FAQ

You can apply for an apartment by submitting a housing application to the City of Helsinki. First, read the application instructions. Heka does not process housing applications or make tenant selections.

If an apartment that matches your application has been found, the City of Helsinki will send you a conditional apartment offer, asking you to provide the necessary attachments. Once your attachments have been checked and processed, you will receive a final offer. You can then contact Heka according to the instructions that were provided in the offer.

No updates are provided on the processing of applications. When an apartment becomes vacant, confirmed and valid applications for that apartment will be taken into account in the selection of tenants. Applicants are only contacted to offer an apartment. Contacting Heka or the rental apartment search advisory service will not help you receive an apartment faster. The rental apartment search advisory service can provide you with instructions for filling out and editing your application.

You can edit your application in the rental apartment search service.

The rental apartment search advisory service can provide you with instructions for filling out and editing your application.

Once you have received a final offer, you can contact Heka to arrange a showing of the apartment. The offer will include Heka’s contact details for scheduling a showing. The apartment will be shown to you by the expiry date of the offer. After the showing, you must contact Heka as soon as possible to state whether you accept or reject the offer.

Unfortunately, we are unable to arrange apartment showings in new and newly renovated buildings. A floor plan of the apartment will be attached to your offer.

You can switch apartments if your housing needs have changed and the following conditions are met:

• You have been living in your current Heka rental apartment as the main tenant for at least six months.
• Your lease agreement is valid until further notice.
• You have not received any notices or written warnings for your behaviour during the past year. These include notices and warnings for violating rules of conduct or disturbances.
• You do not owe your lessor rental payments or any other unpaid charges or fees, such as sauna or door opening fees.
• There are no complaints about the condition of your apartment.

If you are looking to switch to a vacant Heka apartment, submit the apartment switching application to the City of Helsinki.

If you are looking to exchange apartments with someone, you can look for an exchange partner yourself via the Apartment Exchange Market (service in Finnish). If you find an exchange partner, submit exchange applications to the City of Helsinki.

Read more about switching apartments

Heka apartments are rental homes built with government support, and the resident selection policy is based on law. Residents are selected on the basis of the applicants’ current housing situation and the criteria they have entered in their application, not in order of application. The applicant’s financial assets and income are also taken into account.

Apartments do not become available evenly across the city. The highest vacancy rates are in East and North Helsinki, and the lowest in the city centre. If you are looking for housing in an area with few vacancies, you are less likely to get an offer. However, please do not apply for housing in areas you are not prepared to move to; this will not improve your chances of getting housing in the area you want.

If you are looking for very affordable housing, you are less likely to get an offer. In early 2026, the average rent for rental apartments was €620/month for studios; €820/month for two-room apartments; €1,070/month for three-room apartments; €1,300/month for four-room apartments; and €1,480/month for five-room apartments.

A housing-related debt to Heka prevents you from getting a home from Heka until the debt has been paid off. However, other housing-related debt does not prevent you from getting a home from Heka, as long as you submit a payment plan for the debt. To speed up the processing of your housing application, please include documentation of your rent arrears payment plan as soon as you submit your application.

Even if you have an urgent need for housing, you will not be offered housing if there are no vacancies matching your criteria. Another possible reason why you may not receive an offer is that there are applicants with even more urgency for an apartment that meets your criteria. In other words, the type of apartment you apply for and the number of other applicants for the apartment will have a significant impact on whether you receive a housing offer.

If you reject a housing offer and want to continue your search for housing, you will need to submit a new housing application. Your application will be included in the selection process based on the criteria you set. Residents are selected according to urgency, not in order of application. For a new application, you should specify your wishes so that the next housing offer you may receive better matches your needs.

If you decide to reject a housing offer, we recommend you always give reasons for the rejection. If you re-apply, the rejection will not affect future offers. However, telling the reason for the rejection can help city of Helsinki to offer you a more suitable home.

The advisory service cannot speed up the process of finding housing. No interim information is available on the processing of applications. Applicants are only contacted to offer an apartment or to request clarification for the housing application.

The most sought-after apartments are small and affordable ones, but the most available are the more expensive family apartments. You can browse vacant and less sought-after apartments on the Oikotie website by typing “Heka” in the keyword search.

If your friend’s housing situation and application criteria are different from yours, this will have a significant impact on when one of you gets a housing offer. For example, your friend may have applied for a type of apartment that rarely becomes available or for which there are many urgent applicants. If you can apply for housing in a wide area and set a slightly higher rent limit for your application, you have a better chance of getting an apartment.

The easiest way to sign a lease agreement, as well as parking space and sauna agreements, is to do it electronically. You will need an email account and online banking credentials for signing electronically.

Heka will send you an email with a link via which you can sign the agreement. Signing the agreement electronically requires strong authentication with your online banking credentials. You can download and save the agreement for yourself when you sign it.

You will receive the keys to your apartment on the start date of the lease agreement at the earliest. Those moving into new and newly renovated buildings are informed separately about how the keys are handed out.

If you already have a username, enter your email address and password and click ‘Log in’. If you have already registered in the apartment search phase, please use the same account.

If you have not yet set up an OmaHeka account, start the registration process by selecting ‘Create username’. Enter your email address, to which the system will then send a confirmation link. The link will be valid for 24 hours. Open the email message and follow the link. Identify yourself with your online banking credentials and then create a password that you will use to log in. After creating an account, you can log in to OmaHeka and use the service.

The City of Helsinki provides several ways to get help with using e-services. You can turn to the City of Helsinki digital support service for help with using devices and services, or you can utilise the digital support services of libraries.

For your apartment search, you can receive help from the rental apartment search advisory service. 

A power of attorney is always required for acting on behalf of another person. Read the instructions on how to use a power of attorney and indicate your authorisation with the power of attorney form.

First read the instructions for the estate and then report the death of the tenant as instructed. Remember to also terminate the lease if necessary.

You must terminate your lease in writing. You can do it conveniently via the OmaHeka Resident Portal under ‘Housing services’ > ‘Termination’.

The period of notice for a lease agreement valid until further notice is one month, starting from the last day of the month during which the notice of termination is submitted.

A fixed-term lease agreement cannot be terminated; instead, it ends once the period specified in the agreement ends.

You can submit a non-urgent defect notification either via the OmaHeka Resident Portal or without logging in by using an online form.

Report any defects that need urgent repair, such as water leaks, sewer blockages and electrical defects:

• Monday–Thursday 9.00–11.00: our customer service number +358 9 5767 3000
• at other times: our on-call service number +358 9 5767 3100.

You can view available parking spaces and sauna time slots and reserve a parking space and a sauna slot in writing via OmaHeka under ‘Booking’. We process reservation requests in the order in which they are received.

We do not accept parking space and sauna slot reservations by phone or email.

You can reserve a laundry room slot via the OmaHeka Resident Portal or the location-specific reservation system. Reservation and key practices vary from location to location. Check the webpage of your location or OmaHeka to see if you can reserve a laundry room slot at your location using a separate online service. You can also receive instructions on how to reserve a laundry room slot from our customer service.

You can order a new key in writing either via OmaHeka or by visiting the Heka customer service point. Additional keys cannot be ordered by phone.

Need a new key to replace a lost one?

The best way to order an apartment inspection is via OmaHeka under ‘Service requests’ > ‘Add new service request’. While logged in, check also that your contact details are up to date in OmaHeka, so that the apartment inspector can contact you if necessary.

If you are unable to use OmaHeka, book an appointment at the Heka customer service point.

An apartment inspection carried out for a lease transfer is free of charge. An inspection for switching apartments is subject to a fee.

The best way to contact the property manager is via OmaHeka under ‘Messages’. Select ‘Resident democracy’ as the message category. This is also the preferred way to take care of matters related to resident democracy.

Our housing consultation service works proactively on clients’ housing problems that can lead to homelessness if they persist. If you have rental debt that threatens to lead to homelessness, our housing consultants will try to contact you. They will schedule a meeting if necessary or provide service guidance on matters such as Kela benefits, social services or the services of other networks, in accordance with the client’s needs.

You can contact the housing consultation service about anything, however small the matter. The consultation is voluntary and free of charge.

SMS Sender IDs of Heka text messages: 

• We send text messages under the name OmaHeka from the number 19100340 
• We send text messages under the name HekaKodit from the number 19100341.  

Other things to note about our text messages: 

• Our text messages do not include links.  
• You cannot reply to our text messages.  
• Heka will never send you payment details or the amount of unpaid rent by text message. 
• Our text messages do not contain any personal data.   

You can have a subtenant under certain conditions. Similarly, transferring the apartment temporarily is also possible with certain limitations. In both cases, you must comply with the terms and conditions of your lease agreement and notify Heka in advance.

As the main tenant, you can transfer your lease to:

• your spouse or live-in partner
• a child in your family
• your parent or your spouse’s parent.

The person to whom the lease is transferred must live in the apartment with you.e asua asunnossa kanssasi.

Use OmaHeka to notify Heka about transferring your lease.

Heka is gradually harmonising its leases over the next few years. You will receive a letter from Heka when it is time to harmonise your lease agreement.

The harmonisation does not apply to tenants whose lease agreements started on 1 January 2022 or later, as the terms and conditions of these agreements are already in line with the new lease agreement model.

It is prohibited to short-term sublease a Heka apartments through Airbnb, for example. 

For Heka apartments, the due date for rental payments is always the 4th of each month, or the next weekday after that. The due date cannot be postponed.

If you pay your rent, a utility charge or an invoice late, meaning after the due date, Heka will charge you for interest on the overdue payment according to the Interest Act.

In some situations, a payment agreement may be an option. If your rent is overdue, please contact our rent payment advice service as soon as possible. Together, we can find a solution before your debt situation gets worse.

If your water invoice raises questions, you can check the following first:

• Have there been any changes in your water consumption?
• Has the number of people living in the apartment changed?
• Have any leaks been detected in the water fixtures of the apartment?

If you detect any leaks, please submit a defect or on-call service notification. niistä vika- tai päivystysilmoituksen.

If a change in consumption or circumstances does not explain the issue with your water invoice, you can request an inspection of the water meter or a review of your invoice from Heka’s rent payment advice service.

You can see the prices for sauna reservations, parking spaces and other additional services on our price list.

You can view your rent payment details and situation in the OmaHeka Resident Portal under ‘My economy’.

We send monthly text messages reminding tenants about paying their accumulated debt to Heka. This quickly informs you of any outstanding amounts and allows you to pay off your debt before a collection letter is sent. Even small outstanding debts will accrue interest over time, so it is best to pay off even small amounts as soon as possible, when you next pay your rent at the latest.

We will send a text message to both current Heka tenants and tenants who have moved out and have accumulated rental or other debts to Heka.  We send a text message regardless of the amount of the debt, so even a debt of €0.01 is enough for a message to be sent automatically from our system. 

As a current tenant, you can check your debt situation in OmaHeka under ‘My economy’.  

Tenants who have moved out can contact our rent payment advice service.

Sometimes repairing a lift can take a long time. If you have a health-related reason for using a lift, you can ask your property manager about the possibility of rent compensation. You can contact the property manager by email.

Yes.

Heka renovates vacant apartments as needed. During your tenancy, we will repair any defects in your apartment based on defect notifications. No renovations are carried out when tenants exchange apartments.

Every year, we renovate up to a thousand apartments. If a renovation or other major project prevents you from living in your apartment, we will arrange a temporary replacement apartment for you. You can request information about any planned repairs in your building from the resident committee.

You may carry out minor surface renovations in your apartment if you have received permission from Heka. Apply for permission via the OmaHeka Resident Portal (‘Service requests’ – ‘Apply for permission for a DIY renovation’).

Once you have received permission, you can paint the walls and install new laminate or vinyl flooring. No other renovations are allowed.

Heka apartments have a housing company broadband connection included in the lease, with a basic speed of 10 Mbps.

If you want to, you can make connection and other service agreements directly with the operator of your choice or buy extra speed from the provider of the housing company broadband connection. Heka has several broadband agreements in different areas, so the operators, additional services and prices vary. Check the operator of your location via the OmaHeka Resident Portal

Aimo Park has been in charge of parking control at all Heka buildings since February 2025. If you are unhappy with a fine that you have received, please submit a written complaint to Aimo Park. 

Having your own home insurance is a smart choice. Some risks, such as burglary or property-wide damage, cannot be completely prevented by your own actions. Heka’s property insurance covers damage to the property but not damage to the resident’s property or other costs. So it is best to take out a home insurance policy that meets your needs.   

Residents may install blinds at their own expense. Heka will not service or refund the blinds if they are left in your home when you move out. 

You can, but for safety reasons, please place the boxes inside the balcony. 

A dishwasher may only be installed by a licensed service company or plumber. We recommend putting a drip tray under the machine to detect any damage.

If a washing machine is located in a wet room, you can install it yourself. 

Flying a flag inside the balcony is generally allowed if 

• you fly the flag in accordance with generally accepted practices, 
• the building structure is not damaged,
• and the flag is fixed so that it stays inside the balcony. 

The general rules of balcony decoration also apply to flags. The property manager can request the removal of the flag if it violates the Heka rules of conduct. 

Flying a flag on the facade is not allowed. Flags must not be hung outside of the building or on the facade side, also for safety reasons. 

Note: Section 10:11 of the Criminal Code prohibits agitation against a population group. This may also include flags or symbols that contain racist, violence-inciting or otherwise offensive content. 

Heka takes care of flying the Finnish flag on official and established flag-flying days.  

If you wish to fly the flag for a celebration or mourning, please enquire about it from our customer service.

If there is water damage in your home, notify Heka immediately.

Heka will survey the extent of the damage and assess the need for temporary accommodation. You will receive instructions when the surveying is complete. 

Before the renovation project starts, you will receive an application form to indicate your wishes and needs for your temporary replacement accommodation. We will try to accommodate the wishes expressed in the application as far as possible. We give priority to health-related reasons, such as physical disabilities.  

You can report disruptive smoking via OmaHeka as a service request using the dedicated form. The property manager will investigate the matter. Heka apartments are standard rental apartments and many of the buildings may have leases that allow for smoking. 

Heka has started a project to harmonise the terms and conditions of leases, and all locations will be non-smoking at the end of the project.

Heka works in partnership with the Centre for Residential Peace, which offers low-threshold guidance and mediation assistance in disputes between residents.

You can find more information on the Centre for Residential Peace website.