Renting a place

Here are some general tips when looking for a place:[1]

  • If possible always call - If there is a phone number in the ad and it doesn’t say anything about how to contact the person then calling is always the best option. It’s the quickest, you know where you stand right away, you get at least some sort of “negotiating power” and it increases your chances of scoring a place overall.
  • Don’t wait - If you see an ad which suits your needs act right away. Starting the negotiation process is just the beginning. You will have plenty of time to think stuff over before you are in the position to actually sign a rental agreement and move into the apartment.
  • Ask locals - Ask friends who have lived in Denmark for a while to ask around for you. People will tell you again and again that your network and contacts give you the highest chance of finding a place.

Numbers bellow apply for Copenhagen.[2] If you are looking for a place in other cities, you can expect the prices to be lower.

There is a chance you will be lucky enough to find a place with a reasonable rent. However, generally be ready for high monthly rates. Rent for a cheap studio apartment can start around 3.500 DKK, but expect the rates for apartments to be more in the range of 4.500-8.500 DKK.

Monthly rates for a room in an apartment shared with other people start somewhere around 2.500 DKK per month, but the odds are you will pay around 3.000-5.000 DKK.

Watch out for scammers. Ooh yes, plenty of wrong doers out there on Danish websites waiting for naive apartment hunters. You can ussualy tell that the ad is a scam if the pictures show a nice, well furnished apartment at a central location for a suspiciously low price – e.g. 2-room apartment at Christianshavn for 3.800 DKK. Some scams are better thought out then others. But if you do reply to a scam ad don’t worry, it is pretty easy to tell it is a scam once the evil villain contacts you. These are things to look out for:

  • response in English even though the ad was written in Danish
  • response is very long, explaining how the person moved to another country, but that they have a way of
  • they ask you to wire the money through Western Union or through some other form of “untraceable” transaction

NEVER EVER pay any money in advance. Not before you’ve seen the apartment with your own eyes and not before you’ve sorted out everything about the rental agreement. It is also advised not to pay in cash, but with a bank transfer so the transaction can be traced. If the agreement is in Danish than getting it checked at a law firm or at least read through by native Danish speaker is a good idea.

FREE

  • dba.dk - “The blue newspaper” (Den Blå Avis), the largest online marketplace in Denmark. Think of it as a Danish eBay where you can find apartments and rooms for rent (besides other things). The website may seem a little chaotic at the beginning, but once you get used to it, it’s pretty easy to find your way around. You will find two types of ads on the site. The ones which were added through DBA (Private) and ones pointing to other sites (Forhandlere = Dealer). Visit this website daily and act immediately upon seeing an ad matching your needs. Especially ads with a phone number tend to be rented out in the matter of hours if not minutes.
  • ledige-lejligheder.dk - rented housing from both private rentals and professionals rental companies
  • akutbolig.dk - the largest free to use rented housing site in Denmark (only apartments from rental companies)
  • boligbesked.dk - matchmaking between renter and rentals
  • expatriates.com

PAID

  • boligportal.dk - probably the biggest rental portal out there. If you have to pick only one site to pay for, make it this one. If there is no phone number in the ad, the communication is handled through the website. Expect to wait couple of days for the response, also don’t be surprised if you don’t get any response at all
  • lejebolig.dk - one of the more user-friendly and visually appealing websites out there. There has been some negative feedback on this website (too many scams), but the best is just to check it out for yourself
  • boligninja.dk - a user friendly website with 2000-3000 available tenancies across Denmark
  • boligbasen.dk - one of the bigger sites
  • findroommate.dk - website aimed exclusively at people looking to live with someone. If you are deliberately looking to live with a roommate, then this website is definitely worth checking out.
  • husvild.dk
  • bolighit.dk

SOCIAL HOUSING AND OTHERS

FACEBOOK

There are numerous Facebook groups where people post apartments and rooms for rent. Bellow are some examples of these groups, you can find other ones by searching “lejligheder til leje” (apartments for rent) or “værelser” (rooms) through Facebook search.

  1. The good guys at CBS have made this list of tips for finding housing.

    “Unfortunately, we have had students who have been scammed by immoral people, so tips on finding housing on your own include:

    • Be careful if rent seems too low; it might be too good to be true
    • Choose several options that interest you and visit them all before making any decisions
    • Do not sign any contract before having seen the room or flat
    • If you have problems with your landlord, contact Copenhagen Legal Aid for help
    • Be aware that there are many older buildings in Copenhagen; some of them may have particular features like shared bathroom facilities with other flats
    • When inquiring about monthly rent, remember to also inquire about utilities (electricity, heating, water, etc.)
    • Inquire about house rules and other special terms of your rental agreement
    • Check that your rental agreement states the rental period and the conditions of notice
    • Do not accept illegal contracts and remember that you have to be able to register the address you are moving into (see section “CPR number”)
    • There are many good housing sites but be careful; when using fee payable portals, be sure that you understand the rules and methods of fee paying (automatically charged, single payment, etc.)
    • Check if you need to acquire home insurance! (see Anticipating Arrival Guide’s section “1.7. Insurance”)”
    ↩︎

  2. Rents in the Copenhagen Municipality (ZIP codes 800-2500) are typically higher then for those in a wider metropolitan area outside the inner city – e.g. Vanløse, Hellerup, Lyngby, Glostrup, Brondby, Hvidovre. Besides being cheaper, the demand should be lower too. It depends on how much are you willing to commute to school/work everyday. S-Train (regional train) is a pretty fast and efficient means of transport, so you can get downtown in under 30-60min from most suburban areas. ↩︎

Student housing

You may be have experienced dorm life in your homecountry. Some of you may have even built an aversion to this kind of living arrangement, regardless of wether you lived in one or not. Rest assured, student housing in Denmark is of a very high standard. In most cases a student apartment means a 1-room studio apartment with your own kitchen corner and bathroom. Dorms where you share a kitchen, bathroom or both with other students are ussualy arranged so the number of people sharing the same amenities is not very large – making cohabitation smoother and easier.

Student housing is the cheapest housing option. Monthly rates start around roughly 1.700 DKK (for a room without kitchen or bathroom) and can go all the way up to 8.000 DKK for a fancy, newly built, 2-3 room apartment with all the necessary amenities. Majority of dorms will offer something in between. In Copenhagen, expect to pay somewhere between 2.500-5.000 DKK for a standard studio apartment with kitchen corner and small bathroom. Besides being cheaper then other options, dorms also offer a very unique social and cultural dimension, which may be worth considering.

When you go to Denmark as a full-time bachelors/masters student, you are pretty much treated just like a Dane would be when it comes to getting a room in a dorm. No special treatment or jumping ahead in the line. This means you have to sign up for a waiting list (explained below) and hope to get to the front of the cue quickly. If you are going to Denmark as an exchange student you have a priority and you are basically guaranteed to get into some student housing facility. Some schools may offer some sort of assistance for their full-time students as well, but the general rule is that you are completely on your own on this one.

Applying for a student apartment

Majority of student apartments in dormitories (kollegium in Danish) are offered through centralized portals, which make signing up for waiting lists much easier and faster. [1]

First thing you want to do on the website(s) is to create your personal profile. The profile is the main part of your application. It consists of basic personal information about you, your education, your living preferences, your current living situation and other necessary information.

After creating your profile you can sign up for waiting lists for individual dormitories. Dorms fall into different categories (type A, type B…) which correspond to a approximate time it will take to get to the top of the waiting list. Waiting times can range anywhere from couple of months to 3 years.

It is not explicitly clear what information exactly affects your position on the waiting list. But if you indicate that you are currently in an urgent need of housing (=homeless) one could assume you will get to the top of the list faster. If you have trouble finding a place before arriving to Denmark there is a period during summer time when it’s possible to sign up for urgent housing list (if you fulfill requirements).[2]

Be aware that if you for some reason decline a certain number of offers for a place in kollegium you are going to get pushed down on the waiting list. So don’t run around signing up for every dorm you see, even though you don’t actually intend to live in them.

  1. There are some facilities which operate outside these centralized systems. These facilities often ask you to fulfill specific set of requirements (age, gender, field of study, income…). Every one of those facilities has their own rules and application procedures. ↩︎

  2. There is a housing office at Copenhagen main station above the post office inside the station. They should be able to point you in the right direction and help you find a place if you are in an urgent need of housing. It is worth visiting even if you are not homeless but just have trouble finding a place. You have nothing to loose after all. ↩︎

Buying a place

It’s common for people in Denmark to buy property. Even students own apartments; often through their parents or by getting a mortage. This is possible thanks to the concept of Andelsbolig (“coopearative apartmens”). Technically, you don‘t buy an apartment itself but you buy a share in the cooperative which runs and maintains the apartment building(s).[1]

With a relatively low initial investment (ranging anywhere from 160.000 DKK to 1.000.000+ DKK in greater Copenhagen area) and varying “monthly tax” fee, cooperatives provide individuals, couples and families with potentially most cost-effective solution in the long-run. Instead of throwing money into thin air by renting, you get an apartment of your choice and possibly turning a profit when you sell it later on.

The idea behind Andelsbolig is to provide affordable housing for people to live in. The apartments are meant to be occupied primarily by its owner. It is usually possible to sublet these apartmens for shorter periods of time. However, it‘s only short-term and owner should not make a significant profit. There are laws which regulate rents and tell you how long you can live outside the aparment. It depends on the rules of your cooperative as well.

If you have the necessary resources you should consider buying an apartment as one of the possibilities. There are many real estate agencies in Denmark. You can either personally visit agencies‘ store, which are virtually on every corner, or simply browse apartments online.

Be sure to consult matters cocerning buying an apartment with professionals. You need to get economony of the cooperative checked out and all the documents and rules examined. Bank is a good start if you are taking a mortage. Hiring a legal-adcovat/lawyer is always a good idea.

  1. Thanks to Voelven for posting this well-written explanation of what is andelsbolig on Yahoo Answers: “[…] andelsbolig is when you buy a share/become a member of an “Andelsboligforening”. This purchase is not the same as buying property and you do not get the same tax-deductions and advantages as when buying a property, what you are buying is a share and the right to live in and use said property, you still pay houserent, although it is usually lower than an apartment houserent. Together with the other members you have to agree upon the upkeep of the building, the rules etc. You are also responsible for maintainance. And you are, together with the others, responsible for any debts in the property etc. This means that you have to be very careful and make sure that you buy a “share” in a economically sound “andelsboligforening.” If lots of houses/apartments in it are empty, then you will be paying for the upkeep and maintainance of these, and not just the one you are living in, and this can get expensive. Since you are also in a way becoming a member of a collective, it is important that you agree with the existing rules and get along with the other members. The original idea behind an “Andelsbolig” was to give the lower middle-class an opportunity for better housing with a lower houserent. While not entirely correct, you could say that it lies somewhere between renting and buying. So it has nothing to do with co-habitation as in 2 people sharing an apartment. You are multiple people with each your own apartment/house, sharing the combined property.” ↩︎

Short-term accomodation

Your semester or first day at a new job is about to start and you have trouble finding a place prior to your arrival to Denmark? There are few temporal solutions out there. You can look for a place to live while you are already in Denmark.

There are many youth hostels in Copenhagen. They will cost you less then a hotel or bed-and-breakfast. However sleeping with 4+ people in one room and lack of privacy can get quite frustrating pretty quickly. It is a good short-term solution, but it’s not recommended for stays longer than 1-3 weeks.

The most comfortable short-term solution is private apartment or a room. This option can get a bit pricey. However, if the situation demands it, it is still a way better and cheaper option than a hotel. You also get access to a proper kitchen, meaning you don’t have to spend that much money on eating out.