Housing

HOAS
This is the governmental organization which issues student flats in the Helsinki area.

Finnish Flat Rules
You very often cannot smoke in Finnish flats, even when you live alone, and even on the balcony or in the garden. How weird.
Pets are also very controlled; you have to negotiate hard with the landlord if you want to have one.
Apparently you also have to always leave your shoes at entrance, it’s a golden rule.

Helsinki is obviously the center, and it’s nice for several reasons: it’s beautiful, you have everything near, and you don’t have any problems to come back late after a night out! If you are a student in Laurea, you’ll have more or less 30 minutes of transports to arrive.

Espoo, where the university is, is the most practical if you’re a student in Laurea. It is also the rich city of the area, which can become problematic if you have to rent a private flat.

Vantaa, the second city of the suburbs, is not advised if you are a Laurea student: it will be between one and two hours away from the school. Otherwise, it’s cheaper than Helsinki or Espoo and not too far from the center of the capital so it can be interesting.

There are a lot of different formulas in HOAS (flat alone, with roommates, in a couple, etc.) but as Erasmus students our options were limited (we couldn’t take "couple" flats for instance), so I will only talk about the options open for Erasmus students.

The Different Types of Flats
The different possibilities for an Erasmus student are:
- A room alone in a shared flat
- A shared room in a shared flat
- A studio for one person
- A shared studio

The Furniture Included
All HOAS flats include a bed, a mattress, a table, a chair, a bedside table, plus what’s in the common parts (dishes if the previous renters left some, for instance). In shared flats, there’s only one kitchen and one bathroom.
In the rent of the flat are also included the Internet connection, the heating and the electricity.
When you register for a flat, you can apparently check some boxes if you want a sauna (inside your flat), a balcony or an elevator. This can make the price grow so be careful what you wish for! There should be a common sauna in every building anyway.

The Things Left to Buy
A blanket, a pillow and some sheets (about 100€), plus some dishes if they were not left by previous renters.

The Prices of the Flats
The price depends on the type of flat, obviously. The prices of the flats we found are detailed bellow, but basically in Helsinki it’s between 390€/month (for a flat alone) and 295€/month (for a shared studio).

Specific Aspects of Different Buildings
In the buildings of Espoo there’s a common washing machine, unlike in the ones of Helsinki.
There’s also an Ikea store near the Espoo buildings, which can be quite useful.

When should you ask for an HOAS flat?
You can ask for an HOAS flat only 4 months (or later) before the date of your moving in. You also need the confirmation from the university that it will welcome you as a student to make your registration.
Once you have everything you need to ask for your flat, do it as quickly as possible to be sure to have a flat!

When will you have the answer?
You should receive the answer from HOAS between June and July, so don’t panic if it takes some time!

Useful links
Informations about HOAS' Erasmus offers
The available buildings and their types of flats

Private flats are not easy to find, and are usually quite expensive. For instance, a 30m² in Helsinki costs about 700€.

Where to Look?
There are a lot of Facebook groups, of Laurea students or of Erasmus students in Finland for instance, where you can find flats from people leaving theirs, or roommates to share a flat with you.
If you are a Laurea student, there are people from the university dedicated to help you with your accommodation.

Useful Links
Forenom, a website to look for cheap-ish flats.

Here is some information about our flats.

Concerning the prices:

Bonus: