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In Finland you don't buy apartments/flats, instead you buy a share of the company that owns the block. The housing-company takes a fee every month which is use

In Finland you don't buy apartments/flats, instead you buy a share of the company that owns the block. The housing-company takes a fee every month which is used for common-repairs, replacing the roof, etc. If you rent out your flat the tenant pays for their own insurance to protect their possessions, and the housing-company takes care of things like leaks, broken windows, etc. So being a landlord is mostly hands-off. You have to advertise and pick your tenant. Then once they move in if they have problems with their stuff they take care of it, and if they have a problem with the water, etc, they call the housing company. So being a landlord of this kind of property is almost entirely painless and hands-off. Of course if there is a big repair, like a new roof, or pipe-works, then the fee paid to the housing company (which the landlord will pay) will go up sharply for a good few years.

cosmodisk 5y ago
I loved our rental apartment when I lived in Finland! For those who had never been there, here's what we had: Studio flat with a kitchen and decent size bathroom. Nothing special so far. There were 2 storey basement: 1 floor for bikes, some bulky stuff, while the second,much colder,for food storage. There was also a laundry room: semi-industrial washing machine, thumble drier, some ironing device and a spacious clothes drying room with a dehumidifier. Even though all the apartments had washing machines, to have a dedicated space for this was super useful. The there was a sauna too for an additional €15/month. The playgrounds for kids outside were really nice and I even saw how they replaced perfectly fine slides and other equipment with brand new stuff. All of this in an area with apartment blocks built in 70-80s on cheap. In London you'd need to pay a fortune to have something similar. Finland always felt like designed for people,not the other way around.
- stevekemp 5y ago
  I did come to love the storage for prams, especially in winter-time. That meant we didn't need to take ours inside our flat, when it was dripping snow and ice. The communal gardens that are shared between buildings are really nice for children. As you say there is often equipment as well as toys, a sandbox, and similar. We've got something like 11 children aged 1-11 in our buildings, and they're often playing together on weekends and in the early evenings.
- ryanlol 5y ago
  > while the second,much colder,for food storage. That’s definitely unusual.
2rsf 5y ago
There are two gotcha's (based on Swedish experience) your house company might change the rules not allowing rentals or simply deny you the right to rent because some renter broke the rules. The second one is the monthly fee, it is included in the rent but it can be changed by the management based on the building's need. Another problem, at least here in Sweden, is that the law prohibits making an "unreasonable" gain on rentals so you can't compensate on bad periods by raising the rent.

cosmodisk 5y ago

I loved our rental apartment when I lived in Finland! For those who had never been there, here's what we had: Studio flat with a kitchen and decent size bathroom. Nothing special so far. There were 2 storey basement: 1 floor for bikes, some bulky stuff, while the second,much colder,for food storage. There was also a laundry room: semi-industrial washing machine, thumble drier, some ironing device and a spacious clothes drying room with a dehumidifier. Even though all the apartments had washing machines, to have a dedicated space for this was super useful. The there was a sauna too for an additional €15/month. The playgrounds for kids outside were really nice and I even saw how they replaced perfectly fine slides and other equipment with brand new stuff. All of this in an area with apartment blocks built in 70-80s on cheap. In London you'd need to pay a fortune to have something similar. Finland always felt like designed for people,not the other way around.

stevekemp 5y ago
I did come to love the storage for prams, especially in winter-time. That meant we didn't need to take ours inside our flat, when it was dripping snow and ice. The communal gardens that are shared between buildings are really nice for children. As you say there is often equipment as well as toys, a sandbox, and similar. We've got something like 11 children aged 1-11 in our buildings, and they're often playing together on weekends and in the early evenings.
ryanlol 5y ago
> while the second,much colder,for food storage. That’s definitely unusual.

2rsf 5y ago

There are two gotcha's (based on Swedish experience) your house company might change the rules not allowing rentals or simply deny you the right to rent because some renter broke the rules. The second one is the monthly fee, it is included in the rent but it can be changed by the management based on the building's need. Another problem, at least here in Sweden, is that the law prohibits making an "unreasonable" gain on rentals so you can't compensate on bad periods by raising the rent.