Residents’ FAQ

Some apartments have a separate matron’s key that provides access to the common areas in the property, such as the laundry room or storage facilities. The matron’s key does not provide access to the apartment.

 If the AYY Services Office is open, you can come in and ask to borrow a key from the Office. Securitas will open your door 24/7 every day for EUR 30. Exceptions: Servin Maijan tie 2, Servinkuja 2, Maapadontie, the doors are opened by the maintenance company. Read more about Securitas door opening service here.

The rules are the same as for other moves. The resident moving out must exchange keys with the new resident or one remaining in the apartment. In these cases, the key exchange agreement proves that at the start of the new tenancy agreement, the tenants of the apartment have the same number of keys as in the previous agreement with the departing resident.

Based on an exchange or similar, students must request compensation for their right of residence themselves, as AYY is not informed of exchange studies in any other way. So in order to get a compensation, you must deliver a certificate of your student exchange to Housing Services. The certificate should be in English or Finnish and disclose the duration of the exchange in months, so that you can be compensated with the correct period of time for your right of residence.

If a resident’s tenancy agreement has been terminated but they need the apartment for a while longer before moving elsewhere, they can request that the postpones the moving date. The postponement is possible if the resident can prove that he or she has found a new apartment for an unreasonably short period of time due to moving elsewhere or waiting for their own apartment to be completed, or if the resident can present other very serious reasons to postpone the moving date. The moving date can be postponed by a maximum of one year. Delays in completing your studies are not a valid reason for postponing the moving date.

In accordance with AYY’s Housing Regulation, persons living in AYY’s apartments must complete 18 study credits at Aalto University annually to maintain their right of residence. However, for valid reasons, there can be flexibility with the study credit limit.

If you register for non-attendance, you can unfortunately not continue to live in your apartment. Only persons who register for non-attendance for statutory reasons can keep their apartment during their absence as well. Also note that you also need to complete an average of 18 study credits at Aalto University during the academic year or have enough credits from previous academic years in order to live in an AYY apartment. One option is to have studies completed at another university credited for the Aalto University degree, but even in this case, you also need to register for attendance at Aalto University.

Anyone can be a subtenant in AYY’s apartments, regardless of AYY membership or right of residence. Right of residence or AYY membership is not a prerequisite for subtenancy.

The rent obligation to AYY always remains with the main tenant and is not transferred to the subtenant. For this reason, we recommend an arrangement whereby the subtenant pays the rent to you, and you then pay it to AYY. This way, you can make sure that the invoices get paid and also get involved on time if there is any trouble. This applies to both subletting and subleasing.

No. Finding a subtenant is always the responsibility of the main tenant. It is advisable to carefully select subtenants in order to prevent any possible problems.

A sublease is always a tenancy relationship between the apartment’s main tenant and subtenant. AYY is not a party to a sublease. Hence, the sublease is the responsibility of the main tenant. In addition, a sublease does not free the main tenant from their obligations to the lessor, i.e. AYY. This means, for example, that the obligation to pay rent to AYY remains with the main tenant, as does the responsibility over the condition of the apartment. If the subtenant’s actions give reason to a warning, this warning is addressed to the main tenant, who can in turn give the warning to the subtenant.

AYY’s Housing Office can offer you advice and assistance with problems related to subleasing. However, the main point is to prevent problems, starting from a careful selection of subtenant. In a sublease, the main tenant takes the position of lessor in relation to the subtenant, so you should be aware of the arrangement. In addition to AYY’s own sublease conditions, you can go through the Finnish Landlord Association’s website, the information package for landlords by Vuokraturva as well as the fair rental practices.

The rent’s due date is negotiable. Please contact AYY’s Housing Services.

Termination can be done by tenants at Domo. The notice period for an apartment is always a full calendar month. The notice period is calculated from the last day of the calendar month during which the notice was issued. For example, if you terminate your lease on 14 Sept, your lease will expire on 31 Oct. The first possible termination date is the start date of the lease.

Unfortunately, AYY cannot be flexible about a legal notice period.

Whenever you are struggling with payments, you should not hesitate to get in touch with AYY. We can set up a payment plan to help you avoid problems like debt collection, a bad credit history and, at worst, eviction. Please contact AYY’s Housing Services.

Rent increases come into effect on 1 Mar annually, but increases are not made every year, nor for every property. You will be notified of any increases in Domo in December of the previous year, and you can confirm your acceptance of the increase notice in Domo. There is no separate announcement if the rent does not increase.

Unfortunately, this is not possible. AYY must adhere to the one-month termination period recorded in the tenancy agreements. The one-month termination period is based on the Act on Residential Leases (AHVL), and it is practically the shortest time period within which AYY can ensure that renting the apartment to the next student can be done without the apartment being empty in between. Empty apartments cause the losses of rent, which in turn directly increase the rents of AYY’s other tenants. It is not fair that AYY’s other tenants should take the risk for this kind of flexibility. In other words, the one-month termination period must be adhered to in the name of equal treatment, even though it may feel unreasonable in terms of an individual student.

The Act on Residential Leases requires lessors to collect a confirmation for termination notices from the tenants, but this confirmation does not rule out the tenant’s possibility to terminate the agreement at an earlier time. So, you should confirm your receipt of the termination notice on time, even if you are not yet sure if you want to continue living in the apartment until the ending date recorded in the termination notice.

Unfortunately not. For two-room and bigger apartments we make friend and family leases. Regarding our Housing Regulations, in two-room and bigger apartments has to be at least two main tenants.

More about the joint leases and the housing allowance you can read here.

Unfortunately, no. Of course, a tenant can move out of an apartment before the official moving-out day (the first working day of the month following the ending date of the tenancy agreement), but they are obliged to pay the rent until the agreement comes to an end.

Get in touch with AYY’s Real Estate Sector and Housing Services immediately. AYY will call for an expert to inspect the apartment.

Disturbing behaviour from neighbours does not have to be tolerated but can be interfered with. If your neighbours make a lot of noise, it would be good to keep a record of when the noise takes place and what it is like. It is also advisable to speak to other neighbours to find out if the noise is disturbing them and ask them to record the instances of noise. If more than one resident reports the noise to the lessor, it is easier for them to get involved with the situation. In any case, you should also get in touch with the Housing Services so that we can go through possible solutions together.