

On each building’s information page, you can find a link to photos sent by tenants of decorated apartments in that location.

Furnished apartments are marked with (F).

Apply with broad choices

We recommend submitting your application with as many suitable options as possible.
Each location has an Apartments list, which shows all apartment types in that location. If you choose an apartment from the Apartments list, your application applies to all apartments of that type in that location — including apartments that are available now and apartments that become available later.
This is the easiest and most reliable way to apply for all suitable apartments in a location.

If you choose an apartment only from the Available now or Available soon list, your application applies only to that specific apartment.

Studio apartments are rarely available immediately. If you are applying for a studio, we recommend choosing studios from the Apartments list. This way we may also offer you a similar studio from the same location later.

Especially in autumn, there are many applicants, and we cannot guarantee that you will receive a specific apartment that is currently available. We recommend also applying for shared apartments.
If your housing need is urgent and you want to apply more generally, for example for “all shared apartments in Kuopio”, you can skip detailed apartment choices and continue directly to the general application by clicking Apply in the upper right corner.

To apply furnished apartments, choose all suitable furnished apartments from Katiska (Katiskaniementie 6), Pankkola (Kuntokuja 2) and Särki (Särkiniementie 30).

Apartment availability

Shared apartments and family apartments are usually available throughout the year.
Studio apartments are less often available immediately, so applicants may need to wait for an offer. In autumn, many new students move to Kuopio, and there are not enough studio apartments for all applicants. For this reason, we recommend also applying for shared apartments.

The busiest time for apartment offers is from late June to late July. During this period, we offer most apartments starting from July, even if your housing need begins on 1 August or 1 September.

If we do not have an apartment that exactly matches your application, we will try to offer you a similar apartment.

Application form

The application is valid for three months. You will receive an email reminder one week before your application expires. You can extend the validity of your application via the reminder message.

Submit your application only after you have accepted your study place. You can submit the application six months before your housing need begins.

If your application details change or you want to add more apartment choices, please submit a new application. A new application does not slow down the process. Please keep your application information up to date.

If you are applying for a family apartment, remember to include the information of all family members in the application.
If you apply together with your partner, you both will be contracting parties in the contract. Remember this when you terminate the contract as we will need the notice of termination from both contracting parties.

Please make sure that your contact information, especially your email address and phone number, is correct. We send apartment offers by email.

Important tenant notices, utility bills, and separate invoices are also sent to the email address you provide in the application. Please check your email regularly.

You can add these Kuopas email addresses as safe senders to prevent important messages from going to spam:

• asiakaspalvelu@kuopas.fi
• customerservice@kuopas.fi

Applying for an apartment with friends

You can apply for an apartment together with one or more friends.

Each applicant must submit their own application. In the Additional information field on the last page of the application, each applicant must write the names and email addresses of the friends they are applying with.

For example, if three people are applying together, all three must submit their own application. Each application must include the details of the two other applicants.

You can apply for a whole shared apartment where each tenant has their own room and a separate tenancy agreement. You can also apply for a family apartment together. Friends usually make a sublease agreement when renting a family apartment together.

Power of attorney

If you want someone else to handle your housing matters with us, please send us a power of attorney by email. It can be freely written, but it must include the personal details of both parties, a statement that the person is allowed to handle your housing matters, and both signatures.

Apartment type markings

Some apartment types include Finnish abbreviations. Here are the most common ones:

• (F) = furnished
• poikasolu/tyttösolu = shared apartment for boys/girls
• h = room (huone)
• k = kitchen (keittiö)
• kk = kitchenette (keittokomero)
• tk/tp = open kitchen (tupakeittiö)
• kt = open plan kitchen (keittotila)
• minikeittiö/mk = small kitchen
• yht.keittiö = common kitchen (yhteiskeittiö)
• parveke = balcony
• ransk.parv. = french balcony (ranskalainen parveke)
• alkovi = alcove
• s = sauna

Examples:

• 1h+k = 1 room + kitchen (studio apartment)
• 2h+kk = 2 rooms + kitchenette (2-room family apartment)
• 3h+k (tyttösolu) = 3 rooms + kitchen (shared apartment for 3 girls)

When will I receive an apartment offer?

Applications are processed and tenant selections are made daily. Because the notice period for apartments is one full calendar month, popular apartments can usually be offered about one month before the housing need date marked in your application.

Offers for tenancy agreements starting in August or September are mainly sent between 15 June and 15 July. If you have not received an offer, please contact our customer service only after this period.

The demand for student apartments is very high in autumn. Because of this, we may offer you an apartment starting from 1 August, even if your studies begin in September. This means that you must also pay rent for August. If you want to secure an apartment, we recommend accepting the early offer. If you decline it, we can offer you an apartment starting from September later only if one is available.

We send apartment offers by email, so remember to check your email regularly.

The application summary is not sent to you automatically by email. Remember to download the summary as a PDF file on the last page of the application.

If we cannot offer the exact apartment you applied for, we will try to offer you a similar apartment.

I was offered an apartment. What next?

1. Read the offer letter carefully.
2. If the information is correct, you can accept the apartment by paying the rent deposit by the due date. The deposit confirms that you accept the apartment.
   • The deposit is 250 € for a room in a shared apartment, and 400 € for a studio or family apartment.
   • The deposit will be returned within one month after the tenancy agreement has ended, if you have fulfilled all your obligations to Kuopas and the apartment is clean and in good condition.
3. Check the due date of the rent deposit in your offer.
   Apartment offers are usually valid for only a few days.
4. Please wait for instructions on how to sign the contract electronically.
   After we have received your rent deposit, we will send you instructions by email for signing and downloading the tenancy agreement electronically.
   • Your rent payment details can be found in the tenancy agreement.
5. Remember to terminate your current Kuopas apartment.
   If you already live in Kuopas, be sure to give notice of termination on your current apartment before signing a new contract. The normal notice period also applies to tenants who are moving because their building is being demolished or sold.

Please note that foreign banks may charge transaction fees. Make sure that the full deposit amount reaches Kuopas. If the amount we receive is incomplete because of bank fees, we will ask you to pay the missing amount. When we return the deposit, we return the same amount that we received. Your bank may still charge fees for the transfer.

Tenancy agreement

A student’s tenancy agreement is usually open-ended. This means that the agreement is valid until the tenant terminates it, for example when studies end or when moving to another apartment.

The tenancy agreement enters into force when you pay the deposit according to our instructions.
The tenant’s notice period is one calendar month. The notice period is always calculated until the end of the month following the month of termination. According to the tenancy agreement and the law, on open ended contract you are liable to give a full month’s notice on the termination of the tenancy.

Fixed-term agreements can be made for short-term housing, summer housing or after studies have ended.

In addition to the deposit, you must pay rent from the date your tenancy agreement enters into force. Rent and other fees are due on the 5th day of each month. If the payment is late, the collection company Intrum Oy will charge normal overdue fees and interest. Your rent payment details can be found on your rent invoice, which will be sent to you after we have received your rent deposit. You can also pay several months’ rent at once.

Renting your apartment to someone else is only allowed with Kuopas’ permission. Using Kuopas apartments for Airbnb is forbidden.

The tenancy agreement includes apartment area information as follows:

• Area (m²): The surface area of the whole apartment or shared room.
• Assessed relative value (m²): Apartment-specific rent determination. This means that rent is divided between apartments using factors other than only surface area.
• Other rented area (m²): In shared apartments, this means the tenant’s share of the common areas.

Electronic signature

The tenancy agreement is signed electronically in Visma Sign.

After we have received your deposit payment, we will send you an email with a link to sign the tenancy agreement. You will receive a code by email. You do not need Finnish online banking credentials to sign the agreement.

All contracting parties must sign the agreement electronically.

If the agreement is made in two names, both tenants must sign it separately. The second person to sign will receive a version with both signatures.

Remember to download and save the agreement before you confirm it. In the image below you can see instructions on how to save the contract before closing the signature process.

Click the image to expand it.

Kela will receive your tenancy agreement directly from Kuopas when you select Kuopas from the landlord list in Kela’s service portal.
For an electronic rent deposit for basic social assistance, please give Kela permission to send the rent deposit directly to the landlord.

How to decline an offer?

If the offer matches your application (including location, housing need date, apartment type and rent), and you decline it, your application will no longer remain valid. If you want to continue applying, you must submit a new application.

If the offer does not match your application criteria, your application will remain valid.

Please always inform us as soon as possible if you decline an offer. This allows us to offer the apartment to the next applicant faster. If you do not reply, the application will automatically become invalid.

Electricity contracts

Electricity is not always included in the rent.

Please check the apartment offer to see if electricity is included in the rent. If electricity is not included in your rent, you must make your own electricity contract with an electricity company.
Make the contract before you move in. This way, the electricity will work in your apartment when you arrive.

You can choose the electricity company yourself. Here is an example:

Electricity products and prices (Helen)

Contract selection assistant (Helen)

Do I need to deliver a study certificate to Kuopas?

All students must provide their study certificate (and transcript of study records) to Kuopas before collecting a key to their apartment/room.

How do I deliver a study certificate to Kuopas?

If you start in a new educational institution, a study certificate or other similar official certificate is sufficient, which shows your study rights at the educational institution. If you have already studied at your educational institution for more than a year, you must also submit a transcript of your study records together with your study certificate.

You can attach the certificates to your application. If you did not attach certificates to the application, you can send them by using our secure encrypted email portal before collecting the key. Those who change apartments within Kuopas must also send a study certificate or transcript of study records. Tenants can also send certificates via OmaKuopas tenant page.