Non-finnish tenants are a significant customer group

Finland needs a lot of labor-based immigration to survive from it’s aging citizens. Kotilo asunnot is ready to support that immigration. Significant part of Kotilo asunnot tenants tend to be non-Finnish although we require a common language. In this case common language means Finnish, English, Swedish, German or Estonian. Kotilo asunnot signs contracts with tenants based on total evaluation, where nationality and ethnicity have no part in it.

Out of all Kotilo koti-ilo asunnot oy of rental agreements one third have been signed with non-Finnish tenants. If we take in account all the other rental agreements that the owners of Kotilo asunnot have signed that portion is already 40%¹. From all people living in rental apartments in the greater Helsinki area about 31% are non-Finnish². Kotilo asunnot owners have always chosen to sign agreements with the best tenants. Based on these proportions we dare to claim that non-Finnish are better tenants.

Market is changing

We have seen that the reality is, that markets of rental apartments has changed and will be changing even more over time. In a couple of years we will get more than 150 000 non-Finnish citizens in addition to the current ones to the greater Helsinki area³. This means that all the landlords should be able to serve them too. But how do we manage with this new situation? It might be frightening for some of us. There can be a lack of common language and culture, habits of living and way of doing things. Nevertheless we think, that non-Finnish tenants are a great potential customer group for the private landlords. You can make your own process and be flexible. You can even guide and brief your tenants about how things are done in Finland. That is an advantage that bigger companies can not offer. That is why we want to share our knowledge and practices with our non-Finnish tenants.

Some practical hints

Depending of the number of years after they moved to Finland different things and challenges can be faced. At the beginning some basic questions have been like Where can I pick up my post? , Is it safe here, while I only have one key to everything (storage, garbage shed etc.)? (Meaning people usually think that it means that everyone can get to your home with the key they can also use for the garbage.) Why do I need to get two different electricity contracts and bills? (In Finland there is a separate bill for electricity use and electricity transmissions), What do water payments mean and why are those balanced afterwards? Also sorting household waste might be a little difficult at first, but these things are always solved very easily. It is always good to go through the basic info of the apartment building and it’s rules, like you normally do but go into more detail.

These are easy ones but how to handle the real challenges? It might be easy to just say No but then you risk losing a great opportunity to have a good tenant for several years. We think it is worth doing some extra work over.

There might be a situation where your potential tenants don’t have a Finnish ID yet and they want your rental apartment to be their new home. If it is not an option that their employer would make the contract with you, what should you do then?

This might mean that they cannot have an electricity contract, home insurance etc. How to check credit information from a person who is planning on moving into Finland and has no Finnish ID yet? In this kind of situations you need to be creative and here are some of the things we have done:

• Have a conversation with their employer about your potential tenant. For this you need a permission from the potential tenant. After this conversation you should have all the necessary information to proceed with the contract. For transferring the deposit payment there are several service providers with whom you can transfer the money from the other side of the world.
• Make the electricity contract and home insurance for your tenant until they get the ID and possibility to make it themself. You need mutual trust in any case to make the contract with them, this is no different from that.
• Sometimes the final bill for electricity comes after your tenant has moved away from Finland. In these cases you can make a deal that you leave something from the deposit payment for those bills and pay them for your tenant. It is easy and very handy for you both.

We at Kotilo asunnot think that being multi-cultural and having a open mind for everyone is the key for better housing and living in Finland in the future. We hope that with our good experiences we can encourage you too to rent a home to a good non-Finnish tenant in the future.

Kokkuvõte

Kotilo asunnot on erafirma, kellel on head kogemused mitte-soome üürnikega. Umbes 40% kõigist meie üürnikest on mitte-soomlased ja seda sellepärast, et oleme alati valinud parimad üürnikud. Kodakondsus ei ole meie jaoks kriteerium ja tahame anda oma panuse, et vähendada kahtlusi väljaspoolt Soomest tulevate üürnike suhtes. Mõnikord tähendab see, et pead olema loominguline ja paindlik, kuid me arvame, et see väike pingutus on seda väärt. Eraomanikena aitame ka tutvuda Soome kultuuriga. See on tohutu eelis, mida ei ole suurematel üürileandjatel. Tulevikus hakkab Soomes elama üha rohkem mittesoomlasi, seega hoidke sellel potentsiaalsel kliendigrupil silm peal.

Zusammenfassung

Kotilo asunnot ist ein privater Vermieter mit guter Erfahrung mit Nicht-Finne Mietern. Etwa 40% von aller unserer Mietern sind Nicht-Finne und wir haben immer die besten Mieter ausgewählt. Staatsbürgerschaft is kein Auswahlkriterium für uns und wir wollen unseren Teil dazu beitragen, Misstrauen gegenüber Nicht-Finne Mietern zu zerstreuen. Ab und zu es bedeutet, das Sie kreativ und flexibel sein müssen, aber wir finden es lohnt sich. Als privater Vermieter sie können auch hilfen und mehr über die finnische Kultur lernen. Die ist ein großer Vorteil die größere Spieler nicht haben. Zukünftig werden immer mehr Nicht-Finnen in Finnland leben, daher sollte diese potenzielle Kundengruppen im Auge behalten werden.

Source

1. Evaluation is based on 33 signed contracts between September 2020 and December 2022.
2. Ulkomaalaistaustaiset pääkaupunkiseudulla
3. Ulkomaalaistaustaiset Helsingissä